Matt Waldman shares a sample of his 2020 NFL Draft Scouting Report for 49ers UDFA signee and RB JaMycal Hasty.
JaMycal Hasty, Baylor (5-8, 205)
Depth of Talent Score: 78.4 = Contributor: Starter execution in a limited role; diminishing returns beyond that scope.
Hasty has the skills to become a fixture as a team’s scatback who can deliver lead-back production when called upon for various stints of the season due to injuries.
Hasty played in Baylor’s spread system under new Carolina Panthers Head Coach Matt Rhule, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Rhule envisions Hasty as a redundancy play for Christian McCaffrey if Hasty falls to the third day of the NFL Draft.
Like McCaffrey, Hasty’s a patient runner when sifting through traffic and has no problem accessing tight creases to earn yardage. He’s also a decisive gap runner who can manipulate blocks with changes to his gait. Once he reaches the second level, Hasty uses his excellent open-field skills and best-in-class acceleration to generate big plays.
Hasty has the best of both worlds when it comes to movement. He has the curvilinear skills to bend around opponents at the edge to get downhill and do it with the pacing of Dalvin Cook, and he has the violent cuts and dramatic moves of players like Ahmad Bradshaw and Devonta Freeman.
Hasty’s ability to drop his weight is the raw skill that he has refined with multiple moves. He comes to sudden stops to avoid penetration into the backfield with hard breaks and he can restart as fast as he stopped. He can also pivot away from pursuit and force them to overrun their target.
His sharp, economical turns are the product of him opening his hips and then flipping them fast in the direction Hasty points his toe. When tasked to work outside and turn the corner, Hasty can make the transition with only 1-2 to small prep steps.
Hasty also has a knack for waiting until the last millisecond to execute moves and force opponents to overrun their pursuit angles. This makes Hasty a tough tackle in open space, especially when he combines multiple moves to bait defenders in the wrong direction.
Hasty’s 4.03-second, 20 Shuttle performance at the NFL Combine shows up in a big way when he’s accelerating, stopping, and reaccelerating on the field. He wins the short corner easily and beats linebackers up the flat without a problem. Although his long speed is on the lowest end of the RSP’s Starter Tier, it’s enough when paired with his exceptional burst.
Hasty’s acceleration, change of direction, and low center of gravity make him a tough player to wrap up and knock off his feet. He keeps opponents away from his frame with an accurate stiff-arm. He works past defensive ends and linebackers when he uses it to ward off their reaches and when he’s facing down linebackers and safeties, Hasty winds-up the forearm and delivers it into the chest or pads to rock or drop his opponent— including edge defenders diving for him in the crease.
He pulls through wraps to his waist and lower legs when the opponent is a linebacker or defensive back, and he’ll
run through indirect hits to his legs. When attacked head-on, he’ll spin off these hits from linebackers.
When Hasty is in traffic, he’ll carry the ball high to his chest and his elbow tight to his frame. When in the open
field, the ball swings as he accelerates.
Although he carries the ball with either arm, Hasty favors the left arm and has lapses where he’ll work up the right sideline with the pursuit to his left and the ball still on that pursuit side. His ball security rate is on the lower end of the Committee Tier—1 fumble per 78.8 touches based on 6 career-fumbles in 470 touches.
Hasty runs good option routes in the underneath zone. He sells stems effectively, too. He’ll bait opponents with the idea of an angle route and then break to the short out. And when the offense wants to mess with the defense for a big play, it will bait defenders with his angle-out move a few times and then have Hasty run the out-and-up, still selling the angle
route first.
Hasty attacks the ball well with his hands and frames his hands with the correct position for high and low throws. He adjusts to throws behind his break path. He transitions so fast after the catch that it’s the primary reason for the few concentration drops I’ve seen from his tape. When breaking routes that face the quarterback, Hasty works back to the passer.
His blocking is a mixed bag against pressure. He misses plays that should be the easiest to attack and then delivers with intensity in spots where he might be forgiven for not handling the assignment well.
Hasty is a high-effort lead blocker. He’s the aggressor from the beginning, punching linebackers with proper strikes keeps his feet under him, and turns the man away from the path of the play. Once Hasty latches on, he’ll continue working until the whistle while maintaining a chest-to-chest position—even with linebackers. There are plays where he gets too aggressive and overextends while attempting to hit the opponent.
At the line of scrimmage, Hasty will chip aggressively but not so violently that he disrupts his teammate’s handle
on the assignment. He’ll miss double-team opportunities even as he’s watching a defender work free of a lineman
that could use Hasty’s assistance. He must anticipate better.
His footwork to slide inside from an edge position so he can pick up the Tackle-End Twist can get smoother. When facing a defensive end up the middle, he’ll deliver a punch and shield the man when possible. His lateral movement isn’t quite good enough to get him square, so overextending into assignments against bigger men isn’t necessary. A quick slide outside to pick up defensive ends isn’t as difficult.
Hasty had a small number of blown assignments where he wasn’t on the same page with his line and expected to help in one place while unwittingly allowing another man into the pocket. His cut blocks need work. His timing to reach the spot and then throw the block is off. He either doesn’t reach his landmark on time or he dives too early or too low.
Hasty missed four games in 2017 with an MCL sprain, and he’s always split time with other backs at Baylor. If
he can prove durable and improve his pass protection, Hasty has the skills to deliver big plays as a runner and receiver in an offensive rotation.
As mentioned earlier, Carolina’s Rhule worked with Hasty and could like the idea of having a redundancy plan for McCaffrey. Of course, many teams prefer having different styles of runners for their depth chart so Hasty would be
a candidate to complement a powerful lead back.
Washington might seek a replacement for Chris Thompson and Jacksonville could be seeking a complement for Leonard Fournette. Cleveland, the New York Jets, and Tennessee could also be looking for the same things that Hasty offers.
Pre-NFL Draft Fantasy Advice: Hasty will likely have a mid-round value, especially in PPR formats, before the NFL Draft. Depending on where he lands, that value could rise or fall by 1-2 rounds.
Wherever the midpoint of your rookie draft is, consider Hasty as an option near that range but on the backend
rather than the front-end.
RSP Post-Draft Excerpt on Hasty from the Section UDFAs to Watch
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RB JaMycal Hasty (San Francisco): After trading Matt Breida to the Dolphins, the 49ers will roll with Tevin Coleman, Raheem Mostert, and Jerrick McKinnon. Jeff Wilson and Salvon Ahmed are good pass-catching talents but Hasty is the most dynamic of the three. He runs with better instincts than McKinnon and has that similar, high-quality short-area explosion, too. If he can pass protect well enough, he could beat out Wilson and Ahmed for the final spot on the depth chart and like Mostert, develop into a capable contributor.
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