Kevin O’Connell Identifies a Sophomore Who Needs to “Take that Next Step”
K. Joudry
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The Vikings traded up to draft defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy. Putting the 158th and 211th together was enough to climb up to 141st to bring in the promising LSU defender. The 2023 season didn’t feature a ton of playing time for rookie Roy but Kevin O’Connell foreshadowed a change at the Annual League Meeting.
Going into 2024, the Vikings’ defensive line still needs quite a bit of work. Something that can boost the position, of course, is some internal growth. Kevin O’Connell is looking toward Roy to bring his game to a new level: “J Roy still coming off of what I thought was a productive rookie year, real flashes of production. But we’re going to need see him kind of take that next step.”
Kevin O’Connell is Looking to Jaquelin Roy to Take a Step
Jaquelin Roy can be pretty sturdy. He can also be pretty slick.
The 23-year-old defensive tackle is coming off of a rookie season where he had a modest 96 snaps. He picked up 8 tackles in those opportunities alongside a single QB hit and a single TFL. How high is his ceiling? Can he develop into an impact starter?
Something that’s going to help Roy is a slick swim move. He can deploy it to work around an offensive lineman who is moving low and lateral. Consider Exhibit A:
And then Exhibit B:
The beauty of the move is that it uses an o-lineman’s strengths against him. The offensive lineman is getting low and seeking to bring a pile of power into the defensive lineman’s shoulder, thus displacing the defender. Roy has the capacity to respond with enough quickness to work over the blocker and then go for the tackle.
Coming out of LSU, Roy got some impressive praise from NFL.com. Draft analyst Lance Zierlein describes the defender as “an ascending talent with the potential to become a quality starter.”
Moreover, there is potential for Roy to win in multiple ways: “He’s a little tight in his lower body, which prevents consistent gap leverage as a run defender, but he has outstanding upper body power and plays with unbridled energy. Roy has one-gapping snap quickness and two-gapping potential if he can become more consistent with taking on blocks.”
Defensive coordinators love having defensive tackles who can cover two gaps. Every defense plays some form of gap control, a football term that points toward assigning certain defenders to certain areas of the field (such as the gaps between linemen). The basic idea is that if everyone does their job — cue Bill Belichick — by shutting down their tiny slice of the field, then there will be nowhere for a player to run.
Sometimes, defenses rely on huge nose tackles to play a pair of gaps (often the pair of A gaps, the spaces immediately to the left and right of the center). The thinking is that if a single player can shutdown a pair of possible running lanes — such as the two A gaps — then the defense buys back a defender to gain a numbers advantage somewhere else. Think someone who is very powerful, like Pat Williams or Linval Joseph.
Crucially, this defender needs to be able to withstand double teams from the o-line without getting driven back. Linebackers love playing with a defensive lineman who can absorb blockers since it lets them run free for a tackle.
At 6’3″, 305, Jaquelin Roy is a bit undersized, at least when it comes to a more traditional two-gapping, nose tackle build. Even still, Minnesota asked Roy to kick inside to the A gap area for 35 snaps while putting him around the B gap for 58 snaps (alongside a pair of snaps over the tackle).
For him to find long-term success playing as a 1T or at 0T, Roy may need to pack on some more pounds. But then one also thinks of the tremendous strength and hustle that gets discussed in his scouting profile. And then, of course, playing with a good pad level and hands can do wonders when it comes to being able to stand one’s ground at the line of scrimmage.
For whatever it’s worth, the defensive tackles/ends who were added or re-added — Jerry Tillery, Jonathan Bullard, Jonah Williams — aren’t nose tackles. There’s a path forward, then, for Roy to soak up snaps in that position, especially if he’s able to marry some of the penetration he showed off last year with an immovable sturdiness while lining up across from the center.
Going into Year 2 of his rookie deal, Jaquelin Roy carries a modest $999,943 cap charge.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.