2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: DB Jalen Pitre, Baylor
Jalen Pitre, DB
Height: 5’10
Weight: 196 lbs.
Class: RS-Senior
School: Baylor
Pitre is a former three-star recruit out of Stafford High School in Stafford, Texas, where he was the 137th ranked Texas recruit in the 2017 recruiting cycle. Pitre played five years of college football after injuries during his sophomore year forced him to redshirt. Pitre did not void his bowl game and decided to play against Ole Miss in his final collegiate game where the Baylor Bears beat Ole Miss 21-7.
Notables
Pitre’s designation of “safety” is just a title; he predominantly played in the slot and box for his Baylor career. LSU’s championship defense was led by now current Baylor coach Dave Aranda, and he helped maximize Pitre’s abilities. Pitre was an Academic All-American, first-team All-Big 12, and he was an honorable mention for Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2021. He was first-team All-Big 12 in 2020.
Strengths
- Good overall athlete for the position
- Has good speed and agility in space
- Fluid in space, good transitions in coverage
- Has the hips and change of direction ability to play man coverage
- Hyper aware makes him good in zone concepts
- Very detail-oriented to his responsibility in coverage
- Was frequently asked to cover fast 3/4s and he wasn’t distracted by the dog & pony show the offense ran to negate his awareness
- Understood route concepts, did a solid overall job carrying routes deep
- Very high processing player, understands angles very well
- Good makeup/recovery speed when beat
- A good nickel/overhang defender who is adept in run support
- Hits low and hard (wish he wrapped up a bit more)
- Solid at staying square well to his target while flowing laterally
- When he played controlled and balanced (wasn’t always the case)
- Great on backside pursuit
- Played with good overall anticipation
- Excellent blitzer who did a good job defeating backside tight ends in protection
- Very good at diagnosing blitz and exploding with excellent burst
- Very tough, very instinctual, and a great nickel option for NFL teams
Can Improve
- He’s not the biggest or longest defensive back (30 ⅞” arms)
- Wish he was bigger
- Awareness wains down the field a bit
- Can be overaggressive vs zone/read
- Allowed long TD run by BYU QB in 2021
- Can also overpursue as a tackler
- Doesn’t have a lot of experience at safety
- May be forced to play apex/slot
Summary
Overall, Jalen Pitre is a good nickel-back who is smart, has the necessary coverage skills (man or zone), and he’s aggressively dynamic in run support. Aranda blitzed him a ton in his senior season, and he was effective with 25 pressures and five sacks, per Pro Football Focus. He’s a physical player who is always around the football; I just wish he was a bit bigger. His role is destined as a nickel who can play near the box in passing situations.
GRADE: 6.4
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