Arizona had a first-round offensive tackle in the 2024 NFL Draft in Jordan Morgan. The Wildcats have another tackle hoping to rise to that level for the 2025 NFL Draft in Jonah Savaiinaea, and he’s got enough potential to work with that it’s a feasible projection.
Savaiinaea played right tackle in 2023 after moving outside from right guard in 2022. At 6-foot-5 and 330 listed pounds, the Hawaiian native progressed into playing tackle on the opposite side of Morgan, which frequently led to some disadvantageous matchups for his inexperience.
Heading into the 2024 season, a time when Arizona is now a member of the Big 12, Savaiinaea can grow into a more polished tackle prospect. The frame, the length and the athleticism to emerge as one of the best tackles.
The biggest positive standout trait for Savaiinaea is how well he moves off the snap for a man of his size. His kick step and balance are very impressive and consistently quick. Savaiinaea keeps his hands ready to react to pass rushing attacks to either shoulder, and he jabs well enough to parry and buy time for his feet to square up the rusher.
He’s very good pulling across the formation as a run blocker. Quickness, vision, strength while engaging in space–it’s all there for Savaiinaea. He generally down blocks well, though he can approach the interior a little too tall. There is proper leg drive and decent foot frequency in run blocking, engaging his lower-body power nicely even if his hands are too high on the chest or shoulder of the defender.
The high hands and taller posture are definitely things for Savaiinaea to work on ahead of any NFL discussion. They’re coachable, but they also need to be coached. There is also a tendency to overset to his outside and allow quicker rushers to cross him and win through his inside shoulder. His recovery footwork isn’t dynamic enough to get away with that very often.
A lot of what ails Savaiinaea as a tackle prospect is that he often looks like a guard playing tackle…which he was in 2023. As was the case with his old Wildcats mate Morgan, some NFL teams and analysts are going to prefer him playing inside. A strong 2024 with better pad level, more consistent hand placement and overall consistency can elevate Savaiinaea into the late-first range Morgan rose into, but right now he looks more like a player who would have gone in the early part of Day 3 in the last draft.
