2024 Profile:Oregon's Jackson Powers-Johnson
This plug-and-play center sure looks like a player Dallas would find interesting.
Between now and April, I plan on looking at as many prospects as I can for the 2024 Draft and will spend 200 snaps with each of them and then share my thoughts with you. I don’t claim to be some high draft authority and will have plenty of missed evaluations, but I watch each of these guys as best I can. I still think it is better to do the work than to shrug and say “nobody knows.” Each of these profiles will be short, but I will attempt to provide a thumbnail sketch as well as some information and videos (borrowed from twitter) to expedite our project.
Today’s we shall take a look one of the best interior lineman in all of 2023:
#58 - C Jackson Powers-Johnson - Junior - Age 20 - 6’3 - 320 - Oregon
For a player who was nowhere near the draft watchlists last summer to all of a sudden rise up and find his way in the mix for first round consideration. He became well known back in 2021 for his willingness to help out in the Alamo Bowl and switch to defensive line for one special occasion after serving his true freshman year as a reserve.
In 2022, he played 400 snaps for Oregon, but only was considered an actual starter once in a rotation type setting and as part of a right guard job share where he played very well. Then, in 2023, he was switched to center and was nothing short of phenomenal. He started every game and was dominant – winning the Rimington Trophy as the top center in college football – as well as First Team All-Pac 12 and All American. He allowed zero sacks, zero QB hits, and just one pressure in an entire season. And pass protection was actually his 2nd best responsibility as he was positively a mauler in the run game.
I was quite excited to see his tape and see if he was what we are looking for. But, first, a thought or two on center.
There are premium positions in this league and center has never been thought of as a good use of a 1st round pick in a vacuum. That said, Travis Frederick, Tyler Linderbaum, Frank Ragnow, and Ryan Kelly would all qualify as proper values in the 1st round, so we should certainly not get carried away with hard rules. Non-premium positions like RB, C, G, LB, and S all have exceptions and those guys can even be franchise-altering. One rule we should have on this matter is that there are no absolute rules that cannot have exceptions. But, if we are going to take a center in the top round, he better be special.
So, is JPJ?