HEIGHT: 6'5"

WEIGHT: 325

POSITIVES

— Massive, dense build with excellent length and huge hands.

— Very good strike timing and placement weaponizes his length and keeps rushers at his fingertips.

— Good play strength and square power to be firm into contact, cover up his target and create displacement to secure rush lanes off of his back.

— Braces and anchors on command against the bull-rush.

— Difficult for rushers to beat cleanly due to his girth, length and active, independent hands to quickly reset and harden his edges.

— Provides jarring help to bump and feed his target over on double-teams and when uncovered in pass protection.

NEGATIVES

— Upright playing style can get him caught high and initially out-leveraged against shorter, penetrating defensive tackles.

— Can drift and overset widely-aligned rushers that know how to set up their moves.

— Lengthy injury history will need to be cleared.

NOTES

— 4-star recruit and from the 2020 class, per 247Sports

— Won the Florida high school state championship in the shot put

— Suffered a season-ending knee injury three games into the 2021 season, had a separate season-ending injury seven games into the 2022 season and missed five games during the 2024 season due to an undisclosed injury

— 30 career starts at left tackle (20) and left guard (10)

— Accepted his invite to the 2025 Senior Bowl

OVERALL

Jalen Rivers is a three-year starter at left tackle and guard with seven starts at left tackle in 2024 inside Miami's pass-first (54-46 pass-run split), RPO-based, downhill run scheme. Rivers started each game at left tackle this past season but rotated at left guard through most games. Rivers has a massive, dense build with excellent length, huge hands, solid athletic ability and good play strength.

Rivers win as a run blocker using his girth, play strength and hand placement to quickly win leverage at the point of contact, cover up, latch and displace his target. He does a nice job adjusting when defenders get on his edges showing the hand and foot quickness to reset and secure rush lanes. Rivers dents and feeds his target over as the 'drive-man' on double-teams and his solid movement skills allow him to intersect backers on his climbs. His upright playing style can get him in trouble and into scramble mode against shorter, quick, penetrating defensive tackles but he has the necessary recovery skills to stay in the fight and not get beat cleanly very often.

In pass protection Rivers has a smooth pass set at tackle with an advanced understanding of how to weaponize his length using adept timing and placement to strike and keep rushers at his fingertips. He quickly transitions into his anchor to halt the bull-rush on command and will provide jarring help when uncovered to clear the pocket. Rivers will occasionally get caught drifting against wide-9 rushers that know how to set up inside moves but he has the needed recovery skills to harden and widen his edges to die pinch them off.

Overall, Rivers is a hulking, imposing presence with good play strength, solid athletic ability and refined use of hands to weaponize his considerable wingspan. If his injury history checks out he will be able to compete for a starting role right away at guard in a downhill run scheme with the ability to play tackle in a pinch.

GRADE: 7.3 (High-Level Backup/Potential Starter)

OVERALL RANK: 78

POSITION RANK: IOL9

PRO COMPARISON: John Jerry

Written by B/R NFL Scout Brandon Thorn

Prospect workout numbers, measurables (40-yard dash, hand size, etc.) and 2024 statistics will be added at a later date.