Jah Joyner, EDGE, Minnesota
Size:
Height: 6042
Weight: 262
Arm: 34”
Hand: 9 ⅜”
Accomplishments:
All-Big Ten Honorable Mention (2024, 2023) • Four-star recruit
“Jah Joyner is an uber-long, twitched-up edge rusher with great hand usage to win the arc and create havoc in the backfield.”
Strengths:
Hand usage
Pass-rush toolbox
Hands up at the line of scrimmage
Explosiveness
Concerns:
Gap integrity vs. the run
Slow to get to counters
Locating the football
Film Analysis:
Jah Joyner became a four-star recruit at Danbury High School, racking up 24 sacks over his final two seasons, with 13 coming in eight games as a senior. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end committed to Minnesota, where he played in four games across his first two seasons and then redshirted in 2021. He started to find his footing as a junior with eight tackles for loss, seven and a half sacks, and two forced fumbles, and while his impact numbers dipped as a senior, he deflected seven passes and nearly doubled his career tackles with 32 in 2024.
With the NFL size and frame of a starting defensive end, Joyner looks the part and has started to figure out how to use his frame to his advantage. He has an inconsistent first step, but it’s explosive and allows him to quickly get on top of tackles and into gaps to cause backfield problems. He loses gap integrity, getting upfield too far at times, but flashes the tools to stop in a gap, locate the ball-carrier, and make the tackle. He’s got the length to be an impactful edge setter but needs to use it more often to extend and peek in the backfield to find the football. He plays with good pad level and jack-knife into gaps, twisting his shoulders and making blockers fall off him, but he gets taken away from the play when blockers catch him and can drive with his pads shifted.
His first-step explosiveness can win the arc, making his pass-rush plan easy to streamline with his quick, effective hands. He has great hand location when he gets into the phone booth and can execute slaps and rips to get around tackles. He has a good first-move plan and can move blockers with the intention and speed to open up the inside B gap, but he needs to take advantage of it more often. While he can win the edge with speed and hands, his secondary counters come too slowly to be effective when he gets caught. He doesn’t have elite bend around the edge, but he uses the long arm and body lean to corner and create a shorter path to the quarterback. His length is impactful in more than one way, with seven pass breakups this season, and his timing and pass recognition show up in every game.
Joyner is the prototypical NFL edge rusher with the size, strength, length, and pass-rush upside to be an impactful player at the next level. He’s still developing as a run defender and learning to use his length more effectively, but the foundation is there for Joyner to be a good starter in the NFL.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Adequate Starter
Written By: Daniel Harms
Exposures: Illinois (2024), USC (2024), Michigan (2024), Penn State (2024)
