Jelani Thurman TE North Carolina |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #15 ROLE: Inline Blocking TE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 08/03/2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2027 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.75 seconds (57%*) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #15 | |
| ROLE: Inline Blocking TE | |
| Last Updated: 08/03/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2027 | |
| Forty time: 4.75 seconds (57%*) | |
| Overall Rating: |
72.0 / 100
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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77% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| QB Rating When targeted: | 116.2 | |
| Hands: |
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72% |
| Short Receiving: |
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73% |
| Intermediate Routes: |
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75% |
| Deep Threat: |
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71% |
| Blocking: |
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66% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
UDFA
Overall Rank:
#469
Position rank:
#17 (TE)
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| College Games: 24 College Snaps: 315 | ||
ESPN RATING: 84/100
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247 RATING: 96/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.8 (95%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Caden Prieskorn - Ole Miss |
|
89% |
| Isaac Rex - BYU |
|
87% |
| Will Kacmarek - Ohio State |
|
85% |
Draft Profile: Bio
Signed by Ohio State as a four-star recruit, Thurman caught 39 passes for 624 yards and 13 touchdowns in 14 games as a senior at Langston Hughes High School in Georgia. He saw action in five games as a 2023 freshman, catching two passes for 18 yards.He remained a reserve tight end on Ohio State's 2024 national championship team, then totaled seven receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown in 2025 while logging more than 100 blocking snaps as the Buckeyes returned to the College Football Playoff. Three of those catches, 44 yards and his lone score came against Grambling State, and he added a 19-yard catch-and-run against Rutgers.
After the playoff loss to Miami ended Ohio State's season, Thurman entered the transfer portal having compiled 13 career receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns, and he committed to North Carolina for 2026 with two years of eligibility remaining.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Finished seven of eight season targets, converting nearly everything thrown his way.
- Quietly the best blocker in this group's bottom tier, with zero pressures allowed.
- Six-foot-six former top-100 recruit with the body the position keeps requesting.
- Three seasons inside the sport's most demanding program without a misstep on film.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Twenty-five routes all season; Ohio State simply did not use him.
- Career receiving totals fit on one line: 17 catches across three years.
- Average timed speed dampens the downfield projection for the frame.
- Transfers to a fourth offensive system without a starting season behind him.
- At 250, the inline power game is promise, not yet evidence.
Scouting Report: Summary
Three years at Ohio State produced almost no targets and remarkably clean film. Thurman ran twenty-five routes all season behind a loaded room, caught seven of the eight balls thrown to him, and posted the best blocking tape in this group's bottom tier without allowing a pressure, the quiet competence of a player who never got a real chance to fail. The former top-100 recruit still owns the six-foot-six frame that made Georgia high school coaches plan around him.The numbers are the entire case against: seventeen career catches in three seasons, average timed speed for the build, and a 250-pound power game that remains a projection because nobody has watched it carry twenty snaps a game. His transfer to North Carolina for 2026 makes a fourth offensive system, and history says buried Ohio State tight ends either bloom immediately with volume or confirm why the snaps never came.
The bet costs nothing and the body is real. A featured ACC season with even forty catches would vault him past half this group, because the blocking foundation and catch efficiency are already pro-shaped, just unproven at volume. Until that season exists, the projection is undrafted with a developmental-stash profile, the kind of frame that keeps getting camp invitations until someone finally sees a full year of it.
How other scouting services rate Jelani Thurman (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
521.0
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
15.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.