Top Defensive Linemen in NFL Draft: Javon Kinlaw

South Carolina’s rags-to-riches Javon Kinlaw ranks No. 2 among this year’s defensive line prospects.

South Carolina’s rags-to-riches Javon Kinlaw ranks No. 2 among this year’s defensive line prospects.

When Javon Kinlaw signs his contract and pockets what’s certain to be a hefty signing bonus, it will be the latest chapter in a rags-to-riches story.

“Sometimes, I feel like I don’t deserve to be here,” Kinlaw said at the Scouting Combine.

His mother came to the United States from Trinidad and Tobago in 1995. In 2008, she moved her family from Washington, D.C., to Hyattsville, Md., to pursue a business opportunity. The opportunity fell through, leaving her and her children homeless.

Video: Javon Kinlaw at the Scouting Combine

“Being homeless, being put in a lot of tough situations. Things kids shouldn’t see, doing a lot of things kids shouldn’t have to do,” Kinlaw said. “I’ll give you an example. My first time traveling by myself, 11 or 12 years old. I rode the Greyhound from Washington, D.C., to South Carolina by myself. But I thought it was cool, though. Just riding. Just seeing different things.”

The tough upbringing took its toll. Football – eventually – would be his salvation. He was a high school All-American but didn’t have the grades, so he enrolled at Jones County (Miss.) Junior College.

“The turning point? Just getting to college,” he said. “Just having somewhere that I knew I wasn’t going to get put out of. Just having three meals. I always tell people I didn’t go to junior college for football, really. I just went because I had somewhere to sleep. I had free food. That’s really why I went. I didn’t go with the expectation that, ‘Man, I’m going to go to the SEC, I’m going to go to the league.’ I went because I had somewhere to sleep.”

Kinlaw got the bed and food – too much food, actually. He needed just one year to get his degree at Jones County. He landed at South Carolina in 2017 tipping the scales at 350 pounds because of his fondness for the free food. He cut back on the calories and increased the frequency of his workouts to lose about 30 pounds.

“I couldn’t play at 350. I would’ve been out there and done killed myself,” Kinlaw said. “I had to get that weight off me. It felt like I had another person on me.’’

In three seasons, he started 34 games. He had 4.5 sacks and a career-high 10 tackles for losses as a junior and a career-high six sacks during an All-American senior season. Of our top 25 defensive linemen, his 12 percent pressure rate ranked third. Now, he’s a potential top-10 pick with unimaginable riches to help take care of his mom and his 1-year-old daughter.

“It means a lot. God is good. There is a God, man, for sure,” he said. “With the position I was put in, I shouldn’t even be here right now. I take it serious. I never take it for granted being here. I’m soaking it all in. Looking around, I can’t believe I’m really here because I’ve been through so much just to get to this point. I love it.”

What we like

At 6-foot-5 1/8 and 324 pounds with 34 7/8-inch arms, Kinlaw is quite the physical specimen. He didn’t test at the Scouting Combine but South Carolina’s pro day was canceled. No matter, because his explosiveness is evident to anyone who watched him for more than a few plays. “Bull rush. Just getting in the face of people. Just dominating them,” Kinlaw said of the strength to his game. “That’s a powerful thing when you can take a man and know he’s giving it all he’s got and walking him back.”

What we don’t like

Pro Football Focus has a stat called run stops. Essentially, it measures impact tackles. Of our top 25 defensive linemen, his run-stop percentage ranked 24th. So, while there’s a dominating skill-set, he didn’t always dominate. His instincts seem a bit off at times. He’ll need some coaching to maximize his gifts, be more of a force when double teamed and create a bigger toolbox as a pass rusher.

Bill Huber’s Defensive Line Profiles

No. 1: Auburn’s Derrick Brown

No. 2: South Carolina’s Javon Kinlaw

No. 3: TCU’s Ross Blacklock

No. 4: Missouri’s Jordan Elliott

No. 5: Auburn’s Marlon Davidson

No. 6: Texas A&M’s Justin Madubuike

No. 7: Alabama’s Raekwon Davis

No. 8: Oklahoma’s Neville Gallimore

Nos. 9-20: Best of the Rest