At the very least he’s captain of the All Name team
If nothing else, Florida center Jake Slaughter should be first team “All Name” in the 2026 NFL Draft.
But the red-shirt senior is more than just an excellent name for an offensive lineman. He was the Gator’s best offensive lineman and one of the best interior offensive linemen in college football last year. Slaughter was a first team All American as well as First Team All-SEC, in addition to earning First Team honors from ESPN, Pro Football Focus, and USA Today.
The New York Giants hope to be set at center for the foreseeable future. However, they might also want to keep an eye on Slaughter if John Michael Schmitz doesn’t take another step forward in his third year.
(Slaughter is the Florida center wearing No. 66)
What he does well
Slaughter is a good athlete for the center position. He has an athletic frame with good length and the fluidity in his lower half to compensate for his height. Likewise he has very good movement skills, with enough quickness and agility to get out of his stance and into position to block athletic defenders or pick up A-gap blitzes. He is also quick to the second level and a menace when blocking linebackers or defensive backs in space.
Slaughter has very good awareness, mental processing, and competitive toughness. Stunts, twists, and blitzes rarely catch him by surprise, and he consistently looks for work when he doesn’t initially have anyone to block. He routinely identifies and picks up late pressure and is willing to hustle far down the field to help block for his teammates.
The flip side of his awareness and hustle when not engaged, is that he also offers excellent toughness when sustaining his blocks. Slaughter routinely makes every effort to anchor or re-anchor against defenders and strains to sustain his blocks for as long as possible.
Thanks to his athleticism and toughness, Slaughter is a very reliable pass protector who seldom allows pressure up the middle. He understand how to use his leverage and footwork to stymie bull rushers and create a pocket into which the quarterback can climb, as well as mirror athletic defenders or blitzers. He also works well with his teammates to apply double teams or deal with games along the line of scrimmage.
Slaughter is also a capable run blocker, though he isn’t a snowplow in the middle. He’s at his best in zone schemes, where he can use his athleticism to stress defenders laterally. That said, he also knows how to attack half-man when playing bigger defenders, as well as use his positioning to create running lanes. He’s also skilled at working off of double teams to the second level when blocking downhill.
What he needs to improve
The most consistent issue in Slaughter’s game is his hand placement. His hands aren’t exactly slow, but they can drift a bit wide as he transitions from snapping the ball to engaging with the defender. He has a tendency for his initial punch to land outside the defenders framework which can have a couple downstream impacts on his game.
Most notably, it prevents him from establishing inside leverage and make it more difficult to control bigger defenders. Wide hands can open him up to holding penalties, as well as expose his own chest plate to defenders who have quick get-offs.
Slaughter needs all the leverage he can get, as he is both a bit tall and lean. We won’t know his actual measurements until the NFL Scouting Combine, but he appears to be somewhere around 6-foot-5, 300 pounds. As such, his play strength is a bit of an issue and he depends heavily on consistent leverage to control defenders. Not only does he need inside leverage, but he also needs a consistently wide base with good hip and pad level.
He’s normally stout when playing with good leverage, but can be walked into the backfield if he gets out-leveraged.
So in addition to improving his hand usage, it would behoove Slaughter to keep working on adding mass and play strength. The only caveat being that he’ll need to be careful to maintain the fluidity and athleticism that make him a good center.
Final thoughts
Jake Slaughter will be a lineman to watch this year.
He has the traits to be a good center and potentially push for consideration in the first round. It’s also fairly likely that he’ll have plenty of eyes on him this year, given the excitement that quaterback DJ Lagway could generate.
The Gators finished the 2024 season far stronger than they started and have the look of a team on the rise. Lagway’s growth and development was a big part of that, but their offensive line coming together was important as well. Slaughter is the lynchpin of that line, and he really could become a coveted prospect with another year of polishing his game.
