What Went Wrong with Jaylen Twyman?
Josh Frey
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After a complicated first year and a half in the NFL, Jaylen Twyman was quietly released by the Minnesota Vikings last week. Days later, the once-promising defensive lineman signed with the Miami Dolphins to join their practice squad. Coincidentally enough, the Dolphins are Minnesota’s next opponent.
I for one was (and still remain) a big fan of the Pittsburgh product and his game. That said, his being cut twice in the past six weeks means his story with the Vikings is over. With the release of Minnesota’s fan-favorite, and one of the few picks that remained on the team from the 2021 draft class, the question must be asked: what exactly went wrong with Jaylen Twyman?
A Complicated Rookie Year
Things got strange enough for Twyman when COVID showed up during his final season of college football at Pittsburgh. The star defensive tackle was coming off a 2019 season where he recorded the second-most sacks in the ACC with 10.5, and he had 12 TFLs.
Had Twyman gone to the NFL in 2020, there’s a good chance he would have gone in the second or third round of the 2020 Draft. Instead, he wanted to come back for one more season, and then COVID became a worldwide issue. The pandemic caused Twyman to make the decision to opt out of the year, meaning he entered the 2021 Draft having not played a snap of football in 16 months.
There may have been other reasons, but clearly, this was the main cause of his fall down the draft board as it was for many other skilled players in this class. Then, just weeks after getting selected in the sixth round by the Vikings, he was shot four times in Washington D.C. while driving to visit his aunt. The injuries knocked him out for the entirety of the 2021 NFL season, meaning another entire year off from playing football.
Change in Philosophy
As Twyman attempted to make a return for the second year of his NFL career, the Minnesota Vikings were going through an overhaul as a franchise in both the front office and the coaching staff. Then, once the new regime got settled, they began overhauling the roster and made a major change to the defense with Ed Donatell by switching to a 3-4 rather than their traditional 4-3.
In hindsight, this probably should’ve been a major red flag, particularly for a player like Twyman, for the events that unfolded in the following months. As an undersized defensive tackle, playing 3-4 basically eliminated the chance for him to use his athleticism and strength to overwhelm interior offensive linemen.
Then, with added talent like Harrison Phillips and Za’Darius Smith to the defensive front, that simply pushed Twyman even further down the depth chart.
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Could Twyman Catch on in Miami?
Ultimately, Twyman got very little chance to showcase his greatest skillsets in Minnesota, but could he get that chance in Miami? Ultimately, it looks like he’ll run into the same problems there that he had in Minnesota. Miami also runs a 3-4 defense, and they have established stars like Christian Wilkins and Emmauel Ogbah on the defensive line.
Twyman joins the practice squad, and Miami likely is trying to use him to gain some intel on the Vikings defense. They need all the help they can get as it appears they’ll be starting seventh-round pick Skylar Thompson at QB this weekend. We saw a similar phenomenon when the Eagles signed Janarius Robinson prior to their Week 2 matchup with the Vikings. Robinson has not played a snap with Philly since joining the team.
At the end of the day, I’ll continue rooting for Twyman to find a landing spot in the NFL. He’s certainly drawn the short end of the stick thus far into his NFL career, and it would be very cool to see the once-promising prospect find success with a new squad.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken