The New York Jets drafted former Miami linebacker Francisco “Kiko” Mauigoa in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft. Today we break Mauigoa down in detail.
The 22-year old Mauigoa is listed at 6’2” and 233 pounds. He was a two-time all-ACC second team selection. He recorded 255 tackles, 13 sacks and three interceptions in four seasons at the college level, having played for two years at Washington State before he transferred to the Hurricanes.
Background
Mauigoa was a three-star high school recruit who played his first season at Washington State in 2021. He started one game and recorded 17 tackles and a tackle for loss. In his second season, he started 11 games and filled out the stat sheet with 60 tackles, six tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and 3.5 sacks. He also scored a touchdown on a 95-yard pick six.
Ahead of the 2023 season, Mauigoa transferred to Miami and his production continued to increase as he was a second team all-ACC selection in each of the next two years.
He led the ACC in 2023 with 18 tackles for loss, while also registering 82 tackles, 7.5 sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles and an interception.
He then set career highs with 96 tackles and five passes defensed in 2024, although he made fewer impact plays with 11 tackles for loss, two sacks, one forced fumble and one interception.
Mauigoa was invited to the Shrine Bowl and the NFL scouting combine before the Jets selected him in the fifth round in April’s draft.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Mauigoa brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Mauigoa is slightly undersized and lacks ideal length, although he does have big hands and showed adequate strength by registering 21 bench press reps at his pro day.
His combine workout numbers were pretty solid across the board as he ran a 4.60 in the 40-yard dash and posted solid agility numbers. His explosiveness numbers were very good, especially as he improved his vertical by two inches to 37 inches at his pro day workout.
Usage
Mauigoa has played almost exclusively as a middle linebacker, rarely aligning outside the tackle box unless he matches up with someone in the slot.
He also played as a quarterback in high school.
Run defense
Scouting reports characterize Mauigoa as a “thumper” who is good going downhill and attacking the line of scrimmage but perhaps limited in terms of his lateral movement and ability to change direction. However, based on some of his film, he looks to be better than advertised going sideline-to-sideline.
He seems to have a good knack for reading blocking schemes and navigating through traffic to find his way to the ball, displaying more patience than hesitation and rarely running himself out of a play or over pursuing.
Some of those thumper traits are certainly there though, in terms of his ability to attack the line of scrimmage and make solid hits.
He led the ACC in tackles for loss in 2023 and, in all, he had an impressive 19.5 tackles for loss, excluding sacks, in his two seasons at Miami.
Coverage skills
Again, some scouting reports indicate that Mauigoa is limited in coverage and may be restricted to a two-down role at the NFL level. However, this could again be underrating his abilities in this area.
For his career, Mauigoa’s coverage numbers weren’t too bad, as he allowed a 66 percent completion rate when targeted, which is perfectly reasonable for a player who would often be dropping off and dealing with short passes underneath or in the flat.
Concern may arise from the fact that his coverage numbers dropped off in his senior year. He gave up a quarterback rating of 107, having been below 83 in each of his first three years. He also gave up three touchdowns having only previously having been beaten for two in his first three years, and gave up the highest numbers for completion percentage, receiving yards and receptions of his career.
Absent context one might assume that Mauigoa was exposed as a potential liability and teams exploited more mismatches against him in 2024. However, the main difference in the numbers is in terms of a much higher total for yards after the catch, which may be tied to a big spike in his missed tackle numbers for which there may be a specific reason that we’ll come to in due course.
So, in terms of actually staying with his man in coverage, he might not have been any different from usual. In fact, in terms of yards BEFORE the catch, he gave up just 106 on 32 catches last year which is only 3.3 yards per reception. It was 3.9 yards per reception for his first three seasons.
Of course, this is an inexact way of looking at things because you could get the same result from a receiver getting an extra yard of separation due to poor coverage on a short to intermediate pass and being able to run for extra yardage as a result. But it does offer some perspective as at least a partial explanation for something that lazier analysis could overlook. That’s not something that seemed to happen based on his film anyway, as he generally looked good at reacting to short passes and getting to the ball.
Mauigoa hasn’t given up too many big plays or much of anything down the field and he has made some plays to prevent completions when dropping deep. He did get beaten downfield here though.
His on-ball numbers are okay, with three interceptions and nine pass breakups over the last three seasons as he shows an ability to drop, anticipate and react.
Tackling
As noted, there was a big spike in Mauigoa’s missed tackle rate in 2024. Having previously been an extremely reliable tackler with just 21 missed tackles in his first three years, Mauigoa had issues with stopping runners in the hole and wrapping up in space which caused him to end the season with 18 missed tackles.
However, as implied earlier, this may have been as a direct result of an injury, which we will be detailing further down. If scouting reports are characterizing him as an unreliable tackler in space, then that could be ill-informed if the issue will resolve itself once he’s fully healthy.
He closes well on the ball, has decent range in pursuit and takes good angles. During his career, Mauigoa has also shown a knack for forcing fumbles. He forced six in his career, one of which was picked up and returned for a touchdown by his teammate.
Blitzing
Mauigoa has proven to be an adept blitzer over the course of his career with 13 career sacks, including 7.5 in 2023 alone. His pressure rates have also been consistently high.
He is especially effective on delayed rushes, using those same abilities we identified earlier to read the blocking scheme and navigate through traffic with good timing.
Mauigoa also batted down one pass at the line when rushing the passer.
Special teams
Mauigoa has had some good experience and production on special teams, which bodes well for his chances of getting on the field in his rookie season. He had 14 special teams tackles in his career, including nine in 2021 alone.
He covered kicks for most of his career, although he didn’t do much of this in 2024. He also blocked on the punt protection unit and rushed kicks and punts, but only blocked on the kick return unit regularly as a freshman.
He had two special teams penalties in his career, both while he was still at Washington State.
Physicality
As noted, Mauigoa is at his best when avoiding blockers, and he might be at his most effective when operating behind a defensive line that can occupy blockers. While not completely incapable of working his way off a block, he can be driven out of plays or sealed off when in space.
He has some good hitting on his highlight reel, with some of these jarring the ball loose from the ball carrier as noted.
Instincts/Intelligence
As a former quarterback, Mauigoa - who was responsible for aligning and setting the defense - may be quicker to pick up systems and make pre-snap reads than some other linebacker prospects, and he shows evidence of this with his awareness and play recognition.
He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, although he did misread the option keeper and tackled the player without the ball on this play.
He was a two-time all-ACC academic team member while at Miami.
Attitude
Mauigoa, whose brother - a top tackle prospect - was his teammate at Miami, was a captain in his final season at Miami and showed good leadership by getting the team together for a players-only meeting when they were struggling at one point. He has been described as a coachable player with toughness and an incredible work ethic.
While on-field discipline was not an issue for him with just seven defensive penalties in his career, one of his two penalties last season was for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Injuries
Mauigoa gutted it out during the 2023 season as he was dealing with a torn labrum in his shoulder, which required surgery to repair it at the end of the year. While he returned and didn’t miss any time in 2024, it seemed to have a direct impact on his missed tackle rates as he often failed to complete tackles he would have made in the past because he hadn’t had a chance to get back to full strength.
He even indicated in media interviews during the season that this was the case, which was backed up by his coaches.
Scheme Fit
Mauigoa was the middle linebacker in college, wearing the headset and helping to set up the defense as an on-field coach or defensive quarterback. That role isn’t currently available for the Jets, as Jamien Sherwood just signed a multi-year extension and is expected to be a full-time player.
You can therefore expect the Jets to groom Mauigoa to be Sherwood’s backup, and he’ll probably get a chance to wear the headset throughout preseason. That’s not unlike how Sherwood himself was used behind CJ Mosley for the first few years, before taking over full-time once Mosley was injured last season and proving himself worthy by winning the team’s MVP award.
It remains unclear if Mauigoa will earn any reps alongside Sherwood in the meantime. While Sherwood was being converted from safety so perhaps took a longer time to be ready for anything more than a part-time role, Mauigoa doesn’t really have the experience as a 4-3 outside linebacker, so it would still be an adjustment for him.
Whether they ultimately intend to groom Mauigoa to be Sherwood’s successor obviously depends on how he develops and how well Sherwood himself does as the defensive anchor in Steve Wilks’ new system.
Mauigoa was a teammate of current Jets players Leonard Taylor III and Tyler Baron at Miami. It may also be significant that Jason Taylor was on the coaching staff, because he could have been in contact with the coaching staff given the fact they also drafted his son.
Conclusions
Mauigoa has the potential to be a role player and rotational contributor for the Jets in the short term, but the Jets will be hopeful he has the potential to be more than that. Some of the improvements he made over the past few seasons suggest he could be a diamond in the rough.
If teams have overlooked Mauigoa based on mistakes he made as a direct result of his shoulder issues, and those issues are not expected to limit him going forward, then he could prove to be good value where they got him. Either way, it’s a worthwhile risk at that stage of the draft and provides further insight into the types of players the Jets are looking to fill out their team with.