Hamsah
Nasirildeen.
Hamsah
Nasirildeen.
Florida St.· 6'3"· 215 lb
"A 6'3", 215-pound Florida State safety returning from a November 2019 ACL tear with only five 2020 games — a Round-6 dice roll on length and pre-injury range with a likely LB/big-nickel conversion."Pre-draft read
He aligns as a single-high safety, tracking crossers from depth and driving downhill through the intermediate window. He shows clean eyes on the quarterback in Cover-1 and Cover-3, closing on curl/flat throws and affecting lanes at the catch point with his length. He can mirror inside-breakers in the slot in short spurts, utilizing his reach against tight ends and bigger receivers.
Against the run, he takes on lead blockers with force and is a reliable box tackler, though occasionally aggressive against play-action. Post-injury, his hip transition and short-area recovery are a beat slower, which points to a projection as a heavy-package hybrid defender rather than a consistent deep safety. His length and ability to deconstruct lead blocks are key separators.
New York's 4-3 Cover-3 predominant scheme is a good fit for Nasirildeen's pre-injury range and his post-injury projection to hybrid linebacker.
Year 1 core special teams player, with eventual sub-package reps as a big nickel or dime linebacker and a ceiling as a strong safety.
A Fangio-style two-high shell with match principles where he'd be asked to consistently cover slot receivers one-on-one from depth.
Nasirildeen's length, processing, and tackling ability make him a valuable defensive chess piece after his ACL recovery, but the lack of verified deep speed and his long stride limit his utility in true free safety roles.
Florida State Safety Hamsah Nasirildeen Highlights
Career FSU highlights showing single-high range, tackling radius and reach at the catch point.
Florida State DB Hamsah Nasirildeen Highlight Reel — 2019 Season
2019 pre-injury tape: the deep-middle range and downhill trigger that defined his draft grade.
Hamsah Nasirildeen New York Jets Rookie Profile
Jets rookie feature detailing the safety-to-linebacker conversion under Robert Saleh.
At 6'3" and 215 pounds, Nasirildeen presented evaluators with a unique frame and pre-injury production as a single-high safety. His 2019 season, with over 100 tackles and five tackles for loss, showcased range and processing ability from depth, though an ACL tear in November 2019 and a limited 2020 return raised questions about his athletic recovery and ultimate position fit in the NFL.
He was deployed as Florida State's deep-middle anchor prior to his injury, demonstrating the ability to read and react from depth. The subsequent injury and shortened 2020 season meant his re-verification came primarily from pro-day testing that lacked a timed 40-yard dash, leaving teams to project his true deep speed and agility after recovery. His usage suggests a player capable of both deep coverage and box responsibilities, with potential for slot work in specific matchups.
Evaluators were divided on whether his pre-injury range would fully return, leading to ambiguity regarding his NFL role, with many projecting a conversion to a big-nickel or dime linebacker. His selection at pick #186 indicated a late-round bet on his physical traits and football intelligence for a hybrid role, where teams would need to invest in a positional conversion to realize his potential.
- 01
Frame and Length
Unusual frame and length for a college safety, using his considerable reach to affect throwing windows downfield and break up passes.
- 02
Pre-injury Production
Significant pre-injury production in 2019, anchoring a Power Five defense with 101 tackles and displaying consistent processing from deep.
- 03
Aggressive Downhill Trigger
Aggressive downhill trigger from depth, reading run keys quickly and finishing tackles with impact against lead blockers in the alley.
- 04
Special Teams Potential
Strong special teams profile due to his length and tackling demeanor, fitting a core-four contributor role on all coverage units.
- 05
Agility for Size
Agility numbers, including a 7.05 three-cone, are solid for his size and suggest redirection ability for slot or hybrid linebacker duties.
- 01
ACL Recovery Uncertainty
ACL recovery and limited 2020 tape created uncertainty regarding the return of his pre-injury burst and range in a professional system.
- 02
Unverified Speed Data
Absence of a verified 40-yard dash time at his pro day left a critical gap in speed data for a projected deep safety role.
- 03
Route Break Struggles
Struggles with sudden route breaks and speed-cut receivers in slot man coverage, exacerbated by a longer stride post-injury.
- 04
Position Fit Ambiguity
Position fit ambiguity meant a drafting team would need to commit to a positional conversion to maximize his unique physical tools.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- —s
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- 7.05sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.31sp50
- Bench
- 17repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Florida State | 13 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2018 | Florida State | 12 | 91 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | Florida State | 12 | 101 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | Florida State | 2 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 39 | 234 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Length-plus special-teams core-four safety who cycled through Day 3 depth roles — the actual NFL floor the Jets got.
Frame-first hybrid safety converted into a downhill dime-linebacker role, which mirrored the Jets' developmental plan for Nasirildeen.
Athletic size/speed safety whose coverage inconsistencies capped him as a rotational box defender before a short shelf life.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pre-draft context. Nasirildeen arrived in Tallahassee as a 6'3" hybrid defender out of Concord, N.C., and by 2019 he was Florida State's best defender: a 101-tackle season with 5.0 TFLs, 4 PBUs, an INT and a forced fumble as the deep-middle rangy safety in a varied defensive scheme. A torn ACL against Boston College in November 2019 amputated the tape most evaluators wanted to trust, and a five-game 2020 return barely re-established him — 24 tackles, one game where he still moved like a first-round athlete, and several where the knee looked half-a-tick slow. He skipped the virtual combine cycle and tested unevenly at Florida State's pro day (32\" vertical, 7.05 three-cone, 4.31 shuttle, 17 bench, no forty), which produced a 6.81 RAS at 6'3\"/215 and confirmed the ambiguity: a big-bodied safety whose best trait was pre-injury range and whose position at the next level was an open question.
NFL fit — New York Jets. The Jets took him in the sixth round (#186) as a developmental piece for a zone-heavy defensive system and, within his first camp, moved him off safety to a hybrid off-ball linebacker/big-nickel role that leaned on his size and length rather than the deep coverage snaps he'd played in college. He appeared in 12 games as a rookie (mostly special teams, 158 defensive snaps), then bounced across the 2022 and 2023 seasons between the Jets active roster and practice squad, cycling through Buffalo's and Baltimore's practice-squad depth charts in 2024 without a defensive breakthrough. The Jets never got a stable role solved and the conversion never fully translated into starter-caliber play speed.
Retrospective. As a Day 3 swing, the Jets got what late sixth-rounders usually get from a coming-off-ACL prospect: a converted rotational body who touched a gameday roster but never crystallized into a package player. The pre-draft flag (recovery timeline, sub-4.6 speed unverified) was the actual outcome, and the position change told the truer story — the physical tools that scouts liked in 2019 didn't re-emerge cleanly enough to make him a defined NFL role.