Scouting Jets rookie safety Jaylen Key

Taking a look at the Jets’ 7th round pick in the 2024 NFL draft

Now that the 2024 NFL draft is over, we’re going to take an in-depth look at each of the Jets’ draft picks, in reverse order. We begin today with former Alabama safety Jaylen Key, who was selected by the Jets with the final pick of the seventh round.

The 24-year old Key is listed at 6’2” and 210 pounds. He was a starter with the Alabama Crimson Tide who racked up 60 tackles in 2023 after having transferred from UAB. He earned honorable mention all-Conference USA honors in 2022.

Background

Key was a three-star prospect out of high school and was recruited to UAB. During his first three seasons, Key played in 31 games but started just one game. He had 18 tackles, a pass defensed and a fumble recovery in those three years.

In 2022, Key had a breakout year and was an honorable mention All-CUSA selection as he racked up 60 tackles, three interceptions and two forced fumbles. At the end of the year, he entered the transfer portal and headed to Alabama.

Having won a starting role, Key played in 12 games and racked up 60 tackles with the Crimson Tide. He added 1.5 tackles for loss and one interception.

Key was invited to the scouting combine and projected as a potential late round pick before being selected by the Jets as 2024’s “Mr. Irrelevant” to close out the draft.

Now let’s take a look at what Key brings to the table, divided into categories.

Measurables/Athleticism

Key has decent size and excellent length. However, he probably damaged his draft stock when he only managed to run a 4.60 in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, then failed to improve upon that at his pro day. However, Jets head coach Robert Saleh has praised his play speed.

His explosiveness numbers were excellent, with his 130” broad jump being the seventh best by any defensive back at the scouting combine. He also posted a sub 4.1 short shuttle drill.

Usage

Key was the starting free safety with the Crimson Tide, but he played a varied role throughout his college career, with plenty of reps in center field, covering the slot or lined up in the box.

When he first transferred to Alabama, head coach Nick Saban praised Key’s versatility and said he wasn’t even sure what role they would ultimately use him in.

Coverage skills

Key has been deployed in center field, zone coverage and man-to-man situations during his career, and his overall coverage numbers are solid. He never got beaten for a touchdown in his college career, and only gave up one 40-yard play.

His positional sense, balance, footwork and body control are solid, but he can be slow to react to route breaks, due to a combination of needing to improve his route recognition and some stiffness in his hips.

On this third down play, he reaches across as the receiver breaks to the inside, and although the contact is minimal, it’s enough to draw a pass interference flag.

Ball skills

Key got off to a great start in his first game with the Crimson Tide as he dropped off into zone coverage and jumped a route for this interception.

However, this was his only interception of the season. He did have three interceptions in the previous year at UAB, albeit all three came as he was in deep coverage support and able to pick off an overthrown or deflected pass.

One knock on him in coverage is that his on-ball production has been low. Although he had these four interceptions, Key only had three other pass break-ups in his entire career. That’s despite the fact that he played wide receiver in high school, which would usually mean that attacking the ball would come naturally to him.

On this play, he let the receiver get behind him and didn’t recover in time to get his head turned around.

Tackling

Key was a reasonably productive tackler over the past few seasons and shows the ability to close fast on ball carriers and stop them in their tracks.

His missed tackle rate wasn’t too high but he can be guilty of taking over-aggressive angles at times.

Key forced two fumbles in his college career, both of which came in 2022, one as he made a big hit in the box and the other as he stripped the ball loose from behind.

Run defense

Key had some production against the run as he shows an ability to fill lanes and shoot into the backfield. On the whole, though, he had more of a tendency to be tentative and disciplined rather than taking too many risks. Part of that was no doubt his assignment but it led some analysts to suggest he needs to be more active against the run.

This tentative approach can mean he’s on his heels, which can lead to runners driving him for extra yardage or linemen being able to seal him off.

Here’s a nice play where he does a good job of avoiding the pulling lineman to force the runner wide and out of bounds.

Physicality

Despite his occasional tentative nature, Key is regarded as someone who brings good physicality to the position, as shown on this clean hit on a receiver going over the middle.

In coverage, he will display physicality with a jam or contact off the line to slow up the receiver’s release.

He has had eight penalties in the course of his career, including a late hit at the end of a quarterback scramble and a couple of face mask calls over the past two seasons.

Blitzing

Key is a player who didn’t blitz very often and, although he did record a sack in 2022, this came on a run-pass option where he was playing contain and then closed on the quarterback to bring him down as he looked to throw.

On this well-timed fourth down blitz, it’s his teammate who records the pressure, but Key impressively trucked the running back.

Special teams

While Key is regarded as someone with the mentality and toughness to be a special teams contributor – and it was his primary role for his first three seasons – his production doesn’t suggest he’ll instantly be an impact player on special teams.

He had four special teams tackles in his career but also had one penalty and a couple of missed tackles.

He had a role as a blocker on the kick return unit during his first three seasons and also rushed punts and kicks for one year. He has never played as a gunner and hardly ever as a vice.

Instincts/Intelligence

Key’s coaches have constantly been impressed with his instincts. When discussing the pick, Saleh praised his football IQ, intelligence and instinct. At Alabama, Saban admitted that Key had to learn the system but praised his attitude, smarts and instincts when doing so. Also, Bryant Vincent, Key’s head coach at UAB, described him as coachable.

While there were occasional situations where he might be a step slow to react or was out of position in coverage, Key has some good moments on film where he makes a decisive read and makes a play.

Attitude

Key admits that he lacked polish early on in his career, but he says that he matured a lot and found that focusing on the small details helped him become a full-time contributor.

He displays toughness and a good work ethic and was a leader at UAB, even in the spring before he opted to transfer.

While his on-field discipline has generally been good, he frustrated Alabama fans with an ill-advised facemask penalty in the late stages of a close game, on a play where the runner appeared to have been stopped on third down. The Crimson Tide did manage to hang on and win that game, though.

Injuries

Despite playing 12 games last year, Key did have some injury issues as he was knocked out of two games early and missed two others. These were due to a minor knee injury in September and a minor quad injury in November.

Scheme Fit

As noted above, Saban wasn’t sure what role the Crimson Tide were going to use Key in when he arrived in Alabama, but presumably the Jets made this pick because they do have a plan for him.

The fact he has adequate size but poor timed speed could mean that he is a candidate to convert to a linebacker role, or at least some kind of hybrid safety, but he’s versatile enough to try his hand at a few things and we’ll see how he fits in.

We shouldn’t overlook the fact that the Jets also drafted a versatile defensive back in Jarrick Bernard-Converse last year, although he was injured so we didn’t get to see much of him. The main differences between the two are that Bernard-Converse made a ton of plays on the ball, while Key didn’t, but Bernard-Converse also was more susceptible to mistakes in coverage while Key tended to play more conservatively.

Down the road, the pair might even complement one another well. Perhaps we will see them play together on the second unit in preseason.

Conclusions

As a seventh round pick, Key is by no means a lock to make the roster, but the Jets obviously opted to use that pick on him over all of their undrafted rookies for a reason, so presumably they will hope to find a spot for him.

As the 10th Alabama player selected in this draft, Key didn’t really stand out, but he will have played against plenty of NFL-level players, which should ease his transition to the pro level.