Twyman finally puts his football future on the line
Jaylen Twyman placed 225 pounds on the rack behind him, stood up on the bench and — in front of former teammates, coaches and representatives from all 32 NFL teams — let emotions spill out that had been bottled for eight months.
Twyman, who opted out of the 2020 season last July, waited a long time for Wednesday’s pro day. With this year’s NFL Scouting Combine essentially canceled, it had been 447 days since scouts saw the 2019 All-American defensive tackle perform at the Quick Lane Bowl. And in the areas that mattered to him and his camp, he didn’t disappoint.
Twyman put up 40 reps on the bench press to kick off his day, a noteworthy feat. Only four defensive tackles have hit 40 reps in the past 10 combines. Dontari Poe (44 reps, 2012) and Vita Vea (41, 2018) were drafted in the first round; Stephen Paea (49, 2011) and Harrison Phillips (42, 2018) landed in the second and third, respectively.
Twyman, who weighed in at 301 pounds, also posted a 32.5-inch vertical jump. That figure bested Auburn’s Derrick Brown, Alabama’s Raekwon Davis, Ohio State’s DaVon Hamilton, Missouri’s Jordan Elliott and Baylor’s James Lynch — every defensive tackle who jumped at the 2020 combine and was drafted in the first four rounds.
The former Panther’s day wasn’t perfect. His 40-yard dash times of 5.51 and 5.39 seconds were less than ideal, and his 104-inch broad jump would have ranked third worst among defensive linemen at last year’s combine.
But after speaking with his agents at Rosenhaus Sports, Twyman came away from his pro day believing Wednesday was “a win.”
“I’m excited for draft day,” added Twyman, the fourthbest defensive tackle available according to Todd McShay’s pre-pro day rankings on ESPN. “I’ve got a wide range of different ways it could go. I’m just keeping my head down and praying.”
If mock drafts are any indication, there’s certainly a wide range of outcomes for Twyman. Last week, a sevenround mock from CBS Sports projected Twyman to the Dallas Cowboys in the third round. Sports Illustrated recently had the Pitt star going in the fourth round to the Los Angeles Chargers. And Pro Draft Network pegged Twyman as a fifth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers.
That tracks with what Steve Muench — a longtime analyst for Scouts Inc., the evaluating network partnered with ESPN — told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after the 2019 season. On tape, he was intrigued by Twyman and saw him as a day three guy who could move into the second or third round with another standout season.
Of course, Muench couldn’t have predicted then what would happen with the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout across college football. Twyman was one of several high-profile players to opt out of the 2020 season.
It was difficult for Twyman to look on as his teammates played a shortened season. He watched every game. He admitted to crying during the first couple, upset he wasn’t at Heinz Field himself. He remembers almost every play that happened in 2020.
But Twyman doesn’t regret his decision. He reiterated his reasoning for leaving Pitt: “I was trying to help my mom and my little brothers financially.” And his former teammates never held that against him. They understood that Twyman had his reasons, and they were happy to work alongside him at pro day.
“I knew he was going to do that,” pass-rusher Patrick Jones said of Twyman’s bench press performance. “We used to work out every day during quarantine, so I expected it. I knew he was going to come out and put on a show. That’s what JT does.”
“That’s my guy. That’s love forever,” added passrusher Rashad Weaver. “To see what he could do and put up numbers on the bench, I was proud of him. There’s always a what-if. But my man did what was best for him at the time.”
That “what-if” refers to Twyman staying and working on Pitt’s vaunted defensive line. Twyman put up 10.5 sacks in a breakout 2019 campaign, ranking third in the ACC behind Miami’s Gregory Rousseau and Wake Forest’s Carlos Basham. And Twyman did that without Weaver’s help on the outside, as the edge rusher recovered from a torn ACL that kept him off the field the entire season.
If Twyman played between Jones and Weaver, two consensus All-Americans in 2020, he would have “destroyed” backfields, former Pitt offensive lineman Bryce Hargrove said. Twyman concurred with a smile.
“I know for a fact that if I had played this year with those two dudes going off the edge and those great DBs, my numbers would have been better than [ 2019],” he said. “Sacks would have fallen into my lap.”
But without that production, scouts and coaches are somewhat limited to what they can use to evaluate Twyman. NFL teams are prohibited from hosting prospects at their facilities, conducting private workouts, or even going out to dinner with prospects. Twyman will largely rely on his 2019 tape — which is impressive — and his pro day numbers to get selected in a respectable position.
All things considered, Twyman is at peace with that.
“I was trying to show all the work that I was putting in and the pain that I had built up. I was trying to put my best foot forward,” Twyman said of his pro day. “Whatever happens in April happens. … It’s in God’s hands now.”