Athletic Illinois DB Jartavius Martin has a sky-high ceiling in the NFL

Illinois defensive back Jartavius ‘Quan’ Martin is seemingly a forgotten entity on an unsuspecting elite secondary room that the Illini put together the past two seasons. There are few athletes like Martin in the 2023 NFL Draft class and it shows on the gridiron with a sky-high ceiling on display every time you see his movement skills. Martin contributed in all five years with the Illini standing out amongst a number of past and future NFL draft picks.

Martin is quietly rising and the more you see the film, the easier it is to fall in love with him as a prospect for a multitude of reasons. He’s got the ability to contribute at a variety of positions at the next level, and he needs way more love for what he can eventually be once his development is complete.

The Washington Commanders drafted Jartavius Martin with pick No. 47 in the 2023 NFL Draft. For full coverage of the Jartavius Martin pick, head over to Hogs Haven.

We’ll get into the specifics of his athletic testing at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine later, but Martin flashes an incredibly high athletic ceiling on his 2022 film. The ability by the nickel/safety hybrid to carry vertically and drive on the football stands out in a big way. Martin consistently pops on tape effecting the catch point despite having a huge distance to travel on some plays. His ability to nail down on intermediate routes is special. Martin can also make a case for the best hips in the class with his ability to rotate without any rust in his joints. He’s not a finished product yet, so the NFL’s defensive coaches will be enticed by the lower body explosion and create a complete football player from it.

Martin is a sure tackler that you feel comfortable with no matter where an NFL defensive coordinator aligns him. There’s a nasty edge to his game and he takes tackling personally to make sure he is the one to bring the ball carrier down when given the opportunity. That nastiness carries over to coverage where he gets his hands on slot receivers to jam them up before they can release into their route.

Another fascinating factor to Martin’s game is his true versatility to play safety and nickel corner. Illinois consistently entrusted him as their post safety and nickel defender throughout the course of games, and he flashes the upside to do both well at the next level.

If it were up to Quan Martin, all “break glass in case of emergency” boxes would be shattered by now. For all of the lovable traits with Martin, the one frustration that stands out is his lack of awareness to understand where the football and his assignment are in unison. Martin short circuits when the quarterback breaks the pocket and he’s in a zone drop — completely losing a sense of where his assignment is at times. A similar panic meter occurs when he’s forced to play catch up and run with a receiver where he can get grabby and mistime his play on the receiver. It’s easily his biggest deficiency and stands alone above the rest in his evaluation.

There are mixed thoughts on where Martin’s best spot is in the NFL, but I think it’s clear that he is more prepared to take on the role as a deep safety rather than a nickel player. Keeping things in front of him is the best thing for his game and he’s still going to be impactful in that deep role as well. Martin will need a good amount of seasoning to command a starting nickel spot in the NFL, in my opinion.

Martin also needs to reflect the speed he showed at the Combine more often on the field — he is in chase mode too often on his film and he overall just needs to tick his play speed up at times a half notch.

Martin blew the Scouting Combine up with a 99.9th-percentile vertical and a 98.6-percentile broad jump at the safety position.

40-yd dash: 4.46s
Broad jump: 11’1”
Vertical jump: 44”

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had this to say to summarize Martin’s game:

Overall, Martin needs to become a better finisher, but he is an outstanding athlete with cover skills, tackling attitude and above-average football character.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein had this to say regarding Martin’s projection:

A team will need to decide where to play him, but he has the potential to become an early contributor and a starter further down the road.

The skinny on Quan Martin is that he’s a superb athlete who I believe plays at a higher level when he can see everything happening in front of him rather than having to turn and run with his back to the football. Martin is going to be a fan favorite for a number of reasons; tenacity, athleticism, and a consistent want-to. Any team that selects him to play in the slot is going to need to be patient with him as he cleans up his ball-tracking judgment and timing to attack man and football. While his best position on tape appears to be at deep safety, some teams may want him close to the line of scrimmage where he can be a consistent presence in fitting the run. Using a middle-round resource on Martin will lead to an exciting result for one lucky team.