The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Jeremiah Trotter.
Trotter was a fascinating evaluation, and you could easily argue that his 2023 tape was the best of any LB in the 2024 draft class.
Given his size, lack of length and explosiveness, the question is one of projection and transition to the next level. But he compensated for those “deficiencies” with high-level football intelligence regarding positioning, key diagnoses, balance and body control to contort to play around blockers and play speed and range to make plays inside out sideline-to-sideline.
Trotter also showed he is an excellent blitzer with the lateral quickness, balance and body control to beat running backs and close with burst to the QB. He is not a high-level athlete for a stacked LB. That, in combination with his lack of size and length, will drop him on some team's draft boards. However, his instinctive ability to navigate the box to evade and deconstruct blocks in the run game was as good as any LB in this draft class.
The question is whether teams see Trotter as a starting stacked LB in their base defense. With his excellent blitzing ability, will they also see him as a nickel LB? My sense is it will be team, scheme, and coach-specific.
Trotter does not check all the necessary boxes to be a starting stacked LB in the NFL, yet his tape is consistently strong, and he makes plays in all phases of the game. You see the athletic and physical limitations on tape, and that raises a level of concern.
Overall, Trotter sees things quickly and clearly with high-level key and diagnose and anticipatory traits. You see little wasted motion, poor angles or lack of awareness regarding play development and blocking schemes. Can that compensate for his lack of desirable measurables and ideal movement traits?
That Is not an easy question to answer. My guess is Trotter will be evaluated and projected differently by different coaches and teams. Is there a T.J. Edwards comparison to be made? Trotter is a better prospect than Nakobe Dean when he came out of Georgia a few years ago.
Trotter came out of national power St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia as a consensus five-star recruit and the nation's No. 1 LB prospect. In his final two seasons at Clemson, Trotter recorded 28.5 TFL, 12 QB sacks and four interceptions, returning two for touchdowns.
In 2022, Trotter was used as a pass rusher at times in Clemson’s sub-defenses with snaps as a looper in stunt concepts. He was also deployed as the middle-hole defender in Cover 2.
In 2023, Trotter continued to be deployed as a blitzer in specific third-down and selected other situations. He was featured in multiple inside stunt concepts as the looper and the penetrator.
Trotter was also deployed as a spy at times vs. mobile quarterbacks. When Clemson went man coverage, Trotter predominantly matched up to the running back. Depending on the offensive formation, Trotter was the overhang LB playing in space.
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