Jamaree
Caldwell.
Jamaree
Caldwell.
Oregon· 6'2"· 332 lb· 5.16s 40
"A Houston transfer who spent one season at Oregon proving he could hold up against Big Ten doubles, Caldwell is a dense run-down anchor whose pass-rush production came earlier in his career than teams would like."Pre-draft read
Caldwell plays with weight and leverage. He fires low into contact, gets his hands into a blocker's chest, and asks the offense to move him — which, on most snaps, it cannot. Against combination blocks he sinks his hips and holds his ground rather than getting washed down the line, and that ability to occupy two bodies is the trait that gets a nose tackle drafted.
The rush is more situational. At Houston he flashed real interior push, and the 6.5-sack 2023 season showed he can collapse a pocket when a guard sets soft. His get-off is quick for a man his size and he has a functional club-swim, but his rush stalls once the initial move is absorbed and his conditioning shows on long drives.
The Chargers run a modern 3-4 defense that emphasizes gap control and a physical presence in the middle with occasional pressure packages.
Year 1 rotational Nose Tackle, with potential to develop into a dominant two-down starter capable of anchoring the run defense.
Loses significant value in a one-gap penetrating 4-3 scheme that prioritizes quickness and disruption over raw power and anchor.
Caldwell is a classic space-eating run stuffer whose strength and dense frame project well into a traditional 3-4 Nose Tackle role.
Jamaree Caldwell | Defensive Tackle | Full 2024 Oregon Highlights | 2025 NFL Draft
NFL DRAFT HIGHLIGHTS: DL Jamaree Caldwell | Oregon Football
Jamaree Caldwell College Football Highlights💥| Oregon Defensive Tackle | NFL Draft Film
Caldwell projected as a rotational nose tackle whose job is to hold the point on early downs and keep linebackers clean. He is dense, low-leveraged and strong at the point of attack, and the evaluation was about whether the interior push he flashed in the American Athletic Conference would survive against professional guards.
The production splits neatly by address. At Houston he was the disruptive version: 9 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in nine games in 2022, then a 26-tackle, 8.5-TFL, 6.5-sack breakout across 11 games in 2023. The transfer to Oregon in 2024 changed the role rather than the player — 28 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, three pass breakups and no sacks in 14 games, playing a heavier, more anchor-focused assignment in a Big Ten front. Career totals across 34 games: 63 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 8 sacks.
The Chargers took him at 86 for the run defense, and that context is the honest one. A 3-4 front that needs a nose to two-gap on early downs values exactly what he does best; a one-gap penetrating scheme would ask him to do the thing his last college season showed least. The projection was a rotational anchor with a chance to grow into a two-down starter.
- 01
Anchor at the point
He sinks his weight against combination blocks and refuses to give ground down the line of scrimmage.
- 02
Leverage
He fires low into contact and gets his hands inside a blocker's chest, which is why bigger bodies cannot move him.
- 03
Peak rush season
His 2023 Houston line of 8.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks proved the interior push is not theoretical.
- 04
Two-level scheme fit
He held up in both an AAC front and a Big Ten front, adapting his role without losing effectiveness.
- 05
Keeps linebackers clean
Occupying two blockers is the job description, and his tape shows him doing it snap after snap.
- 01
Rush stalls
Once the initial move is absorbed he has no reliable counter, and the pocket push disappears on long downs.
- 02
No sacks in 2024
His final college season produced zero sacks in 14 games, which is a hard number to explain away.
- 03
Conditioning
His snap effectiveness drops noticeably on extended drives, capping how much of a game he can play.
- 04
Competition split
The disruptive production came at Houston; the Big Ten season showed anchor value but not penetration.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.16sp50
- Vertical
- 27inp50
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Houston | 9 | 9 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Houston | 11 | 26 | 6.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Oregon | 14 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | — | 34 | 63 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A functional early-down interior starter who bounces between roles and rosters on the strength of run defense.
An undersized-for-nose anchor who becomes a genuinely valued full-time run defender with sneaky rush reps.
A pure two-down space eater who plays limited snaps and never establishes a third-down role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Caldwell entered the league in the role his tape predicted: an early-down interior body in a Chargers front that needed size in the middle, playing a rotational share rather than a starter's workload as a rookie in 2025. Nothing about his first professional season suggested a hidden pass rusher — the snaps came on running downs, and the value showed up in the way blockers had to double him rather than in a box score. He remained part of the Los Angeles interior group heading into 2026.
That is the correct outcome for a third-round nose tackle and it is also the ceiling risk of the profile. Players drafted to occupy space do not accumulate the statistics that earn second contracts, and Caldwell's only truly productive rush season came in 2023 against non-power competition. The path to more is narrow but visible: if the club-swim develops into a repeatable interior move and the conditioning supports 35 snaps a game, he becomes a three-down anchor. If it does not, he is a valuable, replaceable early-down piece — useful for as long as a defensive coordinator prizes the run front, and gone the moment scheme priorities shift.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2025 NFL draft player selections table.