Usage / Role
73%
Major defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2013-2016Northern Illinois
Jamaal Payton
LB • 6'0" • Bellwood, IL, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Jamaal Payton shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 38.5 disruption score.
Impact Production
99
Top-tier box-score impact for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
62
Reliable weekly contributor
lowhigh
Star Power
85
Elite ceiling indicators
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2016 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Northern Illinois
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Buffalo
Player Story
Jamaal Payton built his college career from 2013 through 2016 as a linebacker from Bellwood, IL wearing No. 33, spending time with Northern Illinois. The clearest part of Jamaal Payton's career was his defensive...
Read the story2★
- Committed To
- Northern Illinois
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2013
Jamaal Payton, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2016 Regular Season · Northern Illinois. Jamaal Payton shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 38.5 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 76
- TFL
- 8.5
- Sacks
- 3
- Passes defended
- 2
Quick Answers
Jamaal Payton quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Northern Illinois · LB
- Career Tackles
- 76
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 4 entries · 12 games
- Best season
- 2016 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
- Top game
- Buffalo
- Recruit profile
- 2-star · Proviso West · Northern Illinois
- High school pipeline
- Proviso West · 4 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 33 · Class 2016
- 2016 Tackles rank
- 76 tackles · LB 160th (top 16%) · Mid-American 28th (top 6%) · National 243rd (top 5%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2014 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2015 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | - |
| 2016 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 12 | 76 | 8.5 | 3 | - | 2 | 0 | 63.3 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Jamaal Payton
Jamaal Payton played LB for Northern Illinois. Across 4 tracked seasons, Jamaal Payton recorded 76 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2016 with Northern Illinois.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2016 Regular Season
Northern Illinois paired 14.5 primary output with 38.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
2016 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 38.5 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value is trending up
2016 Regular Season improved on the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Buffalo
Win with backfield disruption leading the way. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2016 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
1.2
Efficiency
38.5
Usage
11.3
Consistency
20.8
Best Game by takeover score
Buffalo
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Wyoming: 1.5. South Florida: 0. San Diego State: 0. Western Illinois: 2. Ball State: 3.5. Western Michigan: 0. Central Michigan: 0. Buffalo: 5. Bowling Green: 2. Toledo: 0.5. Eastern Michigan: 0. Kent State: 0
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Wyoming: 8 by 48.3. South Florida: 4 by 16.7. San Diego State: 3 by 12.5. Western Illinois: 3 by 32.5. Ball State: 4 by 51.7. Western Michigan: 7 by 29.2. Central Michigan: 8 by 33.3. Buffalo: 7 by 79.2. Bowling Green: 7 by 49.2. Toledo: 11 by 50.8. Eastern Michigan: 10 by 41.7. Kent State: 4 by 16.7
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins2.1 · Games = 5 · +1.5 vs Losses
Losses0.6 · Games = 7 · -1.5 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
12 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Buffalo
Best efficiency game
79.2 vs Buffalo
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 11/25 | @ Kent State | W 31-21 | 4 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 11/17 | @ Eastern Michigan10+ tackles | W 31-24 | 10 | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 11/10 | vs Toledo10+ tackles | L 24-31 | 11 | 6 | — | 0.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Wed 11/2 | vs Bowling GreenSplash game | W 45-20 | 7 | 5 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/22 | vs Buffalo2+ sacks · Splash game | W 44-7 | 7 | 4 | — | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/15 | vs Central Michigan | L 28-34 | 8 | 8 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/8 | @ Western Michigan | L 30-45 | 7 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/1 | @ Ball StateSplash game | W 31-24 | 4 | 2 | — | 1.50 | 0 | — | 2 | — | — |
| Sat 9/24 | vs Western IllinoisSplash game | L 23-28 | 3 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/17 | vs San Diego State | L 28-42 | 3 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/10 | @ South Florida | L 17-48 | 4 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/4 | @ Wyoming | L 34-40 | 8 | 6 | — | 1.50 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Jamaal Payton story
Jamaal Payton built his college career from 2013 through 2016 as a linebacker from Bellwood, IL wearing No. 33, spending time with Northern Illinois. The clearest part of Jamaal Payton's career was his defensive production: 76 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 1 interception across 12 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2016 with Northern Illinois. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
Defensive careers can be hard to read from one number, but Jamaal Payton's production has multiple signals. With 12 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Northern Illinois.
The arc is straightforward: Jamaal Payton moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Northern Illinois
2013-2016
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2013201420152016
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2014 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | — | — | 0 |
| 2015 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 0 | — | — | 0 |
| 2016 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 14.5 | 38.5 | 11.3 | 14.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Buffalo
Week 8 · W 44-7 · Conference game
Win with backfield disruption leading the way.
5
Havoc Plays
93.1 takeover
5 disruption/tackle impact with 93.1 takeover score.
#2
vs Bowling Green
Week 10 · W 45-20 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
63.1 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 63.1 takeover score.
#3
@ Wyoming
Week 1 · L 34-40
1.5
Havoc Plays
59.4 takeover
Loss with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1.5 disruption/tackle impact with 59.4 takeover score.
#4
@ Ball State
Week 5 · W 31-24 · Conference game
3.5
Havoc Plays
58.3 takeover
Win with 3.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3.5 disruption/tackle impact with 58.3 takeover score.
#5
vs Western Illinois
Week 4 · L 23-28
2
Havoc Plays
57.5 takeover
Loss with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 57.5 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2016 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
14.5 primary output · 38.5 efficiency · 11.3 usage
63.3
#2
2013 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
—
0 primary · — efficiency · — usage
#3
2014 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
—
0 primary · — efficiency · — usage
Milestones
2
Impact games
4
Splash games
2
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Jamaal Payton
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