Jamarco Jones with a rough debut at tackle

It wasn’t all that long ago that I posed the question on Twitter asking Seattle Seahawks fans who they would like to see as the team’s right tackle in 2020.

The winner of the poll was second year lineman Jamarco Jones, one of the team’s four selections in fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft. This past Sunday, fans got to see Jones in his first regular season action at tackle in the NFL, and after Chandler Jones tied a career high in sacks with four and set a new career high in quarterback hits with six, some fans are likely no longer lobbying for Jamarco to be the starting right tackle come 2020.

That said, Chandler Jones represents possibly the worst case scenario for Jamarco Jones in terms of matchups in a first ever start at tackle in the NFL. Jamarco’s best assets are his length and his ability to maintain engagement once he’s locked on to a defender. His 35-1/8” arms typically give him the ability to be the first to engage when battling with defenders.

Unfortunately for Jamarco, Chandler has 35-1/2” arms, and that largely negates his best asset.

Jamarco’s inability to get his hands on Chandler, and to then control the battle between the two was on display repeatedly Sunday, and it played a large role in the beating Russ took. However, it wasn’t just a length disadvantage that Jamarco was battling. Chandler is far from the fastest edge rusher in the NFL, as his 4.87 40 time at the combine is far slower than guys like Myles Garrett (4.64), Dante Fowler (4.60), Aaron Donald (4.69), Danielle Hunter (4.57), T.J. Watt (4.69), Khalil Mack (4.65), Bruce Irvin (4.41), Von Miller (4.42) and so on.

That said, Chandler Jones has an initial burst that is much quicker than his 40 time would indicate. Here is how his ten yard split stacks up against those of the players listed above.

For reference to a couple of Seattle players, Bobby Wagner’s 10-yard split was 1.57 and Rashaad Penny’s was 1.58. Getting to some clips of how this disadvantaged matchup played out for Jamarco in Week 16, there were some plays that were simply not pretty.

Before anyone accuses me of simply cherry picking the bad clips from Sunday’s game, let me cut that off instantly. All of these ugly plays came within the first 18 minutes of the game. I’ll go through the rest of the tape from Week 16 when I have a chance, but most of it is more of the same. I’m in no way saying there weren’t any positives to take away from the performance, as there certainly were.

So, the question obviously becomes how Jamarco will play going forward. Many young offensive linemen struggle, and the more important question is why they struggled. George Fant, for example, had never played offensive line before, so many of his struggles came from never having used technique. Technique is something that can be learned and practiced, and over the years Fant has certainly improved.

Thus, with Jamarco Jones, it becomes a matter of whether he will be able to add some weight to his frame in order to be able to better handle edge rushers. The Seahawks list him at under 300 pounds, which means he’s at a disadvantage in size, strength and speed compared to the majority of other tackles in the NFL. Adding weight could eliminate one of those three disadvantages, but it could come at a cost of his athleticism dipping further.

As for those who are curious about how Jones was graded by PFF, they were not impressed by his performance.

It will certainly be interesting to see how the team approaches the left tackle position in Week 17, as it seems like the team could start either Fant or Jones at the position this week. Fant would seem to be the logical choice after the Cardinals game, but perhaps the team would like to learn a little more about what it has in Jones before heading into an offseason that could see almost the entire offensive line overhauled heading into 2020.