Scouting Armagedon Draughn
Over the last few days, the Jets have made a series of roster moves. We've been taking an in-depth look at the players they acquired over the past few days. Today, we check out the last of them; defensive back Armagedon Draughn.
The 23-year old Draughn is listed at 6'4" and 195 pounds attended college at four different schools and spent time in the Canadian Football League earlier this year.
Background
Draughn is a bit of an enigma. He doesn't seem to have been on any draft experts' radars and even the information the Jets Official Site shared on him when they signed him was inaccurate in a few places.
However, since we're aware that you don't want to miss a thing, we've been able to determine where he came from and why he's not a well-known prospect.
In high school, Draughn played wide receiver and cornerback and also ran track. He was then recruited to Albany State, where he redshirted his freshman year in 2012.
In 2013, he became a starter and helped Albany State to a conference championship. Over the course of the season, he was credited with 19 tackles, half a tackle for loss, five pass break-ups and an interception. So far, so good.
At the end of the season, Draughn transferred to Delta State and it's there that the trail starts to run cold. The Jets website he also played there and also at Missouri State and Tuskegee but he doesn't appear on the roster for any of those teams in 2014, 2015 or 2016 and hasn't been credited with any statistics in NCAA Football over that time.
From this source, we can start to piece together what happened over those three seasons.
It seems he struggled to cope with the conditions at Delta State so he decided to transfer to Missouri Southern State. (We've since confirmed that he did indeed transfer to MSSU, not Missouri State as the Jets website had said). However, MSSU lost their head coach so Draughn decided to transfer again, to Tuskegee. Due to NCAA transfer rules, he had to sit out the 2015 season and then was ruled academically ineligible in 2016.
Having not played since 2013, Draughn was facing an uphill challenge just to get a shot with a pro team but managed to earn a try-out with the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. They signed him, but released him in final cuts. However, he did get to play in two preseason games, registering two tackles and an interception.
Now let's review what Draughn brings to the table, divided into categories.
Measurables
Draughn is another tall, lanky cornerback and his length is immediately evident on film. In addition, while he hasn't participated in a pro day workout, information online indicates he's a good athlete having posted a 4.41 40-yard dash, 33-inch vertical leap and 18 bench press reps.
You can see how, despite how raw and inexperienced he might be, a pro team would be salivating over his athletic potential.
Usage
Draughn is listed as a safety by the Jets, but has actually only played cornerback while with the Redblacks and at Albany State. However, he did state in an interview that he can play all the defensive back positions.
In his CFL action, Draughn was primarily employed in off-coverage, although he was occasionally aligned closer to the line of scrimmage. He played plenty of press coverage in college.
He mostly played on the outside based on the footage reviewed, but did occasionally line up in the slot at college and in high school.
Coverage skills
Draughn's best asset is his length and he uses that in coverage to disrupt passes at full extension, where a smaller player would perhaps have been beaten by half a step. He also seems to do a good job of using his size to affect the receiver's route down the field, although that may be less effective against stronger NFL-level players. His closing speed is good and he can run stride for stride with a receiver on a deep ball.
He's still raw technically though, as you'd expect. On this play from one of the CFL preseason games, he struggles to adjust to the ball in the air, gets outmuscled and can't recover to make the tackle:
He bounced back though, to make this interception later on in the game. It was a similar play to the one on which he made his own collegiate interception and that ability to come down with a deep pass could perhaps lend itself to a deep safety role:
In the footage available, it seemed like most of the catches Draughn gave up were because he was playing too far off and his receiver was able to make the catch underneath.
Physicality
Draughn has shown some ability to be effective in press coverage and he uses his length well, not just when jamming but also in situations where he has to fight off a block. He's also had a few big hits as a tackler.
Ball skills
As noted, Draughn had five passes defensed and an interception in his one season at Albany State, a few of which saw him jump a route to disrupt a pass.
He should have had a second interception after good coverage on a deep ball, but he dropped that one.
Run defense
Despite the fact he played on the outside, Draughn made some contributions in the running game. Due to his size, it was not easy for a receiver to block him out of a play on the outside and he made a few good plays in space against option-type plays.
Here's an example of him making a good play against the run, taken from what appears to be practice footage from his time at Tuskegee:
Tackling
Draughn has good range in pursuit, closes fast to the ball and uses his long arms well to wrap up ball carriers low. However, as already seen in the touchdown shown in the above gif, he will miss tackles from time to time.
While there are examples where he breaks down well in space and keeps the ball carrier in front of him, he is also prone to coming up too fast and missing his tackle. He did that a few times, including at the 2:50 mark in these highlights.
Draughn also had a tendency to throw a shoulder rather than making a form tackle on a few plays.
Blitzing
Since he was playing on the outside, there didn't seem to be any footage of Draughn blitzing and he didn't get credit for any sacks, hits or hurries at Albany State or Ottawa. He would have good speed off the edge, but might be a bit too upright to be able to trouble a blocker.
Special teams
Special teams are probably where the Jets see the most immediate potential for Draughn to contribute. He can obviously run and has good range in space. From the footage available, he got some work as the vice and was around the football once or twice in kick coverage, but the only special teams tackle he was credited with in the footage available was an apparent scoring error.
He doesn't seem to have any return experience other than one play on his high school highlight reel where he fielded a short kick and took it back to the halfway line.
Instincts
Draughn appears to do a good job of getting his head turned early and locating the football. He also had a few plays where he made a good read and came up fast to make a stop, including a couple of tackles in the flat after having passed off his man to a safety.
In the CFL, he made one mistake where he was following the receiver in motion and got too close so he was actually in the neutral zone as the ball was snapped, giving the offense a free play.
Attitude
Draughn seems to be highly motivated and driven. He's obviously a hard worker in the weight room and the very fact that he's been able to earn himself a contract with such an incomplete résumé suggests he must have impressed in his workout.
All the bouncing around from program to program would probably concern some teams, even though there mostly seemed to be viable reasons behind it.
Injuries
Draughn doesn't seem to have had any injury issues, but he reportedly has the sickle cell trait, which shouldn't affect his day to day life but is cited as a factor in his decision to leave Delta State.
Scheme Fit
In an ideal world, the Jets will be able to mold Draughn into the type of long, press-cover corner that Todd Bowles and his staff can't get enough of. A deep-ranging free safety is a possibility too. However, in the short term, his lack of experience and raw skill-set probably means he'll be cutting his teeth on special teams.
Conclusions
Draughn is one of the most obscure players the Jets have signed in recent memory, but does have some tantalizing attributes and it would be an incredible story if he can make something of himself at this level. It's amazing enough that he managed to get himself signed.
There's really nothing to lose in signing a guy like this and perhaps even throwing him out there on Thursday night to see if he does anything to stand out.
I can't see him earning a spot on the roster and he's probably even a long shot to make the practice squad, but if Draughn can show the Jets something this week then maybe he'll be a player they'll bring back in at some point - perhaps for mini-camp next year or even a three-week cameo on the scout team later in the season.
If not, it's not the end of the world.