Jamin Davis Thread

Jamin Davis, #44 LB, Kentucky

Pros: Dominant physical traits. Ceiling is massive. Size to play in traffic, athletic ability and length to shut down opposing receiving threats.

Cons: Experience/production, processing, can be play MIKE this year?

Career Notes/Stats

2017: Redshirted.

2018: Rotation. Recorded 10 tackles, 1 INT, 1 PD. 7 games.

2019: 1 start. 32 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 interception. 8 games.

2020: Starter. 102 tackles, 4 TFL, 1.5 sacks, 3 INT, 1 TD, 2 PD, 1 FF. 10 Games.

Ron Rivera mentioned some interesting things. Most importantly being the fit Davis presents. The coaches are very excited because they already have a plan set in place to deploy Davis. He also provides value with the ability to play all three starting LB roles.

Rivera on Davis:

Rivera then goes on to say that Davis was their highest rated defensive player. They valued him very highly.

Sounds like what pushed him over was his ability to play a more traditional linebacker role. Washington wants to “stack” their linebackers behind the DL, Davis fits that.

The first thing you notice with Davis is the jaw dropping physical tools. He has the size and arm length to fight through traffic and vacuum up tackles, and the athletic ability and fluidity to man-up against dangerous receiving threats

Raw, but still developing.

When taking “project” type players, there’s always a risk. Yes the upside is jaw dropping, but the player has to actually develop properly. Not a guaranteed task.

However Davis landed in the perfect spot. 3 former NFL LBs on the coaching staff and a dominant defense around him.

Now we get into the film. First up we have Davis vs Florida.

Biggest assignments for the day: 4th overall pick Kyle Pitts and 20th overall pick Kadarius Toney.

First rep against Pitts in coverage. Davis stumbles out of the gate, but shows nice recovery. It looks like he closes enough space to contest the ball, had it been catchable.

Really good job staying hip to hip with the inside receiver. Play like this killed Washington’s last year. Easy dump-offs near the sticks.

This is exactly what you wanna see. The biggest detriment to Washington’s defense last year was their linebackers inability to run fit properly.

Notice hear. Davis flows with traffic, following the guard, locating the hole and filling in. Does a great job wrapping.

Ron speaks on Davis’ ability to diagnose run fits:

A nice little flash of processing speed. Ron spoke very highly of Jamin’s football acumen and IQ. He sniffs out the trickery as soon as Toney get’s the ball, and he immediately floats upfield and turns his head looking for a threat.

6’3 235 isn’t supposed to accelerate like this

Excellent job coming down hill and forcing the running back to cut back. Davis stops on a dime with the running back, and follows parallel to the line of scrimmage. Washington’s DL eat up plays like this, Davis will consistently be kept clean to move sideline to sideline.

Lateral agility, showing off a little movement with this nifty dodge on the block

Elite closing speed.

This is a better play than any play any Washington linebacker made all last year.

Flows with traffic. Gets inside of the puller, engages with shoulder. Gets low, fills hole, wraps up and makes tackle. Teammate comes around and hits the ball out, Davis is rewarded with recovery.

When I say he’s raw and still developing his processing, this is what I mean.

He reads the play well, and flows with the play correctly. However he commits too hard despite being the backside defender. Gotta trust your team makes a play at the hole while you prevent a cutback.

Continuing with that, here you see how he’s still raw with his hands. He engages the blocker well but the hand placement is abysmal and it costs him.

Thanks to his natural size and strength he still manages to hold his ground well and make the tackle.

FILL. FILL. FILL.

Looks like he’s sacrificing 75lbs+ against this OL. Doesn’t matter.

This is why I’m not worried about the lack of experience or current processing speed. He displays excellent patience like this consistently. He knows what he’s doing, he just lacks the live game reps to possess the innate instincts you develop over time. He will though.

Great job keeping his eyes on the ball carrier. He avoids contact from the rising OL, locates the running back, and drives his pads through him.

Good display of his play strength. He’s blitzing, just unlucky for him that his gap gets doubled. He engages the contact well and sheds off the block easily.

Bites on the flea flicker, but jaw dropping recovery speed.

Again. We talk about him being raw now, but the flashes are there. Here’s he playing at the LOS, engages the blocks and flows down the line until he finds the hole.

He’s already Washington’s best run-fit LB.

Saw a draft grade where someone said all three of his INTs this year were “gimmes.” That’s false lol.

He reads the QB like a book. Textbook hip rotation, extension for the ball, strong ball skills. Then the electric athletic ability to turn this into a scoring opportunity.

Ron Rivera also thought very highly of this play

His athletic ability pairs so well with his elite tackle radius.

Makes shooting the gap like this so effective for him

Check this great thread out too! https://twitter.com/pff_nickakridge/status/1388172277221625856