BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Oregon’s Jamaree Caldwell is a colossal defensive tackle weighing 332 pounds. He was a dominant force up front whose production goes beyond stats.
Caldwell demanded double teams. The former Oregon Duck did the dirty work so his teammates could get the sack or the tackle for loss which is something he takes pride in.
“When you turn on tape, I’d rather take on two than anything,” said Caldwell. “Free up some guys. I feel like that’s what made us more dominant is somebody that’s not being selfish. If I would have been selfish and been like, ‘man let me play the three.’ I chimed in on it. I’m going to be the best nose that we had in a minute.”
Jamaree’s fellow Oregon draft prospects had nothing but praise for him when asked what type of teammate he is.
“JC made a lot of the calls for the defensive line,” said former Oregon defensive end Jordan Burch. “He’s a great leader and he can move. You kind of get surprised that a guy that big can move. He’s wrecking havoc in the middle. He’s rushing the passer great. He’s just a great guy to have around and everybody in the locker room loves him. He’s hilarious. That’s just like a great teammate. A perfect teammate to have.”
Fellow draft prospect and former Oregon linebacker, Jeffrey Bassa, echoed similar thoughts.
“He’s a great teammate,” said Bassa. “We used to call him ‘Big Anch’. You know that 2i or when he’s at 3-technique, he’s anchoring down. As a linebacker he’s keeping me free a lot of the times. I love Jamaree. A really good dude. I know he’s going to tear it up in the league.”
Caldwell ate up double teams in college but it’s other eating habits that may concern NFL teams. He weighed 360 pounds at the start of his college career. He’s around 330 pounds now but he knows the questions that are out there.
“‘Is he going to eat his way out of the league?'” Caldwell said when referring to the questions surrounding his weight. “I don’t want to hear that for the rest of my career.
I feel like I’m coming from the journey I did come from being, when I did take some time off of football, that heavy. I feel like I did a good job of getting down to the weight I want. I started to surf a little bit, but now I need to get down to the proper work for the next level.”
Caldwell has the potential to be one of the big steals of this year’s draft and would be a great fit on the interior of the Bills defensive line. He is projected to be a 3rd or 4th round draft pick.