Austin Jackson OT, USC
Jackson’s physical and athletic profile is tailor-made to play left tackle. He possesses great length, is ultra-athletic, flexible, and light on his feet. The catch—as if often the case in these situations—is his incredibly raw technique.
Jackson certainly needs to get stronger, but improved fundamentals will allow him to better tap into his raw strength; and if he can learn to better translate power from his lower half to his upper half then he should be capable of handling stronger NFL edge rushers and improve at the point of attack.
He’ll fit great in the Birds zone running scheme and would make sense for a team who can afford to develop him for a year or two. The team isn’t 100% sold on Dillard, and after losing Peters and our swing-tackle in Vaitai, Howie would be wise to continue investing in the tackle spot.
Despite being named First Team All-Pac 12 in 2019 Jackson is certainly a project, but one with a ceiling worth taking a shot on. With all the talk about wide receivers on the offensive side of the ball we need to remind ourselves that the trenches are never off the table for the Eagles.
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