Jay
Tufele.
Jay
Tufele.
USC· 6'2"· 305 lb· 5.00s 40
"A 6'2/305 USC interior lineman with a 2019 breakout (4.5 sacks, All-Pac-12) and a 2020 opt-out — a Round-3 rotational run-defender projection built on the pre-opt-out tape and a 7.18 RAS."Pre-draft read
This interior defender aligns as a nose or a three-technique, initiating contact with functional power at the point of attack. He demonstrates effective hand usage, especially against zone run schemes, where he stacks the guard, manages double teams, and engages lead blockers with good pad level. He wins with these shed techniques, including a swim and a rip counter.
His movement profile, including his shuttle and three-cone times, indicates an ability to navigate interior stunts, but not the fluidity for a primary pass-rush role. He lacks the arm length and initial burst to consistently threaten NFL guards as an interior rusher, and is best suited for a rotational, two-down role, focusing on run defense rather than generating third-down interior pressure.
One-gap 4-3 penetrating front scheme, which relies on defensive linemen to disrupt run plays at the line of scrimmage while also providing adequate pass rush on early downs.
A Year 1 rotational 1-technique or 3-technique for early-down run defense, with a ceiling as a reliable two-down starter with strong run-stopping fundamentals.
A Fangio two-high scheme that emphasizes interior pass rush rather than run-stopping acumen from its defensive tackles.
Tufele profiles as a run-first defender whose value derives from his disruptive hand technique and functional power against zone runs rather than his ability to collapse the pocket as a pass rusher.
USC DT Jay Tufele Highlights
Game film cut-up of Jay Tufele's USC tape.
Jay Tufele - USC Trojans - Recruit Highlights
Game film cut-up of Jay Tufele's USC tape.
2021 NFL Draft Profile: USC defensive tackle Jay Tufele
Game film cut-up of Jay Tufele's USC tape.
This interior defensive lineman projects as a run-first nose or three-technique hybrid, offering functional power and block-shedding technique. Teams are acquiring a specific role player whose 2019 tape demonstrated the core skills for a rotational floor, with the expectation that his hand usage and ability to anchor against the run would translate, as evidenced by his 30 bench reps.
His evaluation largely rested on a single year of college production, where he registered 4.5 sacks and 6 TFL as a 305-pound interior body, earning All-Pac-12 second team honors. This 2019 season represented the primary sample for evaluators, as he opted out of the 2020 season, leaving a March 2021 pro day as the only fresh data point. He was deployed effectively in USC's multi-front defense, showcasing versatility across 1-technique, 3-technique, and short-yardage nose alignments.
Concerns centered on the limited one-year production sample and an average interior pass-rush plan, with some evaluators projecting him as a Day 3 selection due to questions about his length and initial burst. Despite these flags, the Jaguars invested pick 106, indicating a belief in his specific run-defending skill set and functional athleticism for a defined rotational role, albeit with a recognized ceiling as a situational rusher.
- 01
Hand technique
2019 tape showed a legitimate swim and rip counter package plus a functional long-arm that helped him win the initial engagement against Pac-12 guards, the plus trait on his interior DL sheet.
- 02
Interior functional power
30 bench reps at 305 pounds and stack-and-shed reps on zone runs made him a plus early-down run defender in his 2019 Pac-12 sample against multi-tight-end sets.
- 03
Junior-year production
4.5 sacks and 6 TFL as a 305-pound interior body in 2019 was above-average interior pass-rush production for the Pac-12 and drove the top-70 grade on his pre-opt-out sheet.
- 04
Athletic testing floor
7.18 RAS with a 4.88 shuttle and a 30-inch vertical for a 305-pound frame gave him the movement scores of a legitimate NFL rotational interior lineman rather than a two-down anchor only.
- 05
Position flexibility
logged snaps as a 1-technique, 3-technique and short-yardage nose in USC's multi-front defense, projecting cleanly into a rotational role in modern fronts that ask interior DLs to align across the A- and B-gaps.
- 01
2020 opt-out
Tufele opted out of the pandemic-shortened Pac-12 season in August 2020, leaving teams with 2019 tape as the last available sample and a March pro day as the only fresh input on his projection.
- 02
One-year producer
the 4.5-sack 2019 season was the only year of real interior pass-rush production on his sheet after a modest 2018 and no 2020 tape, a thin sample for a top-100 defensive tackle grade.
- 03
Average interior length
arms measured under the 33-inch threshold at his pro day, a flag on interior pass-rush projection given how much modern DTs win with reach and hand extension against NFL guards.
- 04
Below-average get-off
5.00 forty and a 1.75-plus 10-yard split are Day-3 numbers for an interior lineman, and match tape reps where NFL guards would set the block before Tufele cleared the line of scrimmage.
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
- 5.00sp50
- Vertical
- 30inp50
- Broad jump
- 105inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.80sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.88sp50
- Bench
- 30repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | USC | 12 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | USC | 13 | 41 | 3.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 25 | 57 | 4.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational-to-starter interior body with plus hand technique and limited pass-rush ceiling — the honest career map for a Pac-12 interior body with 7-RAS movement scores and sub-33-inch arms.
Round-3 interior DT whose functional get-off and hand technique eventually stabilized as a plus rotational-to-starter presence — the ceiling if Tufele had cleaned up length and pad level.
Round-3 2018 interior DL whose one-year college tape did not translate; washed out of the league inside three seasons — the risk case for a one-year producer with limited length.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Bust. 2 temporadas rotacionales en JAX sin producción real (0.5 sacks totales), cortado tras 2022. Rebotó en MIA y CLE practice squads sin firmar activo. Fuera de la NFL desde 2024.
**Pre-draft context.** Tufele arrived in the 2021 class off a one-year sample and a full-season opt-out. His 2019 junior year at USC was the argument: 4.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 33 tackles from the interior, All-Pac-12 second team and a Bleacher Report top-100 grade heading into 2020. When the pandemic pushed the Pac-12 season to the fall, Tufele opted out in August to focus on the draft, leaving evaluators with 2019 tape and a March 2021 USC pro day as the only new inputs. His measurables reinforced the run-defender projection: 6'2, 305 pounds, 5.00 forty, 30-inch vertical, 30 bench reps, 7.80 three-cone, 4.88 shuttle — a 7.18 RAS that flagged him as a functional athlete for interior weight rather than an interior disruptor. Boards diverged sharply: Draft Network and Bleacher Report had him inside the top-70 as a rotational one-tech/three-tech; PFF and The Athletic pushed him toward Day 3 on the argument that the interior pass-rush plan was thin and the sample was one Pac-12 season.
**NFL fit — Jacksonville.** The Jaguars spent pick 106 on him in Urban Meyer's first draft, adding a rotational interior body to a defensive line that already carried Roy Robertson-Harris and DaVon Hamilton. The plan was a run-defense specialist with situational rush snaps, and the reality never got there. Tufele played 10 games as a rookie in a limited rotation (12 tackles, 0 sacks), then 12 more in 2022 (18 tackles, 0.5 sacks) without carving out a defined role. The Jaguars released him after the 2022 season. He signed practice-squad deals with Miami and Cleveland through 2023, spent time on the Jets active/practice roster (where he recovered a fumble for a touchdown in preseason), and has been out of the league since 2024.
**Retrospective.** Tufele is one of the clearest busts of the 2021 Round-3 defensive tackle group. The tape sample teams paid for was one Pac-12 season and it did not translate: 0.5 career sacks across 22 games, no consistent starter reps, and no NFL roster after his rookie contract expired. The opt-out did not create the outcome — the tape and testing profile flagged the ceiling as rotational-only — but pick 106 required at least a stable four-year backup floor to justify the slot, and Jacksonville did not get it. In a Round-3 defensive-tackle class that produced starters like Milton Williams and Levi Onwuzurike, Tufele is the counterexample of the one-year interior tape bet.