Broncos Film Room: Is Ja'Wuan James finally the long-term fix at right tackle?

After breaking down the Denver Broncos first free agent acquisition of the season, Kareem Jackson, it was time to take a look at Denver’s newest right tackle addition, the still-young Ja’Wuan James.

James has played his entire career with the Miami Dolphins as a right tackle, a position he manned back in his college days at Tennessee, making him a rare first-round pick at RT.

James’ high selection was due to his athleticism and length, which indicated he could profile at left tackle long term. However, Miami drafted Laremy Tunsil two-years after selecting James, as Tunsil was too good to pass up after his draft-day fall. The addition of Tunsil permanently forced James to play on the right side for the rest of his tenure in South Beach.

At 26 years of age, James is a handful of days younger then Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles, still has plenty of upside, and could easily be the best offensive tackle Denver’s had since Ryan Clady was in his prime. 

With all that promise, here’s what we found when digging into James’ tape against the best pass rushers he faced in 2018, from Khalil Mack to J.J. Watt all the way to Danielle Hunter.

Who is Ja’Wuan James?

In a tough situation in 2018, where the Dolphins dealt with injuries across the board on offense, James was a reliable player on the line, conceding five sacks, getting called for three holding penalties and zero false starts in 15 games. Those figures would’ve looked nice on a Broncos line that struggled at both tackles spots in 2018, conceding 15.5 sacks from their bookends and a whopping 13 holding penalties. 

James was that productive thanks to his extraordinary length and nimble feet, making him a talented pass blocker who will rarely get beat on outside rush moves. If you’re looking for a reason why the Broncos paid such a hefty price for James, you don’t need to search much further than his high-end traits and consistent production.

James has flashed strong hands on tape and great balance, rarely overextending himself. A big selling point for him was certainly how he handled himself against Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and the rest of Vic Fangio’s talented Chicago Bears front in 2018, as he was rock solid and didn’t allow a single pressure on the day.

His ability to handle both the speed of Mack and power of Hicks makes him very intriguing.

James has a strong anchor against bull rushers, with natural flexibility in his hips to handle defenders as they try to overpower him.

When he is able to engulf defenders with his long 35-inch arms, the former Volunteer is a really strong against power, not just against edge rushers who try to attack him with their bull rush, but against some of the most powerful rushers in the game like Hicks and Watt.

He can also get out on the move on pull blocks or screens, easily getting downhill and beating defenders to their spots.

James’ athleticism is easy to see on tape when he moves forward, and combined with Garett Bolles, should allow the Broncos’ screen game to flourish on either side.

New offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello will also be able to use more pull blocks from his tackles, manipulating running lanes as his bookends fly downfield to overpower second-level defenders.

Back to his draft year, James’ agility tested off-the-charts at the 2014 NFL Combine, with a 7.42 three-cone drill, which would’ve been the second-best among all O-lineman this year, while his 4.56 short shuttle was a near-elite showing as well. That lateral mobility shows in pass protection, especially when he has to pick up an extra rusher coming on a blitz—as shown below—but doesn’t always show as a run blocker.

If he just has to move forward, he does a nice job blocking at the second level and can take defenders completely out of the picture, too.

Another big selling point for James is his versatility, as he played a little left tackle at the start of his pro career and could easily translate to guard, a position in which his traits would fit seamlessly.

At only 26, he could really blossom under new offensive line coach Mike Munchak’s tutelage. James also had his best year in an injury-shortened 2017 season, where he allowed two sacks and zero holds in eight starts.

Ja’Wuan is a clear upgrade to what the Broncos had at right tackle a year ago, with a mix of  Billy Turner’s versatility, youth, and mobility combined with Jared Veldheer’s savvy in pass protection and length—though James has much longer arms.

James is a balanced blocker who rarely looks sloppy, though he lacks a bit of aggression at times, and can look lackadaisical when initiating contact to jolt defenders back.

With all his athleticism, he remains more of a length-and-power blocker than he is a fitness tackle. His fit in a zone scheme shouldn’t be a problem, but he doesn’t always play like the premier lateral athlete that his athletic testing would suggest.

One of James’ biggest issues is that he can play too upright as a run blocker, not always showcasing great leverage, an issue at times in pass-pro too, as you can see in this clip below where Watt beat him for a sack and forced a holding penalty.

On top of his inability to win the leverage battle, he also doesn’t always show violent hands—this showed up repeatedly on film as Watt and Hicks gave him issues with inside power moves.

Consistently strong hands, bend, and lateral mobility are all issues in these situations.

This will be a concern in a zone scheme where James won’t always be able to reach block, as he’s a much better athlete moving downhill or in his backpedal—in large part thanks to his big strides—than he is laterally. Part of this might be due to a string of lower-body injuries that have forced James to miss nine games the past two seasons.

The hulking tackle will also need to improve on finishing blocks in space, as he lacks a bit of nastiness when blocking on the move, where he could play with a bit more of an edge to bury smaller defenders.

For as good as his game against Chicago was, his showing against the Houston Texans was ugly in stretches, allowing a QB hit by Jadeveon Clowney, a TFL by Watt and the aforementioned sack-hold.

Against the Vikings, Danielle Hunter bull rushed him for a sack, too, as he again was too rigid and upright. James must be more consistent with his knee bend and more violent with his hands, but most importantly he needs to be stronger in dealing with inside-counter moves, his biggest issue on tape.

Denver’s new tackle can also wrap his arms around defenders, almost hugging them at times, and can be susceptible to holding penalties this way.

There are many areas of his game that need to be cleaned up, but there is also plenty to like about the young offensive lineman. 

How he fits

The biggest concerns with James are his lateral mobility and the ability to reach block, a key in any zone blocking system.

His problems dealing with inside-counter moves are especially concerning in Denver, where he’ll be paired with inexperienced right guard Elijah Wilkinson. James’ troubles dealing with inside moves will put more stress on Wilkinson to help out when the right tackle hands off inside rushes to his guard. Smart coordinators will gameplan against this and test their ability to handle rushers up the B-gap.

James also benefitted from the Dolphins’ play calling, which featured lots of quick timing throws, something Denver won’t be doing as much of as the offense tries to establish a vertical passing game off of play action, which will test James quite a bit.

The biggest advantage of this signing is that Denver now has two athletic bookends who can get out in space and open up big holes, giving them the option to open up the playbook. 

James isn’t a perfect fit, but he checks off all the boxes you want in a pass protector who can handle speed moves outside and power moves, even if he’ll need to clean up a few things.

If Munchak can take James’ game to the next level, and the former Dolphin can stay healthy, this should prove to be a quality signing for the Broncos who’ve undoubtedly managed to upgrade at a weak spot that has tormented the franchise for several years.