Oregon Ducks football continues to dominate sports pages with story after story about everything from high school recruits to transfer portal acquisitions to the move to the Big Ten Conference to NFL Draft picks. Head coach Dan Lanning is naturally involved in recruiting at a high level, but he has also developed many players for the next step to the NFL, including selecting eight players in the 2024 NFL Draft.
The standout from this group was the Denver Broncos' selection of former Ducks quarterback Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick. In the next draft, the Las Vegas Raiders selected Jackson Powers-Johnson with the 44th pick. Coming from college to the NFL, the challenge will be competing with the league's best defensemen, but many believe he's more than up to the task. In fact, the NFL's Chad Reuter named Powers-Johnson as an offensive lineman on his projected All-Rookie team.
The versatile big man (6'3″ tall, 320 pounds) played both guard positions on the offensive line and finished his career as the Ducks' starting center. He was a unanimous All-American, named to the Sporting News All-America First Team, CBS Sports All-American First Team, Sports Illustrated All-America First Team, Pro Football Focus (PFF) All-America First Team and the list goes on. He completed his year by winning the Rimington Trophy as the best center in the nation.
Reuters also drew comparisons with past All-Rookie selections.
“Powers Johnson will likely be an All-Rookie selection, joining past second-round selections offensive linemen Creed Humphrey (Chiefs, 2021), Osirus Torrence (Bills, 2023) and Steve Avila (Rams, 2023). Powers Johnson played center at Oregon last fall but has played both guard positions throughout his career, demonstrating excellent leverage and short-distance agility to create blocking angles. Whoever starts at quarterback for the Raiders this year will be grateful for this rookie's efforts.”
Reuter highlighted Powers-Johnson's outstanding play as a center. He led the nation in sacks allowed (5) and contributed to an offensive line that ranked second in yards allowed per game (531.4) all season. Powers-Johnson also led all FBS centers in PFF's pass-blocking grade (91.3), run-blocking grade (84.2) and overall grade (83.9). Even more impressive is that Powers-Johnson played 829 snaps in 2023, did not allow a single sack or hit all year and only had one quarterback rush.
If Powers-Johnson is selected to the NFL's All-Rookie Team in 2024, he will join a long list of Ducks players who have been selected for the honor, including Justin Herbert, Penei Sewell, Jevon Holland and Kayvon Thibodeau.
Ducks fans will have a lot to cheer about as they watch Lanning continue to build championship teams and develop all-star players to represent Oregon in the NFL.
