Outside of GT defensive end Derrick Morgan, the other trendy mock draft target for the Jaguars has been Tim Tebow USF defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. It is something of a misnomer to say Pierre-Paul came straight out of nowhere. He only started playing football in his junior year of high school and had a few offers coming out but had to go the JUCO route because of academics. There he was a man among boys before heading to play at South Florida. He managed to overshadow fellow soon to be 2010 Draft pick George Selvie and quickly got onto scouts radars.
The general concensus on Pierre-Paul can best be described with this analogy, his ceiling is Mt.Everest but his floor may well be the bottom of the ocean. He's already drawing comparisions to Jevon Kearse and Mario Williams, but with only one year of truly competitve football under his belt this is certainly premature.
Video Killed The Scouting Report
Jason Pierre-Paul:By the numbers
2009 First Team All-American (Pro Football Weekly)
Concensus First Team All-Big East
| Defense Stats | |||||||||||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | TACK | SOLO | AST | PD | SACK | FF | REC | INT | YDS | TD | ||||||||
| 2009 | USF | 42 | 26 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 1 | ||||||||
| At A Glance | |||||
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Position 1: Defensive End |
Height: 6'6 | ||||
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Position 2: N/A |
Weight: 260 | ||||
| Class: Junior | Age: 21 | ||||
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Projected Round: 1st |
40time: 4.5 |
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According to the experts
Walter Football
Pros
Prototypical size with room to bulk Ridiculously quick first step Has great speed and athleticism Terrific flexibility and balance
Cons
Very raw and inexperienced Disinterested vs the run Doesn't engage double teams well Can dissappear
New Era
Pros
Explosive out of his stance in a two or three-point, While he is not the most well-known defensive end in the draft, Pierre-Paul may be the best pure pass rusher.Is aggressive in pursuit and will chase down runners from behind.
Cons
Is often on the ground. Does not protect against cut blocks particularly well. Poor recognition. Can not be stressed just how green he is.Is very raw and will require hours and hours of coaching. Lacks secondary moves and tries too often to beat blockers will outside speed moves.At this time he does not have the strength to hold-up against NFL blockers for an entire game, much less an entire season. Looked lost against NFL level tackles.
Final Thoughts
If the Jaguars take Pierre-Paul in the first round, this is the same kind of "Swing big" pick mentality that led them to take Matt Jones and Derrick Harvey. Any team that takes JPP will be committing themselves to a project that won't bear any fruits until at least year two, maybe year three. However, if he does hit his ceiling, he certainly has the tools to be a 12-15 sacks a year defensive end. PS Next scouting report will be from a player who didn't player his college ball in I-A(FBS). You get to pick who.