{"id":109339,"date":"2021-04-04T16:03:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-04T20:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=109339"},"modified":"2021-04-08T12:56:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T16:56:02","slug":"jay-tufele-2021-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/04\/04\/jay-tufele-2021-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Jay Tufele 2021 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Jay Tufele 2021 NFL Draft Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Position: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defensive tackle<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Height: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6&#8217;2&#8243;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Weight: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">305 pounds<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Arms: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">32 \u00bd\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Hands: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9.375\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>School: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">USC<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021-nfl-draft-profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>More 2021 NFL Draft Profiles<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><b>Pro Day Performance Data<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>40-yard dash: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4.97<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Vertical: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Broad: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">105\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Three-cone: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7.77<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bench press: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30 reps<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Jay Tufele Draft Profile<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Overview<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jay Tufele redshirted his 2017 true freshman season at USC before seeing significant playing time as a redshirt freshman in 2018. Tufele appeared in all 12 games for the Trojans (five starts) and accounted for 23 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss, three sacks, a blocked field goal, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. The season earned Tufele All-Pac-12 second team honors along with USC\u2019s defensive lineman of the year award. As a sophomore in 2019, Tufele had a monster season as he started in all 13 games while racking up 41 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, and a pass deflection. The impressive campaign earned Tufele All-Pac-12 first team honors as well as being named USC\u2019s defensive lineman of the year for a second straight season. Tufele made the decision to opt out of the 2020 season to instead prepare for the NFL draft.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Very high motor player who gives his all on every play and never gives up<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explodes off the ball with aggression and impressive power<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transfers explosive speed to power and brings a heavy punch with him when popping would be blockers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NFL defensive tackle size and strength which is evident in his block shedding ability<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite his size, Tufele has surprisingly nice wiggle and flexibility to his game which makes him an impactful pass rusher<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is a three down defensive lineman with versatility to play inside within a 4-3 and outside within a 3-4<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Has not played football in a year<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are some questions about Tufele\u2019s overall maturity as a person<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lacks strong technique at the point of attack which he makes up for with strength and explosion<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experienced NFL blockers will expose his lack of technique which means he will need time to develop the finer aspects of his game<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>NFL Comparison: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/R\/RichSh00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sheldon Richardson<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Teams With Need at Position: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/browns\/\" target=\"_self\">Cleveland Browns<\/a><b>, <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a><b>, <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_self\">Miami Dolphins<\/a><b>, <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_self\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a><b>, <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/texans\/\" target=\"_self\">Houston Texans<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Projection: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mid second to third round<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>[pickup_prop id=&#8221;5066&#8243;]<\/p>\n<h3><b>The Bottom Line\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tufele is an extremely raw athlete with all the strength, athleticism, and energy needed to succeed at the next level. However, he has relied on those traits throughout much of his USC career and he will need to develop his technique further if he hopes to last in the NFL. Additionally, those fundamental fine tunes may take a season or two in order for him to fully develop as an NFL player. Tufele should be viewed as a high risk\/high reward prospect. If he is able to develop his technique, he will be a force to be reckoned with. While there are questions about his overall personal maturity, there are no major red flags in terms of criminal or troubling behavior. The questions of maturity are more on an individual and personal level with Tufele. Within the right situation and around the right coaches, Tufele could develop into a dominant interior defensive lineman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021-nfl-draft-profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>More 2021 NFL Draft Profiles<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"9gzSpaduSN5AUN3GHQFlkw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1026014722\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'9gzSpaduSN5AUN3GHQFlkw',sig:'NbCantWiBFOWmGtS-1E0dcZBY_6AQP8Dvcqg0Aqbbzg=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1026014722',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jay Tufele 2021 NFL Draft profile. Here is a breakdown of the former USC Trojan defensive tackle ahead of this year&#8217;s NFL draft. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3217,"featured_media":109641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,1647],"tags":[6669,7932],"class_list":["post-109339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-nfl-draft","tag-2021-nfl-draft","tag-jay-tufele"],"modified_by":"Justin Patrick, Site Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}