Jonah Tavai NFL Draft 2023: Scouting Report for San Diego State DL
HEIGHT: 5'10 1/8"
WEIGHT: 283
HAND: 9"
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ARM: 29 1/2"
WINGSPAN: 72 7/8"
40-YARD DASH: 5.06
3-CONE: 7.65
SHUTTLE: 4.70
VERTICAL: 26.5"
BROAD: 8'9"
POSITIVES
– Great production over the last two years.
– Quick get-off, very quick to react to the snap and accelerates off the line well.
– Plays with his hands in front of him and is quick to get them up to take on blocks.
– Has some pop in his hands and has natural leverage to help standup offensive linemen at the line of scrimmage. Physical at the point of attack, too.
– Showed a couple of decent pass-rush moves he can win with; arm over/swim move and hand swipe. He's good at playing the offensive lineman's hand as a rusher.
– Hustle player who made a handful of tackles down the field on screens.
– Played up and down the defensive line in college, lining up at nose and as a standup outside linebacker occasionally.
NEGATIVES
– Significantly undersized for an NFL defensive lineman.
– Lack of size and strength shows up in his ability to anchor versus double teams and down blocks. Also seems to get caught off-guard by doubles and will get washed inside when slanting.
– Sub-30-inch arms limit how much extension he can get and cause him issues when trying to disengage from blocks.
– A little stiff in the hips when trying to turn a tight corner after winning around the edge as a pass rusher.
2022 STATS
– 13 GM, 59 solo (31 solo), 14 TFL, 10.5 sacks
NOTES
– Born December 13, 2000
– JUCO transfer
– A 2-star JUCO recruit in the 2019 class, No. 453 overall, No. 51 DT, per 247Sports composite rankings
– No major injuries
– 33 career starts
– 2022 Honors: First-Team All-Mountain West, Second-Team All-American (AP)
– 2021 Honors: First-Team All-American (Action Network), Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West, All-Bowl Team (Bleacher Report)
– 2020 Honors: Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West
– Four brothers played DI college football and two made it to the NFL, uncle played rugby union for New Zealand
OVERALL
Jonah Tavai will likely go undrafted, mainly due to his size. It's going to be difficult to get NFL talent evaluators to look past him being a 6'0" and sub-300 pound defensive tackle who has very short arms. All of his measurables are in the bottom percentiles for the position and there isn't a track record of someone at his size succeeding in the league, or at least not a long one.
However, Tavai was very disruptive in the Mountain West over the past two years, logging 19 sacks and 24 TFL during that timeframe. That should be good enough to at least earn a training camp invite where he'll have an opportunity to land on the practice squad and prove himself. The Aztecs also used him up and down the defensive line, so he does have some position versatility which could help his cause.
GRADE: 5.3 (Backup/UDFA with Roster Potential, UDFA)
OVERALL RANK: TBD
POSITION RANK: TBD
PRO COMPARISON: Julis Turner
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