Jarrett
Patterson.
Jarrett
Patterson.
Notre Dame· 6'5"· 306 lb· 5.33s 40
"He does not win the rep with power, he wins it before the snap: a two-time captain who called the front, played five years at two interior spots, and almost never let a rusher touch his quarterback."Pre-draft read
A five-year Notre Dame starter who anchored one of college football's most decorated offensive lines, first as a three-year center and then as a left guard. His game runs on timing and leverage rather than raw torque: compact first step, hands inside the framework on contact, wide base against bull rush, and a pre-snap read that gets the whole line pointed the right way.
In the run game he is best on reach and zone tracks, covering ground to wall defenders off the play side and climbing to linebackers under control. He is not a mauler who uproots nose tackles alone, and his athletic ceiling is functional rather than rare. The signature is dependability: two positions, five quarterbacks, and a nearly spotless sack-allowed record.
Outside-zone and wide-zone rushing offense with quick-game protection responsibilities on the interior
Year 1 swing interior backup who can start at center immediately if needed; ceiling is a decade-long starting center for a zone team that values protection calls over displacement
A gap-and-power downhill run offense that asks its center to move 340-pound nose tackles off the spot on duo and short yardage, or any staff hoping to kick him outside to tackle
Best paired with a strong guard next to him so double-team help is available against true zero-technique nose tackles.
Could he impact the Houston Texans instantly? | Jarrett Patterson Highlights
Official Notre Dame cutup released around the 2023 draft, showing his center and guard reps for the Irish.
Jarrett Patterson Left Guard/Center Film
Pre-draft film study of his 2022 left guard tape alongside his earlier work at center.
Jarrett Patterson joins Texans Radio
Rookie-year interview after Houston drafted him 201st overall, on the move between center and guard.
Patterson entered the 2023 class as a plug-and-play interior lineman: a two-time captain with 46 verified starts, snaps at center and left guard, and the intelligence to run a protection front on his own. Evaluators liked the hands and the pre-snap command far more than the testing profile.
The production backed the tape. He started all 13 games at center as a sophomore in 2019 without allowing a sack across 854 snaps, per Notre Dame's own charting, then held the pivot through 21 consecutive starts before foot surgery ended his 2020 season in November. He came back for two more full years, was an AFCA second-team All-American in 2022, and closed at left guard for an Irish offense averaging 4.6 yards per carry. The flags were power against big-bodied nose tackles, a medical file with foot and pectoral surgeries on it, and a lack of length that capped any tackle projection.
Boards had him as a fifth-round value and a mid-tier interior starter candidate, with grades reading "chance to start" rather than immediate answer. Houston, rebuilding an interior in front of a rookie quarterback, took him at 201 as the low-cost, high-floor snap-taker who could compete for the center job in camp. For a sixth-round pick, that is close to the ideal use of the slot.
- 01
Pre-snap command
Ran the front on his own at Notre Dame, identifying pressure and setting protection calls, which is why the staff kept him at center for three seasons.
- 02
Hand placement
Consistently lands inside the framework and resets when jarred, letting him hold blocks he does not initially win with power or positioning.
- 03
Pass-set balance
Quiet, compact sets with a wide base and no lunging; he did not surrender a sack on 854 charted snaps as a 2019 sophomore starter.
- 04
Zone footwork
Covers ground on reach and outside-zone tracks, gets his hips around the defender's play-side shoulder and finishes the wall consistently.
- 05
Positional versatility
Made 34 starts at center and then moved to left guard for his final year without a dip, an interchangeable interior profile for any roster.
- 01
Anchor against size
Gets pushed back into the pocket by heavy nose tackles who attack his chest; the base holds but the depth does not always survive contact.
- 02
Displacement power
Not a mover in short yardage; he sustains and steers far better than he uproots, so gap and duo runs behind him gain by inches.
- 03
Injury file
Season-ending foot surgery in 2020 and a torn pectoral before the 2022 spring, a medical sheet that pushed him down boards in the interior tier.
- 04
Length limits
Short arms for the position leave him vulnerable to long-armed rushers who reach his frame first and steer him off the block point.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.33sp50
- Vertical
- 29.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 106inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.96sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.73sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Notre Dame | 3 |
| 2019 | Notre Dame | 13 |
| 2020 | Notre Dame | 8 |
| 2021 | Notre Dame | 13 |
| 2022 | Notre Dame | 12 |
| Career | — | 49 |
Offensive linemen have no box-score categories, and cfbstats.com carries no player page for Patterson in any year: he appears only on Notre Dame's 2020, 2021 and 2022 rosters (#55, OL), and the site does not host 2018 or 2019 Notre Dame pages at all. Games, starts and the 2019 snap count therefore come from his official Notre Dame biography, whose per-season figures sum cleanly to 49 games and 46 verified starts. Starts for 2018 are not published anywhere and are left null rather than zero, so the career start total covers only the four verified seasons. Documented discrepancies: StatMuse lists 1 game in 2018 and 11 starts in 2022 where the official bio says 3 games and 12 starts, and Tankathon lists 7 games in 2020 where the bio and ESPN's contemporaneous report of 21 straight starts support 8; the official bio was followed throughout.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Smart, durable interior swing man who starts for years without ever winning on raw power, exactly the career shape Patterson is tracking toward.
The same undersized, technique-and-intelligence center archetype, if every developmental break had gone his way; a ceiling comp, not a projection.
Tough, versatile depth whose injuries and functional-strength ceiling keep him in and out of the starting lineup.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Houston got what the tape promised, and quickly. Patterson opened his rookie year as the Texans' starting center and started the first seven games in front of C.J. Stroud before a fractured fibula at Carolina in late October sent him to injured reserve; he finished 2023 with 7 games, 7 starts and 463 offensive snaps. In 2024 he came back as the swing interior man, appearing in 15 games with 9 starts and 548 offensive snaps as Houston shuffled its line, and in 2025 he played all 17 games with 5 starts and 334 offensive snaps, adding 80 on special teams. He also played four postseason games with three starts. On August 31, 2026, Houston traded him to San Francisco for a 2027 seventh-round pick.
In hindsight this is a sixth-round pick doing its job. Nobody drafted at 201 is owed a decade of starts, and Patterson has returned 39 games, 21 starts and roughly 1,345 offensive snaps in three seasons for a playoff team, at two interior positions, on minimum money. What kept him from more was the thing the reports flagged: he is a steady operator rather than a difference-maker at the point of attack, so when a roster spends real money on guards he slides back into the swing role. But a starting center for a rookie quarterback's first seven NFL games, still employed and traded for real compensation four years later, is a clean Day 3 outcome.