Jonah Savaiinaea, Arizona: 2025 NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report

Savaiinaea was a three-star recruit from St. Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii in the class of 2022

Arizona right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea projects as a top 70 prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft with the ceiling to be a top 50 selection. Savaiinaea’s technique protecting his outside shoulder is still raw, but he has plenty of flashes that point toward a future in the NFL at right tackle or guard.

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Jonah Savaiinaea, OT/G Arizona: 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Classification: Junior right tackle from Tafuna, American Samoa

Background: Savaiinaea was a three-star recruit from St. Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii in the class of 2022. He was the No. 600 recruit according to 247Sports and No. 656 for On3.com. Savaiinaea was an unranked three-star recruit for Rivals and an unranked three-star recruit for ESPN with a 75 grade out of 100.

Injuries & Off-Field: N/A

Awards: 2022 Honorable Mention All-Pac-12, 2022 Freshman All-American (FWAA), 2023 Honorable Mention All-Pac-12

Pros: Experience playing right guard and right tackle, tackle-caliber height, good knee bend, thick and muscular arms, times the snap well, explosive initial steps to gain good depth or width, easily cuts off wide-alignment rushers, accelerates slide to match the edge rusher’s tempo, keeps hands tight to body early in his set, powerful arm extensions, good power in hands that he needs to unlock more often, powerful snatch trap, let snatch traps fly left and right as he overpowered USC (2023), stays in front of spin moves, maintains a wide base, stout anchor to handle larger linemen, head on a swivel, quick to notice and redirect for secondary rushers, passes off and redirects for stunts, displaces defenders on down blocks, nice speed in the open field, clears a path when lead blocking, nice pop on contact as a lead blocker, overpowers and clears out second level defenders

Cons: Questionable arm length, pass rushers cross his face and drag him into the pocket through the B-gap, sometimes loses balance trying to redirect into the B-gap, pad level jumps up on contact, hand usage is very raw and underdeveloped, wildly inconsistent strike timing and placement, hands land high and slip off pads, initial hand placement needs to tighten up, struggles to establish a firm clamp in pass pro, examples of bearhugging in pass pro, foot speed quickly fades allowing defenders to win up the arc, underestimated Laiatu Latu’s speed up the arc several times (2023), doesn’t involve inside hand in block framing, inside hand needs to be more active in framing pass rushers pushing vertically, really struggles to protect his outside shoulder, edge rushers dip under and around him at the top of the arc, not a consistent force in the run game, poor effort at times as a run blocker, lacks a mean streak, some blown blocking assignments in the run game, inconsistent framing on run blocks, inconsistent effort sustaining blocks, occasionally slips off blocks in the run game, lunges into some second level blocks and falls down

Overview: Savaiinaea started at right guard as a freshman before taking most of his snaps at right tackle in 2023. He has tackle-caliber height but plays with good bend in his knees. Savaiinaea has thick and muscular arms that channel good power. He times the snap well and has an explosive initial step to quickly gain good depth or width. Savaiinaea easily cuts off wide-alignment rushers and accelerates his slide to match the defender’s pace. He keeps his hands tight to his body early in the pass set, making them impossible to swat. The junior packs a nice punch, but he’s inconsistent at delivering power through his hands. He has developed a powerful snatch trap that he used roughly half a dozen times against USC in 2023. Savaiinaea keeps himself in front of spin moves and maintains a wide base to use his stout anchor to slow down power rushes. He keeps his head on a swivel and is quick to notice stunts or delayed blitzes. Savaiinaea’s questionable arm length is one of the reasons why he projects best inside at guard. When operating on an island, the American Samoa native allows defenders to cross his face too often as he struggles to redirect and protect the B-gap. Despite his explosive initial step, Savaiinaea struggles to protect his outside shoulder. His foot speed quickly fades as he travels up the arc, and edge rushers successfully dip under and around him to penetrate the pocket. Savaiinaea frequently doesn’t use his inside hand when attempting to frame blocks, especially when defenders are pushing vertically. This is just a small part of his raw and inconsistent hand usage. The former three-star recruit’s strike timing and placement are wildly inconsistent. His hands need to tighten up and land lower on the defender. Right now they’re coming in too wide and high, slipping off the defender’s pads. Savaiinaea struggles to establish a firm clamp and resorts to bearhugging defenders. His hand placement and usage need work regardless, but playing guard would mitigate concerns with Savaiinaea’s range. In the run game, the All-Pac-12 honorable mention displaces defenders on down blocks and flashes nice pop on contact as a lead blocker against smaller defenders. He has nice speed in the open field but looks a little awkward pulling for gap runs. Savaiinaea isn’t a consistent force in the run game and sometimes displays poor effort. He doesn’t sustain blocks for long enough and lacks a mean streak. Several of Arizona’s run plays failed in 2023 because Savaiinaea blew assignments. He must commit to a more focused approach that maximizes his power and keeps running lanes open for longer. Savaiinaea occasionally lunges into second level blocks, misses, and ends up on the ground.

Overall, Savaiinaea may develop the ability to play offensive tackle at an NFL level in the next two years, but right now he projects best to the league as a guard because of his inconsistent play protecting his outside shoulder on an island. Savaiinaea has the mobility, size, and strength to dominate matches in confined spaces, particularly in pass protection. He limits himself as a run blocker but is a promising pass protecting guard.

Role & Scheme Fit: Right guard in an inside zone scheme

Round Projection: Mid Second to Early Third Round (Guard)

Size: 6'5", 330 lbs. (Unofficial)

Submitted: 04-06-24