From now till the 2022 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as attainable, analyzing their strengths, weaknesses, and what they will deliver to an NFL franchise. These gamers may very well be potential prime 10 picks, all the way in which right down to Day 3 choices and precedence undrafted free brokers. Immediately, I’ll be profiling a linebacker from the ACC with thirty-eight profession begins.
#47 James Skalski, ILB, Clemson (R-Sr.) — 5117, 228 lbs.
Professional Day
Measurements
| Participant | Ht/Wt | Hand Measurement | Arm Size | Wingspan |
| James Skalski | 5117/228 | 9 1/8″ | 30 1/2″ | 75″ |
| 40-Yard Sprint | 10-Yard Sprint | Brief Shuttle | 3-Cone | |
| 4.72 | 1.63 | 4.32 | 6.96 | |
| Broad Bounce | Vertical | Bench Press | ||
| 9’6″ | 34″ | 26 |
The Good
— Tons of collegiate expertise
— Good chief and communicator
— Reads and reacts to his keys rapidly
— Prepared to aggressively fill gaps and tackle blockers
— Strong flexibility when avoiding blockers
— Strong mobility in Zone protection
— Consciousness of receivers in his space and makes an attempt to jam
— Reads QB’s eyes and flows with the ball
The Dangerous
— Loses sight of the ball when reacting to keys
— Velocity is marginal total
— Slips down or off of too many ball carriers
— Approach to disengage from blockers
— Will get overwhelmed by play power of OL/TE
— Marginal via site visitors and finally ends up on the bottom loads
— Protection total was ample
— Not efficient as a blitzer
— Solely ball manufacturing got here from pulling down passes at/close to the LOS
Bio
— Profession – 258 tackles, 132 solo, 18 TFL, 8.5 sacks, 9 PBU, 2 FR, 1 TD, 1 FF
— 2021 – 87 tackles, 40 solo, 4.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 4 PBU
— sixth yr senior, 69 video games, 38 begins
— Two yr captain
— Performed in and gained 5 ACC Championship video games
— 2021 – First-team All-ACC choice
— Birthday Feb. 2, 1998 (24)
— Father performed soccer at Oklahoma, Sister softball at Georgia State
— Graduated in December 2019 with a level in communication
— Added a grasp’s diploma in athletic management in December 2021
— In highschool, three-year starter in soccer, performed soccer and soccer on the identical time in the course of the fall of 2013
Tape Breakdown
James Skalski could have probably the most collegiate video games performed I’ve seen with a complete of 69 in his 6 years at Clemson. He had a productive profession personally as nicely many group accolades together with two Nationwide Championships. I wouldn’t wish to go away both. He’s an inside linebacker who performed totally on the sturdy aspect.
As a run defender, he reads his keys nicely and sticks to them. Strong acceleration will get him shifting and he’s stable scraping laterally. He’s prepared to fill gaps and aggressively takes on pullers with a low pad stage to clog the lanes. He breaks down nicely contained in the tackles to sq. up the runner and he takes stable angles to the surface. Strong flexibility and physique management helps him to try to duck below can be blockers. They used him to shoot into gaps to disrupt working lanes.
Vs Boston School, he scrapes to his left and when the runner commits to the opening, so does he and he stops the run.
At Louisville, he’ll learn and discover the hole to breakdown and make the cease for a loss.
At South Carolina, he exhibits his flexibility to duck below the blocker and make the sort out.
Towards the move, he displayed stable mobility in Zone protection getting good depth on his drops. He confirmed good consciousness of receivers in his space and makes an attempt to get a great jam on them. His timing and alter of course is stable when passing off receivers. He performed primarily within the curl/center drop areas however had a couple of snaps getting down the center of the sector in Tampa 2 protection. He reads the QB’s eyes and flows to the ball nicely and is stable diagnosing screens.
Listed here are two move breakups from Skalski one chasing after the QB and the opposite on the line of scrimmage.
Vs Boston School, he’ll learn the QB and get within the throwing lane to get the move breakup.
In Man protection, he was used within the quick and intermediate areas on tight ends and working backs. He seemed stable in path Man on tight ends add was stable selecting up working backs within the flat and on releases to the center of the sector.
Vs Georgia, he makes a pleasant learn on the receiver behind the LOS and he practically slips off however makes the sort out.
Whereas studying his keys, equivalent to pulling blockers, he takes his eyes off the ball and it takes him out of the play. His velocity is marginal forcing him to take close to good angles on exterior runs. When tackling he doesn’t run via the ball and has ample physicality typically sliding down or off of ball carriers. He has marginal play power and struggles to get off of blocks by linemen and tight ends. Working via site visitors he was marginal and spent a whole lot of time on the bottom. Is route consciousness was marginal on crossing routes and he would surrender his task in Man protection. He doesn’t cowl carefully sufficient to make performs on the ball. As a blitzer he had minimal success avoiding and disengaging from blockers and wishes a lane to get strain.
Vs Georgia, this can be a run play to his proper however he begins to drop into his protection to his left. Perhaps he was pondering bootleg however this appears to be a nasty learn.
Vs Georgia, this can be a toss play to his left he pauses to level to his proper after which doesn’t shoot the angle behind the pulling blockers.
Vs Boston School, that is Man protection and he has the working again and the security has the tight finish however he lets the working again go and it finally ends up being a great achieve.
Conclusion
Total, Skalski is a participant with a ton of collegiate expertise and performed in a number of schemes. He diagnoses his keys nicely, aggressively takes on blockers on the line of scrimmage. He has stable flexibility and takes stable angles in opposition to the run and has expertise in Man and Zone protection displaying stable consciousness in Zone.
Areas to enhance embody studying the mesh level, including play power to tackle blockers and enhancing his tackling method. Towards the move, he might work on understanding route combos, superb tuning his method in coverages and enhancing ball manufacturing.
Skalski brings expertise, management and stable manufacturing with him and people traits are essential. Nonetheless, his bodily abilities together with his velocity, block destruction and tackling are going to hinder him on the subsequent stage. He has the guts however I don’t suppose he has the athleticism.
For a comp, I’ll go along with Dakota Allen who had comparable measurement and measurables in addition to having comparable limitations. If he can clear up his tackling he might battle for a reserve/particular group spot.
Projection: Undrafted Free Agent
Depot Draft Grade: 5.7 Undrafted Free Agent (UDFA)
Video games Watched: 2021: Vs Georgia, Vs Boston School, At Louisville, At South Carolina
