Chargers 2021 UDFA Profile: DT Jared Goldwire

Brandon Staley must believe the interior of the defensive line could use some more competition as the coaching staff brought in two nose tackles as part of their haul of undrafted free agents. We just talked about former Arkansas State tackle Forrest Merrill last week, so let’s take the time and get to know the other one, Jared Goldwire.

After earning a two-star rating by Rivals as a senior in high school, the Tacoma, Washington-native initially committed to play his college football at UTEP. Instead, he went the junior college route and chose to play for Fort Scott Community College. During his first year at FSCC, he totaled just 29 tackles and a pair of sacks.

Following the 2017 season, Goldwire committed to Lousiville over the likes of Alabama and other Power 5 conference schools. After enrolling early in January of 2018, he eventually worked his way into the starting lineup. In five starts, and 10 total games played, Goldwire finished with 25 total tackles and a lone tackle for loss. He saw minor improvements as a junior as he recorded his first two sacks for the Cardinals on top of four tackles for loss.

As a senior, he ended his time at Louisville with a career-high 35 total tackles, five tackles for loss, and another two sacks in 10 starts. He also batted down a pass and recovered a fumble. His efforts earned him his first nod to the All-ACC Second Team by the Associated Press.

At 6’6 and 305 pounds, Goldwire has elite length for a nose tackle. He’s quick off the ball and offers more lateral agility than most one-techniques, but falls short in a number of other critical areas that nose tackles need to excel in. He does, however, have some notable hustle to his game that helps keep his tackle production high, as well.

Goldwire’s height is inherently going to work against him. When you’re that tall, you have to work overtime when it comes to your pad level and being mindful of that on a play-by-play basis. His play strength is another area that leaves much to be desired. His film does not show the type of strength you’d want in a player of his size and stature. He just sort’ve “meets” the offensive lineman off of the snap instead of jolting him with a punch on contact. When opposing lineman get their hands on him, very rarely is he able to shuck them off to make tackles. The majority of the time, he’s at the will of the offensive lineman.

Overall he’s a solid athlete and what you see on film is backed up by his RAS which you can see below. The one thing I’ll note here is that he recorded all of these measurements while at 293 pounds, roughly 12 pounds lighter than what he supposedly played at while at Louisville.

While the interior defensive line group isn’t the strongest for the Chargers, it has enough bodies and various skillsets that I’m not entirely sure Goldwire offers anything that the team doesn’t already have. His lack of play strength, and real strength, is worrisome and the team’s current nose tackles are both fairly powerful in Linval Joseph and Breiden Fehoko.

Goldwire has a tough road ahead of him to make the team’s final 53, but maybe Staley winds up seeing something in him that the majority of us don’t. Time will tell, but he’s got enough going for him to warrant some interest this offseason, regardless.