{"id":277141,"date":"2026-04-22T22:01:55","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=277141"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:06:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:06:34","slug":"jalen-husky-2026-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/22\/jalen-husky-2026-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Huskey 2026 NFL Draft Profile\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teams needing a centerfielder at safety who has the instincts to succeed, it is Jalen Huskey. His knack for finding the football makes him NFL ready. He baited college quarterbacks into throwing bad passes and will do so at the next level. He\u2019s not going to win a foot race against speedy receivers, that is for sure. Huskey\u2019s ball hawking abilities are outstanding and his instincts are a big reason his ceiling is very high.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-draft\/profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><em>More 2026 NFL Draft Profiles<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Jalen Huskey 2026 NFL Draft Overview<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBzw53bql9\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 4000px; aspect-ratio: 4000\/2668;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Position: Cornerback<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Height: 6\u20191 \u00bc\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weight: 196 pounds<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/category\/bigten\/maryland-terrapins\/\" target=\"_self\">Maryland<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>2026 NFL Draft PLAYER Scouting Report<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengths<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gives top effort in the running game and passing game<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lengthy reach, wingspan is 75 3\u20194\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clocked a 4.5 40 yard dash and 1.54 in the 10 yard split<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Football IQ is off the charts, exactly what teams want in their free safety, quarterbacking the defense<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huskey was a stats machine at Bowling Green and Maryland, picking up 113 solo tackles, five tackles for loss and netting 11 interceptions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huskey is going to be a turnover magnet in the NFL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He reads offensive schemes well and sniffs out plays underneath, a natural in zone coverages.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Built with an NFL frame at 6\u20191 \u00bc\u201d and 196 pounds<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collected a 10\u20191\u201d broad jump and 36 \u00bd\u201d vertical jump<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scouts observed Huskey regularly baiting quarterbacks into bad throws, plays beyond his level of experience.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Takes angles like an All-Pro NFL safety would<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Husky reads quarterbacks\u2019 eyes as if he was in their heads.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reliable open field tackler<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weaknesses\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lacking top end speed, impacted when covering speed receivers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Struggles recovering when beaten in coverage<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poor technique in tackling, often is seen tackling ball carriers and receivers high<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As he enters the NFL, lacks the necessary strength to deal with strong, physical receivers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huskey lacks high end speed that is preferred for supporting against speedsters.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He will need to be coached on how to open his hips in changing directions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Huskey is prone to being too aggressive, is susceptible to double moves.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scouts fear his ball hawking drive may lead to too many penalties in the NFL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Huskey is likely to be targeted by offensive coordinators for his interest in peeking into the backfield quite easily, he is prone to being too aggressive and big plays can result.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>NFL Comparison: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2017\/02\/06\/malik-hooker-2017-nfl-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malik Hooker <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/levi-wallace\/32005741-4c46-5573-953a-9acfeb7cb853\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Levi Wallace<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need At Position: \u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/ravens\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baltimore Ravens<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bills\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buffalo Bills<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago Bears<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/browns\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cleveland Browns<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/chiefs\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/rams\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Los Angeles Rams<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miami Dolphins<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New England Patriots<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/saints\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Orleans Saints<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/washington-commanders\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Commanders<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Projection:<\/strong>\u00a0 Rounds 5 or 6<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Bottom Line on Jalen Huskey<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jalen Huskey has the size and toughness to excel at free safety in the pro game. His instincts and toughness are off the charts. There is some concern his lack of high end speed my hurt his chances with playing free safety. He fits the prototypical safety body and he shows the instincts needed to sniff out plays underneath. Teams showing significant interest in Husky include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Atlanta Falcons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/ravens\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baltimore Ravens<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/broncos\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Denver Broncos<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New England Patriots<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> , <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/giants\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York Giants<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/washington-commanders\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Washington Commanders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Teams needing a centerfielder at safety who has the instincts to succeed, it is Jalen Huskey. His knack for finding the football makes him NFL ready. He baited college quarterbacks into throwing bad passes and will do so at the next level. He\u2019s not going to win a foot race against speedy receivers, that is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4925,"featured_media":278357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[1647,33760],"tags":[33533,34644],"class_list":["post-277141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-jalen-huskey"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277141","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\/4925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277141"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":278374,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277141\/revisions\/278374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}