Daniel Jeremiah released his final mock draft, his 4.0 mock draft, on Wednesday night, and he has Miami looking to find someone who can step in and replace Christian Wilkins.
Round 1, Pick #21: Johnny “Jer’Zhan” Newton, DT – Illinois
“The Dolphins can’t adequately replace Christian Wilkins in 2024, but Newton is an excellent prospect who will have an immediate impact.”
NFL.com Draft Profile
Overview
Active interior defender with the potential to build on his disruptive production in college. Newton’s size and length don’t stand out, but he has shown a consistent ability to gain extension and set edges against bigger opponents. Newton is clever in setting up blockers and then beating them with sudden hand usage and foot quickness as both a run defender and a pass rusher. He’s strong enough to hold the point, but he’s not going to overwhelm NFL guards with force or power. His skill level and athleticism should create additional playmaking opportunities for him as a three-down 3-technique with early starting potential.
Strengths
- Compact and muscular with plenty of upper-body power.
- Loose-limbed and athletic with ability to run the field like a big defensive end.
- Able to press and set firm edges using either hand for either gap.
- Agility and suddenness unlock slide-and-slap move to beat guards quickly.
- Tape shows a player capable of rushing with purpose and a plan.
- Outstanding instincts and timing for beating blocker’s edge.
- Foot quickness creates mismatches for plodding pass protectors.
- Edge to edge attacking mindset creates secondary pressures and sacks.
Weaknesses
- Tends to catch rather than jolt blockers at initial contact.
- Needs to tighten up his shed timing as a tackler.
- Occasionally loses rush lane integrity when searching for pressure.
- Shaky pad level prevents consistent pocket push as power rusher.
PFF Draft Profile
Newton is listed at only 6-foot-1 and 300 pounds, but he often makes up for it in quickness. Few pass-rushers get off blocks better than him. He likes to win by getting his hands on a blocker and using a push-pull or arm-over.
He brings a wide variety of pass-rush moves and counters. In run defense, he shoots his hands up and in and throws linemen aside after getting them off-balance. If he does not immediately win, he can get controlled at his lower weight.
His high run-defense grades come more from gap shooting than from holding the line, and he does not hold up consistently against double teams.
HOW NEWTON RANKS IN THE STABLE METRICS
PFF pass-rush grade is one of the most stable measures of play, as it isolates a pass-rusher’s ability to win, how quickly he wins and how well he finishes plays.
The quicker the rusher defeats the blocker, the higher his grade will be. And given the hundreds of one-on-one interactions over a given season, this grade is very stable from year to year.
PFF pass-rush grade is strong on its own, but we can also use it to gauge performance in “must pass” situations.
Pressure percentage and win percentage are also strong measures of play and are far better than just using sack totals to evaluate a pass-rusher’s performance.
PFF run-defense grade is also very stable from year to year, while run-stop percentage is a good measure of playmaking in the run game.
Newton has been a solid pass-rusher along the interior and has really developed his game over the last two years. Over the last two seasons, he recorded 102 pressures — including 12 sacks — for a pass-rush win rate of 14.9%. He earned a 90.9 PFF grade on true pass rushes over that time, ninth among players at the position.
The Illinois defender will provide immense value to an NFL team’s run defense, as he has thrived in that aspect in college. Newton generated a 29.8% positively graded run play rate (with just an 8.8% negatively graded play rate) in his impressive 2022 campaign.
BOTTOM LINE FROM PFF’S 2024 NFL DRAFT GUIDE
Newton has some physical limitations due to his size and lack of natural flexibility, but his hand usage, pass-rush tools and block-shedding ability allow him to be very productive in any alignment as a three-to-five-technique player.
