Assessing team fit for Penn State's Day Two selections

The Jacksonville Jaguars made former Penn State tight end Brenton Strange the 61st pick in the 2023 NFL draft on Friday night. One pick later, the Houston Texans selected Penn State center Juice Scruggs with the 62nd overall selection. Finally, the San Francisco 49ers rounded out the evening for Nittany Lions selections by taking Ji’Ayir Brown with the 87th pick in round three.

Let’s explain how each player will fit into their new teams and systems.

Doug Peterson wants to play with two tight ends

During the draft process, I advocated that Strange find himself in a two-tight-end system at the next level. Unfortunately, Doug Peterson and the Jacksonville Jaguars aren’t exactly what I had in mind, given the personnel on the team. Instead, the former Eagles head coach wants to recreate the personnel packages he used in Philadelphia with Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz.

What’s surprising is that at 247 pounds, Strange is the second-heaviest tight end on the roster. With Evan Engram on the roster as the obvious receiving tight end, Strange is left to fill the Goedert role as the traditional Y, or inline blocking tight end. This wasn’t what he did during his time at Penn State.

Now, in this system, he may still see more targets or yards. Goedert wasn’t a traditional blocking tight end; who is more of a sixth lineman. In that sense, this is a fit. But the concern, even for a player who is an excellent blocker like Strange, is that he doesn’t have the size of Geodert (6-5, 255) for his skills to translate. He’ll interact more with NFL defensive ends rather than linebackers and safeties attached to the line of scrimmage.

However, Doug Peterson is an excellent coach who knows how to put players in the correct positions to succeed. There are better fits than this, but it’s a good one. Strange will also get the chance to run more vertical routes than he did last season at Penn State.

Penn State’s center finds a quality fit in Houston

Sometimes reading a new coaching staff is difficult because offensive and defensive coordinators getting their first shot in the NFL don’t have an established history. However, Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik has experience in one sysetm; the Shanahan system.

What that’s traditionally meant outside and inside zone running, Slowik is form the Kyle Shanahan system, which is more diverse than his father’s running game. The team still uses wide zone as a base of the system, but has incorporated power and counter schemes for inside running.

In this situation, Juice Scruggs should thrive. The center is an important part of outside zone blocking schemes because it’s his job to reach block the nose tackle and seal backside pursuit on the running play. Scruggs has good quickness and length to execute this job. He’s also familiar with it from his time in Penn State offensive coordinator MIke Yurcich’s scheme.

Beyond that, the center is mostly about walling off penetrating blockers on the backside of pull plays and combo-blocking with guards. From a pass-blocking perspective, Scruggs was rarely an issue at center. He should be a quality blocker in the middle of the line.

Scrugss will never overwhelm defensive tackles, but he will get the job done often. With his versatility and pulling skills, he can be a valuable asset to the team.

Penn State puts another defensive back into the NFL

Brown’s fit in San Fransisco is curious, and like Strange, it has its positives and downsides. On the one hand, the 49ers run a three-safety system similar to Penn State’s third-down package. In this situation, Brown is in familiar territory as an underneath defender. On the other hand, the 49ers will likely use his blitzing skills more than they did with the player he’s replacing, Jimmy Ward.

However, Ward played exclusively over the slot last season and had some heavy lifting as a man coverage corner. If the 49ers want to use Brown similarly, they won’t be playing to his strengths. Ward wasn’t great in man coverage, but he was a 4.40-athlete. Brown is better in coverage but is much slower and more of a traditional safety. Think of this as a team using Penn State’s Prowler defense personnel as a base package.

San Francisco doesn’t run much Cover 1, but they’d be wise to deemphasize it with Brown lining up over talented slot receivers. Brown’s fit will entirely depend on what situations the 49ers put him in. Ward never played either of the traditional safety positions last season, so Brown will likely be relegated to underneath nickel coverage defender. To, me this limits some of what made him such an excellent defender at Penn State. If they feature zone concepts and ask him to blitz from the slot, Brown could have an instant impact, all-rookie season. On the other hand, if they ask him to run with Tyler Lockett downfield, he could be in big trouble.