Nesta
Jade Silvera.
Nesta
Jade Silvera.
Arizona St.
"A productive college interior rusher across two programs, Silvera was a size-limited Day 3 bet — and his NFL story is the familiar one of good tape that never beat the measurables."Pre-draft read
Silvera is a 6-2, 304-pound interior defender built low and wide, a South Florida product who spent four years at Miami before taking a graduate season at Arizona State. He plays with natural pad level and active hands, eats up space against the run, and brings the edge you would expect from a Broward County kid who backed down from nobody — his Senior Bowl week was full of exactly that energy.
His best single season came at ASU in 2022, when he started the final ten games and produced 56 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks while anchoring the Sun Devils' interior. The limitations were consistent across both programs: he is a one-gap run defender with limited pass-rush value and short-area-only range, and his Miami career (105 tackles, 16 TFL, 2 sacks in four seasons) showed more disruption than finish.
One-gap 4-3 front that rotates interior bodies and values run-down disruption over pass rush
Year 1: game-day depth and practice development; ceiling: fourth tackle in an NFL rotation
Fronts that need interior pass-rush production from their depth tackles
His NFL usage — early-down rotational work — matches the evaluation almost exactly.
Nesta Jade Silvera Highlights — Arizona State, Senior Bowl
Reel covering his breakout ASU season and Senior Bowl week.
Nesta Silvera Miami Hurricanes DT 2020-21 Highlights
Tape from his four seasons on Miami's defensive interior.
How It Started, How It's Going: Nesta Jade Silvera
Feature on his South Florida roots and path to the NFL.
Silvera's college career was a tale of two programs. At Miami he was a four-year rotational interior on some talented defensive lines — 105 tackles, 16 for loss — known more for toughness and energy than production. The graduate transfer to Arizona State unlocked him: 56 tackles in 12 games as a fifth-year senior, starting the last ten, easily his most productive season.
The scouting case was the leverage-and-motor profile with real experience — five seasons, 60-plus games across the ACC and Pac-12, and a strong Senior Bowl week that put him back on the draftable radar. CBS slotted him as a role player with a Jay Tufele comparison. The concerns were a limited pass-rush ceiling, tweener size at 6-2, 304, and production that never matched the energy until his final season.
Las Vegas closed its 2023 draft by taking him at 231, adding interior depth behind a rebuilt defensive front. For a seventh-rounder, the pitch was simple: a high-energy, low-pad-level run defender who had just proven he could anchor a Power Five line.
The evaluation never promised more than rotation — and rotation is exactly what he has been.
- 01
Senior-year leap
56 tackles, 4.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks in 12 games at Arizona State, starting the final ten.
- 02
Natural leverage
Built low at 6-2, 304; consistently wins pad level against taller interior blockers.
- 03
Experience
Five seasons and 60-plus games across Miami (ACC) and Arizona State (Pac-12).
- 04
Active hands
Works to shed and keep his frame clean; 3 pass breakups from the interior in 2022.
- 05
Energy and toughness
Relentless motor; his Senior Bowl week drew real attention from scouts.
- 01
Limited pass rush
3.5 career sacks across five college seasons; not a threat on passing downs.
- 02
Tweener size
6-2 without elite length; can be engulfed by bigger NFL interior blockers.
- 03
Short-area range
A phone-booth defender who does not chase plays outside the tackle box.
- 04
One big season
Production spiked only in his graduate year, after four modest seasons at Miami.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-21 | Miami (FL) | — | 105 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Arizona State | 12 | 56 | 1.5 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Career | — | 12 | 161 | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
ASU 2022 line verified against cfbstats; Miami four-season totals per the Raiders' official draft bio.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Leverage-built tackle who carved a career as a fourth-man in NFL rotations.
CBS's own comp: squat, high-energy interior who sticks as a rotational run defender.
High-energy interior whose limited rush ceiling kept him on roster bubbles.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Silvera made the Raiders as a rookie and contributed in a limited role — two tackles in two games in 2023, then eight tackles across an expanded role in 2024 as Las Vegas churned its defensive line. When the Raiders moved on, the journeyman track followed: a stint with the Chargers, then Green Bay, where he continues to fight for interior depth.
The honest retrospective: this is the median outcome for a seventh-round interior lineman, and there is no shame in it. Silvera has now been in the league three seasons, appeared in games for a franchise that drafted him, and kept getting calls because run-defending, high-motor tackles are always in demand in August. He was never going to be more than a role player — the CBS grade said so explicitly — and a role player is precisely what he became.