With good offensive line play at a premium in the NFL, teams are always looking to the draft to get ahead of the curve and find that young offensive tackle who also can slide inside to guard as well. In the 2025 NFL draft, there are a number of guys who fit this description, but my favorite would be Jonah Savaiinaea, the University of Arizona standout.
Hailing from Honolulu, Hawaii, Jonah is a former 3 start recruit in the 2022 class and enrolled at the University of Arizona. He burst onto the scene in the 2022 Polynesian bowl, which lead him to build on a great season in 2022 at right guard that also included the second highest blocking efficiency score among offensive lineman by PFF. This caused his stock to rise as he was also named to the PFF’s All First Team True Freshman (for his Right Guard play).
2023 saw him continue this stellar play with an all Pac-12 Honorable Mention. He slide outside to the Right Tackle position and also showed he could handle the pressure, only allowing 2 sacks in 889 snaps in 2023 (Per PFF). His work along the offensive line also propelled Arizona to finish with a top 20 ranked offense (448 yards per game), a top 8 ranked passing offense (308 yards per game) and a top 5 red zone conversion offense (93%).
Player Info
Name: Jonah Savaiinaea
Jersey: No. 74
Position: Right Guard/Right Tackle
School: University of Arizona
Class: Junior
Height: 6 foot 5
Weight: 336 pounds
Jonah Savaiinaea’s Strengths
One of Jonah’s biggest strength’s is his positional versatility along the right side of the offensive line. Teams can rest assured that they can either start him at right tackle or right guard and experience no drop off in the quality of play.
He shows very impressive lateral agility and quick footwork, especially in pass protection stances, as well as being asked to pull in the run game. His massive frame and arm length will also allow him to be able to play either position and keep even the most pesky edge rushers from getting near his quarterback.
Jonah also exhibits a very high football IQ for an offensive lineman and is very adept at picking up on and handling stunts and blitzes. Couple this with his excellent awareness and teamwork skills in the trenches, and you have a young man who won’t be rattled by complex defensive schemes.
Jonah Savaiinaea’s Weaknesses
It’s not all sunshine for Jonah however. The biggest issues on his tape is that he has inconsistent hand placement versus defenders, which can lead to a lot of holding penalties at the next level.
He also occasionally overextends in his protection sets, which leads to balance issues and leaves him open to counters, especially from quicker edge rushers who can get by him before he’s reset.
There is also the concern of him bending at the waist on tape frequently, rather than bending at the knee. Waist bending means that Jonah is leaving a lot of leverage on the table, meaning more opportunities for him to be beat than he should.
Draft Projection
In an offensive line class that is seeking a guy to step up and standout, Jonah can be that player for teams looking for a versatile, multifaceted offensive lineman. There are quite a few teams in search of quality offensive linemen, but my top landing spots for Jonah would be:
- Tennessee Titans (as either a Right Tackle or a Right Guard, as the team has a need for both)
- Chicago Bears (Jonah would likely slide inside to Right Guard, unless the Bears choose to move Darnell Wright around and slide Jonah to Right Tackle)
- Los Angeles Rams (Major age and injury concerns along the offensive line could force McVay and company to make an investment into Jonah, and shore up either position along the right side.)
Whichever team selects Jonah can take comfort in knowing they are getting a versatile offensive linemen with room to grow, which is why Jonah is comfortably nestled on my big board as a top 50 prospect and should hear his name called in the opening 2 rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.
