Jeremy Chinn 2020 NFL Draft Profile

South Illinois safety Jeremy Chinn entered the collegiate football landscape to limited fanfare. He wasn’t ranked by 24/7 Sports and didn’t receive a single Division I offer. Most of the minimal interest was due to playing through an injury as a Junior, as Chinn had the best season of his high school career as a Senior. Chinn proved his Senior year of high school was no fluke, as he earned a spot on the All-Newcomer Team in 2016 despite missing three games with a shoulder injury. He followed that up by winning Second-Team All-Conference honors in 2017 and earning Fist-Team All-MVFC honors as a Junior.

Jeremy Chinn played 655 snaps for South Illinois in his final year of eligibility. During his time on the field, Chinn recorded 55 tackles, 12 assists, four interceptions, and seven missed tackles. He earned Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Conference honors following the final year of his collegiate career.

Strengths

Ideal build and size to play safety and pseudo-linebacker;

Can break free from blockers to pursue ball carrier;

Held his own against receivers in man coverage;

Impressive straight-line speed when pursuing ball carriers;

Freak athlete.

Weaknesses

Slow reaction time and late to diagnose plays;

Not very instinctual and is typically a step late;

Not as aggressive as you’d like when going downhill;

Had a terrible week of practices at the Senior Bowl;

Below-average football IQ;

Didn’t face any elite competition in 2019;

Subpar ball awareness and doesn’t eye the quarterback.

NFL Comparison: Obi Melifonwu

Projection: 4^th-5^th round

Bottom Line on Jeremy Chinn

Jeremy Chinn is a phenomenal athlete that might not ever be a good football player. The Southern Illinois product is an absolute physical specimen and lit up the NFL Combine with one of the best performances of anyone in the safety class. This is going to grab the attention of quite a few NFL organizations, but it could artificially inflate his draft stock.

Chinn struggles to diagnose plays and is an active liability in zone coverage. His instincts leave a lot to be desired and he’s usually a step too late to make a play, despite his speed. This problem is only going to get worse at the NFL level, as the game moves dramatically faster than Division II college ball. He could turn into a good player if his coach can teach him how to read an offense and substantially increase his football IQ. However, the odds of that happening are very slim, and it’s hard to play safety without the ability to diagnose routes and read a quarterback. Because of this, it’s hard to justify using anything more than a late-round pick on Chinn.

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