Oklahoma DL Jalen Redmond Strived to Find 'Consistency' at Pro Day Showcase
NORMAN — Jalen Redmond’s Pro Day had one clear goal — stay consistent.
After four seasons on the field at Oklahoma, Redmond declared for the NFL Draft.
Redmond battled through injuries and position changes, starting as a defensive end before being moved to the defensive interior as his career progressed.
Throughout the entire draft process, Redmond has had to answer for his injury history.
But when he does step on the field, the feedback he’s gotten from NFL scouts has been pretty simple.
“Being consistent,” Redmond said after his Pro Day workout on Thursday. “That’s what they said from my previous film, they just want to see me be consistent. But everything else has been good.”
So that’s what he set out to do to match his NFL Combine performance.
“I feel like it went good,” he said. “I was a little tired, but he put it on us today. Put us through some good work, so it’s good.”
Pro Day was one of the last steps on a long draft journey for Redmond.
He totaled 71 total tackles and 14 quarterback sacks in his career, but the decision to declare wasn’t easy.
“It was difficult,” Redmond said. “I know a lot of people probably wanted to see me come back. That was a hard decision to make because coming out, my grade was probably like an undrafted free agency. So that made it hard but it made it easy because I’m like OK, now I’ve really got something to prove.
“It made it easy to come out here and do what I needed to do to prove a lot of people wrong.”
On top of explaining his injury history to teams, including a scary moment with a blood clot, Redmond has to find a position in the NFL.
The reviews have been mixed on if teams project him more as a defensive end or interior lineman at the next level. But he sees his experience at every spot along the defensive line as a strength.
“Some teams are looking at me as an end, they have me going over some of their end plays,” he said. “And some have me doing DT and nose. So it all depends on the team, but I feel like I’ve (played) it all already.”
Last season’s coaching change may have inadvertently helped him adapt to whatever defensive scheme he’s placed in.
Having to digest Brent Venables’ sizable playbook showed him how to quickly pick up a new defense, which has been an asset during the draft process.
“His defense is just so complex and it’s really just tough to learn,” Redmond said. “But when you learn it you feel like you’ve kind of got it. But it’s hard, you’ve got to put in the work.
“… So when we went over plays with NFL teams, it made it a lot easier for me to pick the plays up… Just because what we did here was so hard and complex. It helped out a lot.”
But with one of the last major hurdles cleared, Redmond is now looking forward to spending draft day at home with his family and starting the next stage of his football career.
“It’s a lot harder than I expected, but it was good,” Redmond said. “Learned a lot. Met a lot of good guys through this journey. Talked to a lot of people. It was a good experience overall, everything with the combine and with this. Everything’s a good experience.”
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