Joel Klatt reveals what he loves about Tennessee RB Jaylen Wright in the 2024 NFL Draft
Consider FOX’s Joel Klatt a fan of former Tennessee Volunteers running back Jaylen Wright ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.
During an episode of The Joel Klatt Show, the namesake ranked the top five available running backs available for this year’s NFL Draft. Evidently, Klatt thinks highly of Wright, as he slotted him in at the No. 5 spot, with room to grow.
“These guys are really, really good players, so let’s start with No. 5. I’m going to go to Tennessee, which I know makes our incredible producer Kat very happy. She’s a Vol, and I’m going with a Vol right here. I like Jaylen Wright at No. 5,” Klatt started. “So Jaylen was second team All-SEC. He’s the leading rusher for the Vols the last couple of seasons. But what I really love about his game is he’s got like, he’s got this incredible home-run ability, and his speed jumps off the tape.
“Now, he’s testing well, which is great. That’s a feather in your cap. But all it does is solidify what you see on tape. When you turn on the tape, when you watch him run, what you will see is home-run ability. Love his speed. In fact, he had three touchdowns of over 75 yards. Three. By the way, this is the SEC. This is not you know, a lesser league. Not to disparage any other leagues, but there is speed on the field in the SEC, and yet this guy can separate, and he can still hit home runs. That’s incredibly valuable for an NFL team. You know, if you’re a team that needs that, he is the guy. Love his jump-cut. He’s got sticky hands. I think that he can catch the ball well out of the backfield.”
While Klatt rightfully likes a ton about Wright, there’s still some areas where the FOX analyst believes the former Tennessee star could improve, and that includes simply holding onto the football.
“The one issue that I think Jaylen Wright’s going to have to clean up, and I know it’s tough because this is something that generally doesn’t get cleaned up, but I hope it does for him, he’s had the propensity to put the ball on the ground,” Klatt added. “So he’s had some fumble issues in his career, but if he can just hold on to the football. Man, this guy, like I said, he’s got that home-run ability.
“In fact, when you look at rushes of over ten yards, ten or more yards, a quarter of his rushes went for ten or more yards. He’s fast. He can get it done. So I like Jaylen Wright. He’s No. 5.”
Nevertheless, Klatt holds Wright in high regard, rounding out his top five with Florida State’s Trey Benson, Michigan’s Blake Corum, Texas’ Jonathon Brooks and Oregon’s Bucky Irving, in that order.
We’ll see who has the honor of drafting Jaylen Wright come April, but it’s evident he has the skills to compete at the next level, and he’ll be looking to prove Joel Klatt and the rest of his believers correct in the NFL.