Brenden Jaimes: A NFL Scouting Perspective

As the resident NFL/NFLDraft writer here at Corn Nation I am going to be diving into the tape on a different Husker senior and looking at how they performed in this past week’s game from a NFL Draft point of view. With the strong performance of the Nebraska offensive line I thought it would be fitting to have left tackle Brenden Jaimes be the focus of my first installment of the Husker Scouting Notes.

What he did well

There were a lot of positives for Brenden Jaimes against Ohio State as he had a good game facing off against the trio of Zach Harrison, Tyler Friday and Tyreke Smith. In pass protection Jaimes played with good knee bend and used his lateral agility to slide outside cutting off defenders and preventing them from being able to turn the corner. Even when defenders would make a quick move to get inside, Jaimes showed the ability to react quickly and redirect inside to cut off the edge. But what really stood out to me during the Ohio State game was the improved hand usage that Jaimes showed at the point of attack.

When I broke down Jaimes’ game this summer his hand placement was off and oftentimes would get knocked away by defenders swat moves. Against Ohio State Jaimes was much better at the point of attack getting his hands inside or continuing to punch which made it tough for the Buckeye defenders to get an advantage. In the run game Jaimes was strong at the point of attack using good leverage to take on defenders either sealing them off on the backside or even steering defenders into a position to wall them off.

What went wrong

Not a lot went wrong as overall it was a strong game for Jaimes who was able to limit the defenders he was blocking throughout the game. However there were a few times during the game that Jaimes did miss a block or made an error. The biggest issue was Jaimes had a few occasions where he got knocked off balance by the defender who knocked his hands away with a swat and then made a quick move outside but Martinez was rolling away. Another time Javontae Jean-Baptiste was able to use a grab and pull technique to get Jaimes off balance and past him inside, but left guard Trent Hixson was sliding over to pick him up.

The only mistake Jaimes made that ended up in a negative play was in the first quarter on a wide outside run Jaimes had good position on the defensive end, but couldn’t lock down the defender who slipped and was able to help make a tackle for loss.

Stock Up/Down

This was a strong game for Jaimes which should only enhance his standing when it comes to the NFL. While Ohio State doesn’t have Chase Young or either of the two Bosa’s lining up on the edge, their defensive ends are still young, talented and will be playing in the NFL. Adding some bulk seems to have improved his overall core strength while his improved hand usage has really shown up right away. Going into the season I thought Jaimes would likely be a day three pick going somewhere in the fifth round area. But if Jaimes can continue to play like he did against Ohio State, it wouldn’t surprise me if he found his way into the late third round.