{"id":85149,"date":"2020-04-16T16:30:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T20:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=85149"},"modified":"2020-04-12T22:00:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T02:00:33","slug":"josiah-deguara-2020-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/04\/16\/josiah-deguara-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Josiah Deguara 2020 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Josiah Deguara Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Position<\/strong>: Tight End<br \/>\n<strong>Height: <\/strong>6\u2019-2\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight: <\/strong>242 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong>Cincinnati<\/p>\n<p><strong>NFL Combine Performance Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>40 Yard Dash: <\/strong>4.72 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>Bench Press: <\/strong>25 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical Jump: <\/strong>35.5\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Broad Jump: <\/strong>115.0\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>3 Cone Drill<\/strong>: 7.15 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>20 Yard Shuttle: <\/strong>4.35 seconds<\/p>\n<h2>Josiah Deguara 2020 NFL Draft Profile<\/h2>\n<p>After five years at Cincinnati, tight end Josiah Deguara is looking to take his game to the professional level. The graduate is coming off of the best season of his young career, recording 39 receptions on 71 targets for 504 yards and seven touchdowns on 782 snaps. All of these represent career-highs, and they could have been much better if it weren\u2019t for an underwhelming quarterback situation.<\/p>\n<p>Deguara initially entered the collegiate ranks as a two-star prospect. A three-sport athlete in high school, Deguara only received two offers to play football and ended up choosing Cincinnati. The California native spent the majority of his first three seasons riding the bench before breaking out in 2018. During that campaign, Deguara recorded 38 receptions on 59 targets for 488 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Solid route runner with subtle nuance to throw off defenders;<\/li>\n<li>Above-average run blocker, plays well above his size in the trenches;<\/li>\n<li>High-motor guy that never takes a play off;<\/li>\n<li>Fluid mover with the ability to navigate in traffic and find soft spots in the defense;<\/li>\n<li>Would have had much better production with improved quarterback play;<\/li>\n<li>Gets to the second level with regularity to spring big runs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Smaller frame means his blocking prowess might not carry to the NFL;<\/li>\n<li>Objectively bad in contested catch situations;<\/li>\n<li>7<sup>th<\/sup> percentile arm length means he will have a hard time engaging blocks;<\/li>\n<li>Looks more like a wide receiver than a tight end when running routes;<\/li>\n<li>Inconsistent hands, sometimes uses his body to make catches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/K\/KendLa00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lance Kendricks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/cardinals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Arizona Cardinals<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Carolina Panthers<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/packers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Green Bay Packers<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jacksonville Jaguars<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Pittsburgh Steelers<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/redskins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Washington Redskins<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>Round 4\/5<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Josiah Deguara<\/h3>\n<p>Josiah Deguara is not the player you imagine when you think of a conventional tight end. While he is one of the better run blockers in the class, he doesn\u2019t win by being a big, glorified offensive lineman. Instead, Deguara managed to make a difference in the run game by using his fundamentals and understanding of leverage to push around bigger defenders. He\u2019s no slouch in as a pass-catcher, either, as Deguara possesses developed route-running skills that should let him contribute relatively early into his career. Essentially, he\u2019s more of an H-back than a true tight end.<\/p>\n<p>The H-back is valuable in today\u2019s NFL, but Deguara faces a few challenges to succeed at the professional level. While he was one of the best run blockers in college, there is some serious question as to whether or not he can hold up to NFL strength. Deguara is undersized for the position, and perfect technique might not be enough against this advanced level of competition. As a receiver, Deguara moves more like a wide receiver in that he struggled to win in contested situations and can be overmatched by contact. He probably won\u2019t be anything more than a solid backup, but there is a role for a player like this.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"7zlP4hHmRCVfOXUma7A8Ug\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1217688666\" 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:'7zlP4hHmRCVfOXUma7A8Ug',sig:'WOeFQ7D6fq6maFTo1knhrGEd8IU-OQCljIemEcL6i0c=',w:'594px',h:'446px',items:'1217688666',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>After spending his collegiate career with Cincinnati, tight end Josiah Deguara looks to take his game to the professional level in the 2020 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":85151,"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":[1647],"tags":[5273,61,6437,40],"class_list":["post-85149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2020-nfl-draft","tag-football","tag-josiah-deguara","tag-nfl"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85149","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\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}