NFL Draft Expert ‘Enamored’ By Ohio State Guard; Could He Be A Top-20 Pick?
It is officially under a month until this year’s NFL Draft. Pro Days are happening left and right, mock drafts are clogging the social media feeds and subreddits, and teams are tossing smokescreens like they’re Route 1 Koffing. Draft profiles are being published one after another and experts are hyping up their “draft crushes.” It truly is one of the best times of the year.
ESPN’s Field Yates is one of the network’s top draft experts and he, Matt Miller, and Jordan Reid went through and predicted a few things, outlined who they are higher on than others, and a few others. Each highlighted a handful of players and hyped up why they think those players are better than the consensus. Yates’ pick was Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson.
NFL Draft Expert “Enamored” By Ohio State Guard
The former five-star Buckeye recruit was a stalwart on the Ohio State offensive line for years and was one of the dozen or so who returned to win the National Championship. He started off the year as the starting left guard but after a season-ending injury to potential first-round tackle Josh Simmons, he kicked outside and starred.
Yates loves Jackson’s game and has him much higher than most:
“I’m enamored by pretty much everything Jackson brings to the table, as he showed off incredible versatility in 2024 by moving from left guard to left tackle midseason to help Ohio State replace Josh Simmons (torn patellar tendon). Jackson is powerful, fleet-footed and reliable, and I think he has enough skill to fit in any blocking scheme in the pros. This is the year of unpredictability, so I wouldn’t be stunned if he cracked the top 20 selections. He’s No. 19 on my board.”
Yates looks like a massive outlier at this point in the process. According to NFLMockDraftDatabase, he’s been handing around the early-second-round positioning and is currently the consensus 38th-best player on the big board. At the same time, it’s looking like plenty of folks are mocking him more in the first round.
We Agree
We have a scouting report on Jackson and, overall, we tend to agree with Yates:
“NFL teams love offensive linemen with versatility. For two-plus seasons, Jackson played at an All-American level at left guard. Then, he played at an All-American level at left tackle. The overall feeling surrounding Jackson is that he will be a guard in the NFL but if the need arose that he had to play tackle, he can.
When it comes to some Power 4 prospects, there are always concerns that their productivity was stat padding against lesser foes in the Group of 5 or bottom of the respective conferences. For Jackson, he remained elite against elite competition. In the CFP, he played lights out against Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame, four teams with top-end defensive lines.
Jackson is as sure-fire as any in this draft class which looks to have a handful of solid offensive linemen at the top. He is a plug-and-play player from day one and will instantly make an offensive line better.”
Full Donovan Jackson Scouting Report
NFL Teams will love Jackson’s versatility. He started off as an elite guard and kicked out to be an elite tackle. His tape is great and it’s backed up by his impressive 9.57 RAS. Yates could be onto something with Jackson and he will find his way into the top 20. It would be a surprise considering guys like Tyler Booker and Grey Zabel are often ranked ahead of the Ohio State guard. However, the NFL Draft is nothing if not unpredictable and insane. Nobody saw guys like Damon Arnette or Cole Strange going in the first round. Jackson very well could surprise.
