Daniel Jackson, Minnesota: 2025 NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report

Jackson was a four-star recruit from Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, Kan. in the class of 2020

Minnesota wide receiver Daniel Jackson often goes overlooked in the 2025 NFL Draft discussion because the Golden Gophers aren’t a high-flying offense. Jackson lacks ideal measurables but creates impressive separation with his route running skills.

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Daniel Jackson, WR Minnesota: 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Classification: Redshirt senior wide receiver from Kansas City, Kan.

Background: Jackson was a four-star recruit from Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, Kan. in the class of 2020. He was the No. 332 recruit according to 247Sports and No. 300 for On3.com. Jackson was an unranked three-star recruit for Rivals. ESPN ranked him 220th in the nation with an 82 grade out of 100. He contributed to Bishop Miege claiming its sixth consecutive state championship with a dominant championship performance that included 11 receptions for 173 and two touchdowns. As a senior, Jackson amassed 74 receptions for 1,511 yards and 27 touchdowns, earning the 2019 Otis Taylor Award, which is presented to the most outstanding high school wide receiver or tight end in the greater Kansas City area. He was also the 4A SIK Offensive Player of the Year. According to MaxPreps, Jackson caught 54 passes for 1,270 yards and 16 touchdowns as a sophomore. He also competed in track and field. Jackson’s cousin, Jafar Armstrong, competed at Illinois, Notre Dame, and Western Illinois as a wide receiver.

Injuries & Off-Field: Missed two games in 2021, missed two games in 2022 with a lower leg injury, limited in 2024 fall camp with an injury

Awards: 2023 Second Team All-Big Ten

Pros: Experience operating outside and in the slot, surprising twitch and suddenness in his release, footwork and quick cuts make for a diverse release package, varies route tempo, route fakes, leverage manipulation, and acceleration help stack off-man corners, stutter-go and tempo leave soft shoe press man corners in the dust, fancy footwork and sudden cuts allow for separation vs. off-man at the stem’s peak, sharp cuts on vertical routes, accelerates after cuts in routes to pull away from corners, good hip sink at stem’s peak, shakes corners at the top of the stem, quickly gears down for outs, comebacks, and curls, insane slant-go route vs. Purdue (2023), stems routes outside before breaking inside across the corner’s face into open space, excellent subtle cuts to manipulate leverage, good shoulder and head fakes, superb route fakes, relocates vs. zone when he feels covered, works back to underthrown passes, tracks the ball well over his shoulder, body control at the catch point, comfortable catching through contact, tough after the catch to absorb hits over the MOF, fearless over the middle, nifty player one-on-one in space, jump cuts, euro steps to elude tacklers after the catch, flashes of contact balance, speed to contribute YAC, engaged and willing blocker who uses his frame effectively

Cons: Limited special teams experience, he’s likely under 6'0", falls below elite in size and athletic measurables, occasionally late off the line, route quickly derailed when contact at LOS by punches in press coverage, hands must be more active protecting him from press coverage, too much fancy footwork, his mid-route foot fire makes him pause and vulnerable to jams, disrupted by collision at the stem’s peak, inconsistent separator vs. sticky press coverage, needs to collision and push off CBs more on short routes, lacks elite vertical speed, sometimes tries his stutter-go too far away from the corner so it doesn’t get the defender to bite, limited catch radius, seven drops in 2023, limited YAC production in recent years, poor job breaking tackles in 2023, unlikely to run away from NFL cornerbacks

Overview: Jackson hasn’t played much on special teams for Minnesota. Most of his experience has come lined up on the outside, but he’ll kick inside at the next level because of his undersized frame and lack of elite athletic measurables. Jackson is occasionally late off the line but displays impressive twitch and suddenness in his release. His release package is one of the most diverse in the 2025 class, which is good because physical press corners can re-route him at the line of scrimmage. Jackson’s footwork and quick cuts provide a strong baseline for his release options, but he needs to engage his hands more often to keep his frame clean. The redshirt senior sometimes overdoes it with his fancy footwork and makes himself vulnerable by decelerating. He is an excellent route runner who varies his tempo, deploys a wide array of fakes, and manipulates leverage to create opportunities to separate from defenders or stack them with his acceleration. Jackson uses his quick footwork and sudden cuts to separate against man coverage at the top of the stem. His acceleration coming out of his breaks helps him provide his quarterback with throwing windows. Jackson decelerates quickly to create space between him and the defender on outs, comebacks, and curls. He creates misdirection by stemming routes outside before breaking over the middle of the field and using realistic shoulder and head fakes. Unfortunately, his lack of play strength and average explosive athleticism limit his ability to play through contact during the route or separate against elite athletes. Jackson lacks the speed to win vertically with consistency, and his timing on routes that threaten defenders downfield needs to be refined. The Kansas native relocates and works overtime to uncover against zones. He suffers from some concentration drops and a limited catch radius but tracks the ball well and displays impressive body control at the catch point. He’s comfortable maintaining receptions through contact and taking big hits over the middle of the field. Jackson’s toughness in the face of contact is admirable. He doesn’t break many tackles after the catch but is tough to bring down alone in space because of his footwork and contact balance.

Overall, Jackson is an undersized receiver who lacks elite traits, but his footwork, sudden cuts, manipulation of leverage, acceleration, and toughness help him project as a viable tertiary target early in his NFL career. Whether he develops into something greater depends on his ability to generate consistent separation against man coverage and present an open target earlier in plays.

Role & Scheme Fit: Possession receiver primarily playing in the slot

Round Grade: Fourth Round

Size: 6'0", 195 lbs. (Unofficial)

Submitted: 08-22-24

Updated: 11-11-24