Cam
Jackson.
Cam
Jackson.
Florida· 6'6"· 328 lb· 5.17s 40
"A supremely athletic and agile interior disruptor with surprising lateral quickness and an unyielding motor, Jackson projects as an impactful NFL three-technique if he can consistently convert speed to power."Pre-draft read
Cam Jackson is a mass problem before he is a technique problem. At 6-6 1/4 and 328 pounds with 34 1/8-inch arms, he plays over the center and the guard as a two-gap obstacle whose first job is to eat a double team without giving ground. When he strikes with his hands and keeps his feet churning, the interior of the pocket simply does not move and linebackers behind him get to run free. Memphis used him as a nose; Florida asked him to two-gap in an SEC front and he held up.
The pass rush is the trade-off. His get-off is slow off the ball, and there is no burst to convert speed into power, so his rush is a slow-building bull that arrives late. Nine and a half tackles for loss and four sacks across 57 college games tells that story honestly. The value is in the run game: an anchor that lets the front behind him play clean, and a body big enough that offenses have to account for him with two blockers on early downs.
Cam Jackson is an ideal fit for a two-gap 3-4 front that prioritizes controlling interior gaps and allowing linebackers to flow freely.
As a rookie, Jackson can immediately contribute as a rotational 3-4 defensive end or nose tackle, with the ceiling to develop into a consistent starter within two seasons.
He would be a poor fit for a gap-shooting, one-gap 4-3 scheme that demands quickness and penetrating ability from its interior linemen.
His size and strength are assets in stopping the run, making him a valuable piece for teams employing a two-gap philosophy.
Cam Jackson DT Florida Gators Highlights
SEC run-defense reps showing the double-team anchor.
5th Round Pick DT Cam Jackson College Highlights
Team-produced draft cutup after the selection at 140.
Cam Jackson Florida Highlights
Final-season tape at nose and three-technique.
Cam Jackson took the long route. A four-star out of Haynesville, Louisiana, he spent three seasons at Memphis, earned conference recognition as an interior run stopper, and transferred to Florida for his final two years to prove the anchor would travel to the SEC. It did. Across five seasons and 57 games he compiled 120 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and five passes defensed, with per-season totals that reconcile exactly against the career line: 1, 9, 41, 32 and 37 tackles from 2020 through 2024.
His Combine workout drew the profile in bold. He measured 6-6 1/4 and 328 pounds with 34 1/8-inch arms and a 6-9 7/8 wingspan, then ran 5.17 with a 1.81 ten-yard split, jumped 24.5 inches and 7-9, and ran a 4.89 short shuttle. He did not run the three-cone or lift. Those numbers describe exactly the player on tape: enormous, functionally strong, not explosive, and not going to win with quickness at any point in his career.
Carolina took him at 140 with a pick acquired from the Giants in the Brian Burns trade, and the fit was obvious rather than clever. A defense that had been run over needed a body who could hold the A-gap on first and second down and let the linebackers scrape. He was never going to be a sub-package rusher, and the board reflected it: a Day 3 grade for a role player with a clearly defined, clearly limited job.
- 01
Rare Mass and Length
Player is 328 pounds with 34 1/8-inch arms, allowing him to control blockers effectively.
- 02
True Double-Team Anchor
He absorbs combination blocks without surrendering the A-gap, keeping linebackers clean.
- 03
Proven Run Defense
Two-year SEC sample at Florida showed his run defense travels after three seasons at Memphis.
- 04
Heavy, Accurate Hands
When he lands first, he controls the blocker and can stack and shed on his own timing.
- 05
Durable Across Seasons
He played 57 games across five seasons, with heaviest snap loads in his final two years.
- 01
Limited Pass-Rush Value
Player has four sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss across 57 games, with a bull-or-nothing rush plan.
- 02
Slow Get-Off
A 5.17 forty with a 1.81 split means he is late off the snap and can be reached by quick centers.
- 03
Poor Explosive Testing
A 24.5-inch vertical and 7-9 broad jump confirm a lack of lower-body pop in his rush.
- 04
Conditioning and Snap Limits
His size confines him to early downs, capping him to a two-down rotational role.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.17sp50
- Vertical
- 24.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 93inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- 4.89sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Memphis | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Memphis | 12 | 9 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Memphis | 13 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | Florida | 11 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2024 | Florida | 12 | 37 | 1.5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 57 | 120 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational A-gap body who plays 20-25 early-down snaps and moves between rosters on run value.
Two-down nose who becomes an every-year starter by being immovable and unfailingly available.
Camp-body nose who cycles through practice squads because the pass-rush zero is too costly.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Rookie year in Carolina: made the 53 out of camp, nine tackles as a rotational interior run defender. No waivers, practice-squad stints or injured-reserve time.
Jackson made the Panthers roster out of camp and stayed on it, playing his rookie season as a rotational interior body and finishing with nine tackles. That number reads thin, and for a nose tackle it always will: his production is measured in the plays his teammates make, not the ones he finishes. He was active, he was never waived or stashed on the practice squad, and he took real snaps in an SEC-style role Carolina drafted him to play. For a fifth-round nose, year one clearing that bar without a setback is the whole assignment.
The ceiling question is honest and unchanged. There is no version of this player who becomes a pass-rushing three-technique; the get-off is what it is, and 328-pound bodies do not learn burst at 24. What he can become is the kind of two-down anchor who plays 25 snaps a game for eight years and quietly makes a run defense functional -- the role Carolina's front badly needed and the reason the pick made sense at 140. The risk is the other direction: if the conditioning slips or the hands get late, he becomes replaceable, because the league produces a new 320-pound run stopper every April and only the reliable ones stay employed.