Jonah
Elliss.
Jonah
Elliss.
Utah· 6'2"· 248 lb
"The get-off arrives before the tackle's set foot lands, and everything Jonah Elliss became in the NFL was already decided by whether that first step could survive at 248 pounds."Pre-draft read
Elliss lined up as a stand-up rusher off the edge in Utah's odd front and won almost entirely with get-off and hands. He times the snap, threatens the outside shoulder before tackles are set, then finishes with a swipe-rip or a long-arm-to-club counter. He is a hand-fighter rather than a bull rusher, and he keeps his pads low enough to hold contact balance through the corner.
The second trait is relentlessness: he chases from the backside and cleans up plays two gaps away. Against the run he spills more than he anchors, slipping blocks to make tackles behind the line rather than holding a two-gap edge. He never tested, so the athletic ceiling is a projection, but the signature is production per snap — 11.5 sacks in ten games as a junior.
Attacking odd front (3-4/hybrid) that lets edges pin their ears back on passing downs rather than two-gap.
Year 1: designated third-down rusher off the bench, 20-25 snaps a game. Ceiling: a starting weak-side rusher on an odd front that hides him on early downs.
A two-gap 3-4 that asks him to hold the C-gap against tight-end surface blocks, or a four-down base front where he has to play every early down with a hand in the dirt against 320-pound tackles.
Denver's sub-heavy front is close to the ideal usage — he rushes, he does not hold ground.
Jonah Elliss 2023 Full Season Highlights | Utah EDGE | 2024 NFL Draft Prospect
Jonah Elliss | Defensive End | Utah | 2023 Highlights | 2024 NFL Draft
Jonah Elliss Utah Highlights
Undersized, hand-skilled edge rusher with a bloodline resume and one dominant season on tape. Elliss is 6-2, 248 with 33-inch arms, and the evaluation starts by accepting what he is not: he is never going to hold an edge against a 330-pound tackle on early downs. What he is, is a rusher whose first step and counter package arrive faster than most Day 2 edges.
He was a special-teams body and rotational linebacker for two years before the 2023 breakout, when he led the country in sacks per game and earned All-America honors despite missing Utah's final three games with injury. That is the whole case and also the whole flag: ten games of elite disruption, twenty-four games of ordinary production before it. He did not test at the combine, which left teams grading a body type on tape alone.
The board had him as a late Day 2 flier — a designated rusher with real juice and a hard ceiling if the weight and length never come. At 76, Denver bought the pass-rush trait and the motor, with the plan to protect him on run downs behind two established starters. That is the correct price for a specialist who might become more.
- 01
First-step quickness
times the snap as well as any edge in the class and is into the tackle's chest before the set foot lands.
- 02
Counter package
pairs a swipe-rip with a long-arm-to-club and does not repeat the same move twice in a series against the same tackle.
- 03
Motor
chases across the formation and finishes plays away from his rush lane, which shows up in the tackle numbers for a rotational player.
- 04
Bend
drops his inside shoulder and flattens to the quarterback without losing speed, a trait that travels regardless of the frame.
- 05
Football character
son of a Pro Bowler with three NFL brothers, and the pre-snap awareness and effort reflect that upbringing.
- 01
Frame
248 pounds with 33-inch arms means tackles with length can catch and stall him once they get hands inside.
- 02
Run anchor
spills rather than sets, and NFL teams will hunt him with tight-end down blocks and pullers on early downs.
- 03
Untested athlete
no combine or verified pro-day numbers, so the explosion and change-of-direction ceiling is a tape projection.
- 04
One-year sample
two quiet seasons preceded the 2023 breakout, and that breakout ended three games early with injury.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Utah | 14 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Utah | 11 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Utah | 10 | 37 | 11.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | — | 35 | 79 | 15.5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Verified via CFBD season totals; 2023 ended three games early due to injury. Forced fumbles/recoveries not verified, left null.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational designated rusher with real production per snap but a capped early-down role.
Undersized bend rusher who became a double-digit sack starter once the counters caught up to the get-off.
Traits flash on passing downs but the run-game limitations keep the snap count from ever growing.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Third edge rusher for Denver since 2024: 16 games and 5.0 sacks as a PFWA All-Rookie season, then 13 games, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble in 2025 behind Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto.
Denver used him exactly as advertised. As a rookie in 2024 he played 16 games as the third edge behind Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto, rushed on obvious passing downs, and delivered 5.0 sacks and 37 tackles on a Broncos front that set a franchise sack record — enough to earn PFWA All-Rookie recognition. In 2025 the snaps thinned as the top two stayed healthy: 13 games, 28 tackles, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and a role that never grew past situational rusher on a defense that reached the AFC Championship Game.
The honest read is that the third-round price bought a good rotational rusher, not a starter, and that was always the likeliest outcome. The rush traits translated immediately, which is the part that matters; the frame did what the frame was always going to do, which is cap the snap count on early downs. Denver floated an inside-linebacker move in the 2026 offseason before keeping him on the edge — a tell that they value the player but have not solved the fit. A hit for the slot, with the ceiling still unclaimed.
Data note: Verified via CFBD season totals; 2023 ended three games early due to injury. Forced fumbles/recoveries not verified, left null.