Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton (jer-ZAHN; born August 31, 2002) is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini, where he was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and earned consensus All-American honors in 2023. Newton was selected by the Commanders in the second round of the 2024 NFL draft.
 Newton in 2024 | |||||||||||
| No. 95 – Washington Commanders | |||||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | August 31, 2002 St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 295 lb (134 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Clearwater Central Catholic (Clearwater, Florida) | ||||||||||
| College: | Illinois (2020–2023) | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 2024 / round: 2 / pick: 36 | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 12, 2024 | |||||||||||
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Early life
editNewton was born on August 31, 2002, in St. Petersburg, Florida.[1] He attended and played football at Clearwater Central Catholic High School in Clearwater, Florida, where he recorded 244 tackles and 24 sacks. He originally committed to play college football for the Maryland Terrapins before switching to the Illinois Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois.[2][3]
College career
edit
As a true freshman for the Illinois Fighting Illini in 2020, Newton played in all eight games with two starts and had 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks.[4] In 2021, he started 11 of 12 games, recording 50 tackles and 3.5 sacks.[5] Newton returned to Illinois in 2022.[6][7] Newton declared for the 2024 NFL draft following the 2023 season, where he was named a consensus All-American and the Big 10's Nagurski–Woodson Defensive Player of the Year.[8][9] He finished his career with 18 sacks, tying Moe Gardner for the most for an Illinois defensive tackle.[10]
| Season | Team | GP | Tackles | Fumbles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Ast | Cmb | TfL | Sck | FR | FF | |||
| 2020 | Illinois | 7 | 6 | 17 | 23 | 1.5 | 1.5 | – | 1 |
| 2021 | 12 | 19 | 31 | 50 | 3.5 | 3.5 | – | – | |
| 2022 | 13 | 29 | 33 | 62 | 14 | 5.5 | 2 | – | |
| 2023 | 12 | 26 | 26 | 52 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 1 | 1 | |
| Career[11] | 44 | 80 | 107 | 187 | 27.5 | 18 | 3 | 2 | |
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 1+5⁄8 in (1.87 m) |
304 lb (138 kg) |
32+3⁄8 in (0.82 m) |
9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) | |||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine[12][13] | ||||||||||||
Newton was selected by the Washington Commanders in the second round (36th overall) of the 2024 NFL draft.[14] He underwent surgery in May 2024 to fix a Jones fracture in his left foot, which followed the same surgery on his right foot four months prior.[15] Newton signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $9.75 million, on June 13, 2024.[16] He was briefly on the non-football injury list prior to the start of training camp.[17][18] Newton recorded his first career sack and fumble recovery in the Week 8 game against the Chicago Bears.[19]
Statistics
edit| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Cmb | Solo | Ast | Sck | Int | Yds | TD | PD | FF | FR | Yds | TD | ||
| 2024 | WAS | 10 | 5 | 26 | 11 | 15 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – |
| Career | 10 | 5 | 26 | 11 | 15 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 2 | – | |
Personal life
editNewton has four brothers, Jervon, Jerquan, Jerjuan, and Jershaun. Jerjuan ranks within the top ten in career touchdown receptions for the Toledo Rockets.[10] His cousin Pro Wells played tight end for the Philadelphia Stars of the United States Football League (USFL) in the early 2020s.[20]
References
edit- ^ Brugler, Dane. "The Beast: 2024 NFL Draft Guide" (PDF). The Athletic. p. 204. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
- ^ Stevens, Matthew (December 18, 2019). "3-Star DL Jer'Zhan Newton Flips From Maryland To Illinois On Signing Day". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ Stevens, Matthew (December 27, 2019). "How Deuce Spann's & Johnny Newton's Friendship Resulted in a Signing Day Flip". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ Wagner, Joey (November 10, 2020). "After August COVID-19 diagnosis, Illinois true freshman Johnny Newton is off to fast start". Herald & Review.
- ^ Asmussen, Bob (December 3, 2021). "Randolph, Newton looking forward to better days ahead for Illinois". News-Gazette.
- ^ Kimball, Anderson (September 8, 2022). "Johnny Newton leading Illinois defensive line by example". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- ^ Richey, Scott (October 6, 2022). "Trio leading the way for Illinois defensive line". News-Gazette.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (November 21, 2023). "Illinois' Jer'Zhan Newton, Keith Randolph Jr. to enter NFL draft". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ "Big Ten Conference Announces Football All-Conference Teams for Defense, Special Teams and Select Individual Honors". Big Ten Conference. November 28, 2023. Archived from the original on November 28, 2023. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
- ^ a b Selby, Zach (April 29, 2024). "Five things to know about Jer'Zhan Newton". Commanders.com. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
- ^ "Jer'Zhan Newton". College Football Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
- ^ "Jer'Zhan Newton Draft and Combine Prospect Profile". NFL.com. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
- ^ "2024 NFL Draft Scout Jer'Zhan Newton College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
- ^ Selby, Zach (April 26, 2024). "Commanders draft DT Jer'Zhan Newton with No. 36 overall pick". Commanders.com. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
- ^ Kiem, John (May 11, 2024). "Commanders' Johnny Newton to have surgery on left foot". ESPN. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
- ^ Manning, Bryan. "Commanders sign 2nd-round pick DT Johnny Newton". Commanders Wire. USA Today. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
- ^ Alper, Josh. "Commanders put rookie DT Johnny Newton on non-football injury list". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
- ^ Manning, Bryan (July 24, 2024). "Commanders activate rookie DT Johnny Newton from NFI list". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
- ^ Jhabvala, Nicki (October 30, 2024). "Commanders rookies are coming through. And not just Jayden Daniels". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
The stat sheet after the game read a tackle for a loss of six yards. It wasn't until the Commanders submitted it to the NFL for review that the play was changed to a sack.
- ^ "Jer'Zhan Newton". fightingillini.com. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
External links
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