The 49ers decided to use their first pick of the 2022 NFL Draft to give a boost to their pass rush, selecting edge defender Drake Jackson out of USC with the 61st overall pick in the second round. What should 49ers fans know about the team's newest defensive lineman? Here's a quick rundown.
Stock fluctuation
Jackson enrolled at USC in the spring of 2019, then made an immediate splash as a true freshman, racking up 46 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and a forced fumble in 11 starts. His performance earned him second-team All-Pac-12 honors while also landing him a second-team spot on the Pro Football Focus Freshman All-American team. At first, Jackson looked like he might be on track to be a potential Day 1 pick in the NFL Draft, but things changed once he reached his sophomore and junior seasons.
COVID-19 resulted in the cancellation of several of USC's games in 2020, so Jackson was limited to just 20 tackles with two sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss in six starts. Jackson was also asked to shed weight for a move to hybrid outside linebacker, then he lost more weight before the start of the 2021 season due to a battle of his own with COVID-19. He started nine of 11 games played in 2021 and totaled 37 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and five sacks.
Jackson's agent Drew Rosenhaus raised some eyebrows earlier in the week when he predicted Jackson would wind up being taken in the first round. Things didn't work out that way, but Jackson is still in a good spot as he begins his NFL career with the 49ers.
Weight watch
According to the Orange County Register, Jackson started his playing days at USC at 275 before dropping 20 pounds in 2020 and five more pounds when fighting COVID-19. But he's been busy bulking up for the NFL and is now nearly back to his playing weight as a freshman. Jackson has improved his diet while working out with an outside athletic training company and says he's now more muscular than he was as a freshman, which will help his performance on the field.
"I feel great. I feel like I'm still 255 or something like that," Jackson said, per the Register. "I'm gonna be more effective now. It's gonna be a lot crazier now with this weight. And now it's good weight. When I was a freshman, it was baby fat, now it's muscle."
He brings athleticism
Athleticism is a strength for Jackson, who posted a 36.5-inch vertical jump and a 127-inch broad jump at the NFL Scouting Combine. At USC's pro day in March, Jackson put up a 7.09-second time in the 3-cone drill while weighing in at 273 pounds. According to BloggingTheBoys.com, Jackson was clocked at 4.5 in the 40-yard dash after his sophomore year.
And oh yeah, he can also do this:
Shhhh 🤫 pic.twitter.com/WEJWiuP6n6
— Thee Drake Jackson (@The99Athlete) February 21, 2019
Improvement needed against the run?
Jackson comes to the 49ers with pass rush skills to go with his athleticism, but he's drawn some criticism for his play against the run. NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein says Jackson "needs a major upgrade in grit and technique against the run."
David Howman of BloggingTheBoys writes, "(Run defense) is easily Jackson's biggest weakness. When tasked with being the primary edge-setter, Jackson just doesn't have the strength and technical refinement to get the job done. He's also very inconsistent as a tackler. Jackson's lateral agility and athleticism offer promise to develop in this area, though."
High school star
Jackson was a prep standout at Centennial High School in Corona, California. He was rated as a top 100 overall four-star prospect by 247Sports and had scholarship offers from Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and a number of other colleges. Jackson was a PrepStar All-American in 2018 and was an named as an All-Area performer by the Los Angeles Times.