Jevon Holland is a safety who hails from the University of Oregon. His play in 2019 started to turn heads and garnered attention for him before he opted out of the 2020 season. He is a great athlete who also does a great job reading quarterbacks and making plays on the ball which will make him a solid safety in the NFL.

Strengths: 

  • Good Size and Quickness

At 6’0 207 lbs Jevon Holland certainly has above average size for the safety position at the NFL level. He combines that with good quickness and explosiveness to get to his spots early. 

  • Great Ball Skills

Jevon Holland has phenomenal ball skills as shown by his 11 interceptions in just two years. He does a phenomenal job tracking the ball to read where it’s going and then getting his hands on the ball and coming away with takeaways when he has opportunities.

  • Great at Coming Downhill

When Jevon Holland is asked to play in the box he does a great job coming down really fast and delivering hard hits underneath to stop the quick passing game and run game.

  • Reads and Reacts Extremely Well

One thing Jevon Holland is absolutely amazing at is reading and reacting to what’s going on in front of him. Whether that’s reading the QB or recognizing the run he does a great job.

Weaknesses: 

  • Not Great Long Speed

One thing that Jevon Holland struggles with is having the long speed to stick with receivers downfield. His 40 wasn’t bad but the tape shows him losing and not having the recovery speed to catch up with receivers down the field.

  • Slow Transitions

Another aspect of his game where Holland is a bit slow is when he’s transitioning. He flips his hips kind of slowly and looks a bit unnatural doing it, which means he doesn’t quite have the range you might like out of typical safeties.

  • Struggles With Bigger and Stronger Guys

Jevon Holland will be a decent box defender in the NFL but sometimes he will get overpowered when trying to tackle running backs as well as when faced up against tight ends which will be a problem in the NFL.

Player Comp: Jevon Holland is very comparable to former Panthers safety Tre Boston. Both guys are bigger guys who have enough quickness and phenomenal ball skills. They would consistently get takeaways and get their hands on passes because of their ball skills. They are also phenomenal at reading quarterbacks as well as diagnosing the run which made them very effective. Their weaknesses are not quite having enough long speed to keep up with faster receivers especially downfield, and also not quite being able to deal with more physical players up close to the line.

Final Thoughts: I like what I see with Jevon Holland and although I do not think his ceiling is that high for him to be an insane rangy free safety or a hard hitting box safety who gets to everything underneath, I think he’s going to be a solid player his whole career. His ball skills and ability to read and react extremely quickly are his two best traits and make for a great combination that will make him good in the league for a long time. I have him as an early round 2 guy and that’s where most have him. As for scheme fit I like him in zone a bit more than man so he can have his eyes in the backfield and I don’t think he’s quite rangy enough to be a single free safety but not strong enough to be a full time box safety so I like him as a safety for teams that run two deep. I like the Cowboys as a fit because they have a big need at free safety, play zone coverage, and coordinator Dan Quinn likes to have multiple guys on the backend in coverage.