2024 NFL Draft: Who Fits Jaguars' GM Trent Baalke's Arm Length Threshold?
Breaking news: the Jacksonville Jaguars care about arm length in their defensive line prospects. Along with 31 other teams.
With that said, using an arm length benchmark during the Trent Baalke era has helped identify a lot of potential picks in past years, including Jordan Smith, Travon Walker, and Tyler Lacy.
Throughout Baalke's entire career as a general manager, he has selected 17 defensive tackles or edge rushers. 13 of those players have had arm length of 33 inches or more. The only four who didn't include a fourth-rounder (Jay Tufele) who only lasted one season; a fifth-rounder (Yasir Abdullah) who spent most of the year as a healthy scratch; and two seventh rounders, including one (Raymond Vohasek) who didn't even spend a day on the Jaguars' practice squad.
In short, this metric has helped identify a pattern with Baalke as one of his potential biases. There have been few exceptions, and none of those exceptions have occurred in the first two days of the draft.
So with this in mind ... which prospects this year meet the 33-inch threshold, and which fall under it and may not be as high on the Jaguars' board? We break down the groups below.
33" and over
- Dallas Turner: 34 3/8
- Jared Verse: 33 1/2
- Darius Robinson: 34 1/2
- Chris Braswell: 33 1/4
- Jonah Elliss: 33
- Javon Solomon: 33 7/8
- Austin Booker: 33 7/8
- Adisa Isaac: 33 7/8
- Zion Tupuola-Fetui: 33 3/8
- Nelson Ceasar: 33 5/8
- Eyabi Okie: 33 1/2
- Braiden McGregor: 33 1/4
- Eric Watts: 35 3/4
- Cedric Johnson: 33 1/2
- Javontae Jean-Baptiste: 33 3/4
- Jaylen Harrell: 33 1/4
- Solomon Byrd: 33 5/8
- Myles Cole: 36 7/8
- T'Vondre Sweat: 33 3/8
- Michael Hall Jr.: 33 1/2
- Kris Jenkins: 34
- Leonard Taylor III: 33 3/4
- McKinnley Jackson: 33 5/6
- DeWayne Carter: 33
- Marshawn Kneeland: 34 1/2
- Ruke Orhorhoro: 34
- Justin Eboigbe: 33 3/8
- Brandon Dorlus: 33 1/4
- Maason Smith: 35
- Myles Murphy: 33 7/8
- Gabe Hall: 34 1/2
- Jaden Crumedy: 33
- Justin Rogers: 33
- Zion Logue: 33 1/2
- Jordan Jefferson: 33
- Fabien Lovett: 35 1/2
Below 33"
- Laiatu Latu: 32 5/8
- Chop Robinson: 32 1/2
- Bralen Trice: 32 1/2
- Gabriel Murphy: 32 3/8
- Xavier Thompson: 32 7/8
- Brennan Jackson: 32 3/4
- Mohamed Kamara: 32 3/8
- Trajan Jeffcoat: 32 3/4
- Byron Murphy II: 32 2/5
- Jer'Zhan Newton: 32 2/5
- Braden Fiske: 31
- Mekhi Wingo: 32
- Marcus Harris: 32
- Tyler Davis: 31 3/8
- Keith Randoplh: 32 3/4
- Logan Lee: 32 1/4
In short, there are a few big names who come in on the lower-end here. Laiatu Latu, Chop Robinson, Bralen Trice, Byron Murphy, and Jer'Zhan Newton have all gotten first-round hype and Braden Fiske just had an elite showing at the combine.
On the flip side, there are a lot of Day 2 and Day 3 options who hit the benchmark. Kris Jenkins and Ruke Orhorhoro make sense as Day 2 options specifically.
