Silver And Black Pride
Undrafted free agent’s pass protection skills could earn him a roster spot
Behind Jackson Powers-Johnson, the Las Vegas Raiders currently have a question mark at backup center. While projected starting guard Dylan Parham can factor into the equation, 2023 undrafted free agent Will Putnam and 2024 undrafted free agent Jarrod Hufford will be battling for a roster spot behind Powers-Johnson on the depth chart.
Hufford is one of the more intriguing UDFAs that the Raiders signed this spring, primarily due to his pass protection skills. He never allowed more than 15 pressures and two sacks in a single season during his four years as a starter, according to Pro Football Focus, while lining up at four different positions.
This past season, the Iowa State product took nearly 1,000 snaps at center (559 in pass protection) and only gave up 13 pressures, with just one being a sack. Also, he’s an impressive athlete who earned an 8.67 RAS at the NFL Combine. That’s worth diving deeper into, so let’s flip on the tape and see what the former Cyclone can bring to Las Vegas.
Hufford’s athleticism stands out the most in pass protection, especially with his get-off. As seen above, he’s quick out of his stance to get to his landmarks and be in a position to stay in front of pass rushers.
On top of that, Hufford has fast hands when throwing his punch, allowing him to make the first significant contact and disrupt defensive linemen’s pass-rush moves. In this clip, it looks like the defensive tackle goes to work a swim move, but the center lands his punch with great timing to prevent the defender from finishing the move.
Finally, the Iowa State product maintains a wide base while dropping his butt and re-setting his hands to anchor as the pass-rusher transitions to a bull rush, giving the quarterback a clean pocket and plenty of time to get a good throw off.
Additionally, the former Cyclone has good eyes and is smart in pass protection to sniff out or find potential threats.
Here, Kansas runs a simulated pressure where the inside linebacker blitzes, but they only have four pass-rushers since the left outside linebacker drops into coverage. Meanwhile, the two defensive tackles slant to the strong side of the formation, to replace the outside backer on the edge and create an opening in the B-gap for the blitzer to attack.
With the center turning to the offense’s right, the right defensive tackle (No. 92) is hoping to catch the center off guard and win by being a physical pass-rusher. However, Hufford recognizes that the left defensive tackle (No. 58) is working wide and gets his eyes inside to look for work.
That allows him to brace for contact against No. 92 and keep the defender at the line of scrimmage. Granted, the simulated pressure worked as the defense created confusion for the left tackle and ended up getting the sack. But this is a quality rep from our subject/the...
