Jaelyn Duncan

Pos: OT

School: Maryland

Ht. 6’6″ 

Wt. 306

Games Watched: Ohio State, Michigan, Purdue

One Liner: Fluid offensive tackle who wins with athleticism, hand technique, and footwork

Strengths: 

  • Very good athleticism. Duncan is an athletic prospect who has good movements and range to efficiently work up to the second level. He has good kick steps that take up a lot of ground out of his stance, and he is able to move fluidly in space. 
  • Very good footwork. Duncan displays good, active feet in his pass sets and is also able to utilize efficient leg drive on running plays. He has good lateral agility as well that could be used in swing and pulling situations. 
  • Good upper body technique. Duncan plays with solid knee bend and pad leverage, and also plays with good hand technique. His hands are up on time, and are generally in the right place as well, allowing for him to usually get first contact on vertical passing sets. 

Weaknesses:

  • Marginal functional strength. Duncan is extremely susceptible to bull rushes at this point, and while he is a nimble mover, he needs more bulk in his lower body to hold up against the bigger rushers coming off the edge. He’ll need to pack stronger punches as well in order to make it less easy for rushers to find their way into his chest.
  • Adequate size. Duncan’s size indicates that a move to guard may be in play at the pros. He will need more mass in his lower body in order to hold up against bull rushers, and his arm length is not the best for a tackle. 
  • Adequate body control. Duncan has a poor habit of overextending on pass sets where he has to find the 7t, and also seems to overextend on rushing plays when he moves off the first level. 

Overall Assessment:  Jaelyn Duncan is an ahtletic tackle who’s traits make him an appealing prospect. Duncan should be tried out on the interior, as his athletic traits could bode well for a zone blocking team. Nonetheless, Duncan uses his athleticism and good footwork to recover from many situations, and he has solid upper body technique to go alongside that. However, Duncan will really need to improve his anchor, and add some more bulk with better core strength to sustain powerful edge rushers. He will need to clean up some overcomitting issues as well in the run game, but the athleticism makes me think that Duncan does have a spot in the NFL as a backup at first that can eventually develop into an athletic zone guard. 

Scheme Fit: Zone blocking tackle that could kick in to guard with some added bulk 

Pick Projection: Round 4

Grade: 6.19