NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 222. 2024 NFL Draft OT Rankings

Episode Date: January 5, 2024

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their updated Top 5 (and more) offensive tackles for the 2024 NFL draft following the college football regular season. ...

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Starting point is 00:00:37 It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we are ranking offensive tackles for the 2024 NFL Draft. We've given our thoughts on these guys preseason and some during the season, but now that the college football season is done and we have a lot of these guys who have officially declared for the draft, it is time to watch that regular season
Starting point is 00:01:08 film and re-rank these guys heading into the meat of draft season. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys for a midweek, late week edition of the podcast. It's holidays, folks. You got to work with us. Today, we're doing offensive tackle rankings. We're getting to the big beauties.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Remember, it's not the big uglies. If you're watching the podcast this summer, you know that we don't call them big uglies. We call big beauties here on this podcast, but we are updating our offensive tackle rankings. We're going to go through our top fives. Plus, of course, you guys know the show. We like to talk a lot, so we're going to talk about some guys who are outside of the top five as well as college football, regular season and declarations have happened for these guys. So, Connor, how you doing, my friend? good man exciting class today a lot of tackle help on the way to the nfl which is a really good sign if you've watched nfl football this year especially some of these lines that have injuries it is we needed this one really really badly and i'm excited for when after the combine we do our top
Starting point is 00:02:23 10 15s however many we rank because i know you and you and i are going to have a extended combo today about the guys outside the top five that also have a lot of promise so yeah man i'm good and i'm excited to talk about this group that has uh quite a few first round picks you watching this offensive tackle class is like a dad watching the rain roll in you're just like we needed this we needed this you're looking around at everyone you're like you're smiling you're like thank god it's finally here you know this year has been a big reminder that offensive tackle not that anybody forgot of course like football won and lost in the trenches we all obviously know that that cliche
Starting point is 00:03:01 but it is true and offensive tackle is a premium position for a reason because not only are these guys so pivotal when they are out there when they get hurt the win above replacement for these players the drop off that your entire offense can have just one of your starting five gets hurt i mean it can be devastating for you so we have seen over the last not that they're the first team to ever do this but we a lot of people talk about how he roseman and how he has built the philadelphia eagles building those trenches always making sure he is one step ahead of the game like that's something that i think we are going to see general managers be more aggressive towards as the years go on or certainly i think over the next five years or so and this class is a perfect class
Starting point is 00:03:45 to be able to do that because there are some phenomenal athletes in this one and i guess we could just get right to it because i figure five is going to be a fantastic athlete for at least one of us maybe it's the same player who knows we'll see connor after watching some of the regular season film from these guys who you got at number five here in your re-rankings in the uh early parts of of full-on draft season so i will establish this with that you and i are going to talk about troy fontenot and uh graham barton with the interior players both of them have played tackle at college i know we've had some conversations that hey maybe these guys hold up at tackle at the next level but throughout much of this process from
Starting point is 00:04:25 i don't want to say consensus because maybe that's dangerous but almost consensus they're going to be evaluated as guys projected to move inside so don't get bent out of shape if you don't i'm glad that you said that at the top of the show because we were going to get yelled at we were absolutely going to get yelled at really good players and yeah i don't want them to get lost in the shuffle here so i start at five with somebody that i did like over summer um and would be in the nfl if he hadn't torn his acl in 2022 and that's jordan morgan and somebody you know who has played a lot of football and one of my big takeaways from doing this exercise trevor was that a lot of these guys have not played a lot of college football honestly i mean sure
Starting point is 00:05:12 plenty of them two-year starters and stuff like that which is fine but jordan morgan is somebody that he's logged over 2 000 snaps at left tackle in college i mean significant playing time as an underclassman and even with the torn acl on the back end of 2022 he must have worked his ass off to come back ready to roll this year not only did was he ready to roll he looked the tape is good this year i agree i agree i watched him and i was, my expectations were a little bit tempered because I liked him so much last year and that, you know, during summer scouting, but I thought like, man, it's going to take a little bit to come back. It's a real, it's a tough injury, especially at tackle the pressure on the knee.
Starting point is 00:05:56 And it's really, really good. I just like how he shows off his strength. This is a guy that he is compact. He is not a dripping long tackle the arms down to the ground or super tall he's a more compact player and he has a lot of mass packed in to the center of his body that he knows how to utilize like when he wins leverage he knows how to use that mass to help his anchor and he he has very active hands. Like I wrote this down from the summer and then I rewrote it again. This time he does not wait for the battle to come to him. And I just love that.
Starting point is 00:06:32 So some guys in this class, that's actually a problem is that they overextend, they reach, they lunge, they, they duck their head. They're just so jittery out of the gate. What Jordan Morgan is,
Starting point is 00:06:43 it's active and anxious but i think it's control because he's played so much so he's good hand placement he has pretty good technique uh i think he has plus awareness i think that he's somebody that it's not the same footwork as some of the high-end guys but it's good enough where he's able to mirror with those feet. But where he makes his money, Trevor, his ability in the zone running game is phenomenal. Phenomenal. He gets out of the gate. He gets downfield on screens.
Starting point is 00:07:15 He can pull. He could just run to the second level and try to detonate people. And that's because he plays with an edge. He really plays with an edge. So Jordan Morgan is somebody that we could have had him on the guard show detonate people and that's because he plays with an edge he really plays with an edge so Jordan Morgan is somebody that we could have had him on the guard show as well I think he's going to get a shot at tackle and I think he's earned that and I think if you're a very zone heavy team you are probably going to love him and the back end of the first round or in the first half of the second round yeah so i have jordan morgan at six
Starting point is 00:07:45 so i'd see him pretty similarly to you do i or as as you do i think what did i give him i think i gave him a late first early second grade it might have been a solid second round grade but it's right around there and i agree with a lot of the stuff that you said you mentioned he tore his acl in what was it november he was november of last year yep he played more snaps this season than he had in any singular season before this he played he's he's been a starter for three years and that that like that's truly saying something folks in 2021 he played 706 snaps in 2022 he played 670 because he missed a little bit after that torn ACL. And then this past year, he played 787. It's crazy.
Starting point is 00:08:31 It talks about the work ethic this guy has, the type of athlete he has, or the type of athlete that he is for him to be able to recover and get to this point. Super impressive player. I love the experience. Love the patience as well. I think the footwork is fantastic. The thing that I love the most about Jordan Morgan is the footwork is so good. The consciousness to the leverage is so good. He mirrors so well.
Starting point is 00:08:53 And there is, I think, an argument. Does he have the redirect strength and natural power to be able to sit on an island by himself against some NFL pass rushers. But when it comes to that quickness, staying in front of guys, when you have more space in front of you, that's sometimes a detractor of why guys might not be able to survive a tackle. That's not the case for Jordan Morgan. Like this dude can move super well. And if the only thing you're really worried about is, man, does he have the total like redirection power to when he's facing those bull rushes? Is he going to expose his inside or outside shoulder without having help on either side?
Starting point is 00:09:35 That might be a reason that I could say, okay, maybe he's going to be a starter guard at the next level. Because if you eliminate that, you just got a damn fine offensive lineman. You mentioned he's not going gonna be dominant with his length he's not gonna be dominant with his just overall size but there's so much to like about his game he approaches the offensive line position very very well love the balance he has a little bit of a track and field
Starting point is 00:10:00 background and so i think that he's got the extra core strength a shot put you know but so it's not quite like the wrestling background that we like with our trench players but still shot put man i mean you've got to you've got to be able to uh to control the body and that takes some core strength too i think that he absolutely takes that to the football field so i have him in number six i like him similarly the way that you do but i do wonder if he is going to be one of those guard tackle tweeners because you know when guys are really getting into his chest at the nfl level is he able to is he going to be able to truly like redirect what they're doing because he can stay in front of him yeah that's what he's right he's not as good as any time he almost bellies in front of them
Starting point is 00:10:40 any it's just it's super impressive how controlled and how well he's able to do that but the nfl game is a game of power it's game of strength it is some of the strongest athletes in the world playing their positions especially at the defensive end spots so um i wonder if that ultimately pushes him into guard but either way i think he is a starting caliber offensive lineman at the next level. So I agree. So who would you have at five? So five for me, opposite of Jordan Morgan, much more of a projection player. I have Georgia's right tackle, Amarius Mims, at number five. We could package this one because I have him at four. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:21 So six foot seven, 330 to 3 340 pounds depending on where you look i mean the guy is just an alien type of build man and when you see him on the field at right tackle he gets down in that stance and you go holy shit like where is george to getting these guys? It's really funny when you watch the 2022 tape because, so Amarius Mims, he was a five-star offensive tackle, didn't start his first year, thought about transferring, ended up coming back to Georgia. He doesn't get a starting spot right away after that because, well, it's Georgia and they're deep as hell.
Starting point is 00:12:01 But when Warren McClendon got hurt towards the postseason last year mims was able to step in and play so i think it was wasn't it the sec championship and then the college football playoff the ohio state game was a big one for him yes but i think he put he started in the lsu game as well and then he started for the ohio state game too and so you get to see him on the field at the same time as rogerick Jones on the other side. And you're just like, how did this happen? How did we let this happen? How does one team have both of these offensive tackles?
Starting point is 00:12:31 So it's kind of funny to see both of those guys out there. Mims obviously passes all of the size tests with flying colors. I don't think there's going to be any talk of like, oh, you know, is he a guard? Is he a tackle? He is clearly built for the tackle position he's just very very green on experience because this year he was scheduled to be a starter at right tackle ends up suffering a high ankle sprain early in the season i think it was that third game against south carolina he misses six games and then he re-injured it against alabama in the sec championship game so we don't even get that full game um we obviously don't get the bowl game from him either over the last two
Starting point is 00:13:10 years he has only played 682 snaps which is just not a lot of football no there's just not a lot of experience in there and you see it you know I think that you see the lack of of you know he's got the athleticism to do things but just the footwork being married with how your time and your punches in your hands and and how you are truly using the the the power from your lower body through the upper half of your body what happens when players do a certain pass rush move against you because he is winning by just being a a pterodactyl right now he is winning by simply being a crazy athlete at six foot seven 340 pounds but the technique parts of his game even this year at the beginning of the year the hand placement I mean there's sometimes when the
Starting point is 00:13:58 hands are just coming way too wide and he's giving up his chest a lot easier you know when guys will counter him he doesn't really know how to reset his hands the way that he should so he's giving up his chest a lot easier. When guys will counter him, he doesn't really know how to reset his hands the way that he should, so he's not as comfortable hand fighting. I mentioned the feet don't always look as coordinated. But all that to say, those are things that can get fixed and those are things that often get fixed
Starting point is 00:14:17 when you get snaps. So Mims might not be a player that you want to throw out there right away. I think he'll ultimately be a first round offensive tackle just because God don't make many like him. Yeah. But I don't think you're going to want to throw him out there in year one, week one, because I think you're going to,
Starting point is 00:14:39 there's going to be some, some big time growing pains there. And if you're a team that, Hey, maybe you're not in a winning window. You can afford to do that. Fine, because there's nothing like live bullets. There's nothing like regular season snaps. But because of that inexperience, you're going to see the blemishes of his game if you really get him out there early. So that's kind of the way that I viewed him. The mold of a player that you absolutely want to take in the first first round because if you hit it man you're gonna hit it big
Starting point is 00:15:09 but there's just so much refinement that you need to have from him and i'll also throw this out there when i watched him back to back with broderick jones i liked broderick jones more than i like amarius mims i want to be very clear about that like they're both total freak athlete types of players but i had a firm first round grade on jones who was sort of the same narrative right sort of the same like hey here's a freak athlete who just is really young still needs to get more snaps i think a marius mims is further away and i also where i think he's bigger a little bit bigger and longer than Broderick Jones. I don't think he's as explosive as Broderick Jones is either.
Starting point is 00:15:49 And it was easy to see those two in those back-to-back games. You watch both of them out of the corner of your eye, or you could go back to see them. Jones is firing off the ball, especially when it comes to run blocking. And Mims is athletic, just not as twitchy as Jones was, which I think you're going to hear a lot of people bring those two guys up because they played which I think you're gonna hear a lot of people bring those two guys up because they played in the same school and they have a lot of the same thought process with their scouting reports but I want to be clear I do like Broderick more than I
Starting point is 00:16:14 like Amarius Mims but what do you think about I think that's a good call out and Broderick was able to play his whole season as a starter which is a big deal it helped him get better and I'm with you. I had Broderick as the 15th overall player in last year's draft class, firm first-round grade. He's looked really good for the Steelers. With Mims, how he ended up at four for me, I mean, you nailed it. It's a projection, right?
Starting point is 00:16:36 This is somebody that it is all there, and it's always all been there. And I think what not bothered me on tape tape but what left me wanting more on tape is and this is probably a confidence thing because of not playing enough for how big he is and the kind of athlete he is he has really no drive and finish in the run game like there's not a lot of examples i mean this dude's six seven 340 and it's a good 340 it's not a sloppy 340 like this is an athlete 340 you turn on the run tape and you're like man he's gonna get his hands on somebody and like they're gonna go flying and you just never get that you never get that and i don't think it's lack of like heart or ability i just think that he has not played enough to the point where he doesn't have that confidence yet to just uncork off the snap and land on his target and
Starting point is 00:17:34 demolish them like he just wants to do complete his assignment right he wants to make sure he makes the block and it's good enough and this is greedy as from a scouting lens, but you want more when you're looking for the NFL level. Like I want this guy to be a destroyer. I think in pass pro, this goes back to the lack of experience as well. And it's, he's a little anxious.
Starting point is 00:17:56 He leans and ducks and gets off balance and he's just massive. Like that's going to happen. Yeah. But you're, he, you can't run through him. I mean, I couldn't find somebody just bullying him. No. So I'm like, just massive like that's gonna happen yeah but you're he you can't run through him i mean i couldn't find somebody just bullying him no so i'm like you don't need to trust your core strength
Starting point is 00:18:11 like you don't need to lean and duck they can't run through you they cannot run through you and that's why i'm at fours because i believe in him like if he goes to the right coaching staff this guy and can stay healthy because he had the tight rope on his ankle this year this guy has everything he's explosive into his stance I agree Broderick was the way he moved was different but I keep reminding myself Mims is 6'7 340 right that is that's dense that is really really dense I think he's explosive into his stance I think that a very like subtle thing i wrote down but i liked when they scored and he was out on the field his energy is phenomenal he's so excited he's so into it with his teammates like the passion you could tell he was so happy to be out there playing and being a part of it i really liked because that's something if i don't know what a guy is because he's played
Starting point is 00:19:05 started six games this year he played seven like i need to worry about those little things because do you give a shit like are you going to care enough to get better right because if you do like this is an all pro baseline i agree so i had him at four because i have a big projection on him um i wish we could have gotten to see more. It makes our jobs harder. But NFL teams are going to fall. As long as they believe in him, they're going to fall in love with him because you nailed it, Trevor.
Starting point is 00:19:33 They just don't make them like this. They don't. Yeah. Except at Georgia where they clearly do. Yeah. Where they clearly do. Right. No, I do.
Starting point is 00:19:42 I love the call out about him celebrating with his teammates and obviously caring because caring is going to hold the key to does he achieve his potential? Because, yeah, you look at some of the stuff. I didn't note a lack of punch or power or maybe like mean streak the way that you did, but I did note some clunkiness with his footwork and maybe some lack of punch at at contact that might have come from that lack of confidence where you're just a little bit hesitant like i haven't i haven't seen this i haven't done this enough before where maybe more snaps holds the key to that does your footwork get cleaner when you're not thinking about a million things?
Starting point is 00:20:27 You know, are you just going about business as usual? Because if we get this guy to go about business as usual, yeah, he's an all pro. He's going to be an all pro at the NFL level. He has that ability. His stride length is good. His strength overall, I think, is good, but could be even better. So for a baseline it's it's just this is the kind of player that does not get out of the top 50 I think that he's going to be a
Starting point is 00:20:49 first round pick because of the things that we mentioned but um yeah so you have him at number four I'm at four who do you have it for um so I have I have JC Latham at four all right here's our conversation so you so you have JC latham i'm guessing outside of your top five yeah i did uh written in pen uh pencil top eight knowing you know we're gonna do the top five pretty confidently barring one of these guys having a disastrous combine yeah i had got tyler guyton at six and Latham at seven. All right. But once again, this is a really good tackle class.
Starting point is 00:21:32 I don't look at Latham. The year we had Trevor Penning, and everybody knew he was going in the top 20, and I had Penning not even at the top of day two. I was like, what is going on here? I don't feel that way about Latham, but there's clearly a little bit of a difference because I know Latham is a top 15 player for a lot of people, and I wouldn't feel great about taking him in the first round.
Starting point is 00:21:55 So I'll preface it by saying this. I didn't watch Latham until this morning, and we're recording this on Thursday, and I did not watch Latham until this morning because he had not declared for the draft yet. So I kind of held off on a couple of players he, since I think it was this morning actually, declared for the NFL draft. And so I was like, okay, good. I was going to watch him anyways for the show,
Starting point is 00:22:18 but I was glad that I waited to actually get that confirmation so i'm coming off of the michigan game where one of the main reasons why that last play of the game alabama versus michigan went as poorly as it did is because six foot six 360 pound jc latham is getting forklifted into the backfield by a player who is half his size. Not actually half his size, but you guys know what I mean. A guy that he should absolutely dominate. And so I'm like, damn, man. That's a top 15 pick? I don't know about that.
Starting point is 00:22:57 That's the biggest play of the game, and he gets absolutely forklifted. So I went into this thinking that I would be where you are and I want to be out on it. But then I watched two games of 22, four games of 2023. And I'm like, God, this guy's good. Like he's just got it all. So JC Latham, right tackle for Alabama. I mentioned it. 6'6", 360 pounds. Healthy young man, as Benjamin Solak would say.
Starting point is 00:23:32 Five-star offensive line prospect. Ended up going to IMG Academy before he went to Alabama. Played in 14 games as a backup his true freshman year at Alabama. In 2022, he was the team's starting right tackle. No, wait, he played guard, I think. Then he played guard and he started at guard or he filled in at guard. And then he played right tackle and he has been the right tackle as a starter ever since. So he has played three seasons for Alabama.
Starting point is 00:23:58 One of them, he was a guard. The last two, he was a right tackle. So he's got that offensive guard right tackle versatility, which is nice because when you look at him, you go, oh, that's a big boy a big boy is he gonna be a guard like what's going on here but then you watch him play and you go okay he's got the arm length and it's from the jump it is so impressive how well Latham moves at 360 pounds last year he weighed 330 reportedly. Now he weighs 360 and you watch both seasons and he's just extremely explosive. I love the flexibility that he has in his hips to be able to get down low in a more athletic stance. I love how explosive he is with that first step in his
Starting point is 00:24:38 kick slide to get exactly where he needs to get to again at 360 pounds. He understands hand placement. I've even seen him going from 2022 to 2023. I'd see him get a little hand flash in there to bait these guys and then get his hands on him. And you can't really get off the grip once he gets right into you. I think the power at the point of attack is absolutely imposing, especially again, in that Michigan game, I went back and I made sure I watched that Michigan game there are so many more plays that Latham is the reason why they were successful than they were that last play of the game that last play of the game stings and it sucks and honestly it's a bit of a theme for him over the last couple of years which I'll get to in a second but there are so many times where he was a puller on a counter trade uh gap run or he was
Starting point is 00:25:26 his own blocker and he is just not only able to get to where he needs to get to at 360 pounds but throw these dudes to the side and absolutely bulldoze them so as a run blocker let me see what his run block grades is because we got it here um as a gap run blocker over the last two years he had a 66.0 run blocking grade which is fine as a zone blocker when he was able to get these dudes moving he could throw them off at and he he earned an 83.1 overall grade what was so impressive to me when it came to his run blocking stuff is connor there were multiple plays where alabama played against um georgia where latham is combo blocking nazir stackhouse and sends nazir stackhouse flying off of his feet to the ground. And I'm like, holy cow, that's some serious power.
Starting point is 00:26:28 Now, love his finesse game for a player who is of his size. That play against Michigan, where he gets forklifted back way too far, it does happen a lot more than you'd like for it to happen. Yeah. His anchor ability, and i don't really understand i need to watch a little bit more of it it's pad level because a lot of these guys just get under him and they win leverage but i've seen him win with leverage before so i just don't know why this is happening so often because i don't really think it's an inflexibility thing but guys will
Starting point is 00:27:01 get into his chest and they will push him back way more than you think that they should for a player of his size. He just doesn't have, I don't know, that density to his body. He's built really well. Obviously it's 360 pounds. He's carrying a lot of mass, but a lot of it is in the butt, the hamstrings, the quads. He's got a lot in his lower body, but it's not like he's carrying a ton of unnecessary fat in the midsection. I just think he's a really well built 360 pound. And so for him to struggle with bull rushes as much as he does, that was a little bit of a concern to me because it happened continuously. Now there's also penalties. He was one of the most penalized players that we looked over. He had 18 penalties over the last two years, which is something that you absolutely got to clean up.
Starting point is 00:27:48 Now, some of them were false starts, but some of them were. That's a part of the problem, though. What, him jumping early, you're saying? Dude, it's not. It was my, not number one, but a thing that drove me nuts this summer. I had him at tackle five. And I don't think it really got a lot better this year, honestly. Him just, him jumping early to like yeah that outside shoulder yes like i didn't see self-trust so let's see i
Starting point is 00:28:13 actually have it right here i could pull it up latham's total penalties this year seven of them were false starts not great six of them were offensive holdings three of them were ineligible downfield player i saw those because i was like what happened here on the coach's tape it was a little hard to like figure out what was going on one of them was unnecessary roughness one of them was on sportsmanlike conduct so um a decent amount of offensive holding penalties over the last two years and then yeah a bunch of false starts let me see what it was in just 2023 so in just in 2023 i think i gotta watch three false starts let's see two false starts two offensive holding yeah so he's a lot more penalized the previous season for sure.
Starting point is 00:29:06 But I mean, he had like, yeah, look, I, and, and the thing is that I don't believe he needs to do all those things. I think he's gifted enough,
Starting point is 00:29:14 um, to not have these penalties, but he does. So that's something that he's absolutely got to clean up. There's no question about it, but the, the reason why I ended up being as high as I am on him is because though there are things to clean up,
Starting point is 00:29:29 he's going to be, I think, 21 his entire rookie season. Yeah, he's young. He's got two years of starting experience as a right tackle in the SEC, and he's got some straight-up dominant reps for a player of his size. He's going to win with length. He's going to win with size. The foot quickness is there for him. I think he can be a devastating run blocker, dominant reps for a player of his size. He's going to win with length. He's going to win with size. The foot quickness is there for him. I think he can be a devastating run blocker. The things that bug me the most are just the penalties. And for some reason, he struggles against those bull
Starting point is 00:29:55 rushes. And I think it might be because he dips his head a little bit. That's got to get better from him. But again, I thought I was going to be more closer to where you had him. And when I watched him, there's too much good for me to go. Yeah, there's stuff that I like, but I'm going to hold him back. If I was an NFL team, I'd still be taking him in the first round. So for me, and I get it, I really do. Because the I've written down before, like he is such a high variance player at a position that I honestly hate variance now I do and I used to not be this way but I've been burned by
Starting point is 00:30:34 evaluating offensive linemen where the highs are so unbelievable yeah but the lows are, he's going to get demolished at the NFL level if those moments appear. So with Latham, I mean, his best tape is as good as anyone in a great class. His worst tape, you look around and you're like, man, how are we even talking about him being a top 40 pick? And that's what everybody's thought was after the Michigan game. Because a lot of people hadn't seen him play, and they've been sold that he's going to be a top 15 pick. Yeah, but still. That's not fair either.
Starting point is 00:31:11 I don't think that's fair either. But to your point, that is the play of the game. It is fourth and goal. Like, you got one play to either extend the game or your season's over. And, man, that play was so weird too. I went back and I do watch that play with the all 22 afterwards. He peeks into, he peeks to his left.
Starting point is 00:31:33 That's the reason why his chest is so open on that play and why he gets forklifted. So, so bad is because he looks to the left and he, and he puts his arm out to the left as if he thinks the interior defensive lineman is maybe going to cut in between him and the guard, or maybe he thinks a stunt is coming, which I don't think he believes a stunt is coming.
Starting point is 00:31:55 Maybe he's just trying to protect the gap so the guy doesn't immediately shoot the gap right in between him and the guard and get right to Jalen Milrow. But that split second where he turns his head to look at the interior defensive lineman is going to come at him. By the time he looks back around, that edge rusher is going reckless abandoned right into his chest and ends up ruining the play. So even that play was a little bit weird, but you are right.
Starting point is 00:32:19 Those moments where he struggles are unfortunately impactful ones. It's not just like, ah, you just missed it a little bit here. Sometimes it's really devastating. Yeah, some of the things with him besides the penalties, you just brought this up, field awareness I thought was a problem. He just doesn't bring his feet with him in pass protection a lot. He's so big and strong, and he has maybe the strongest hands of any tackle in this class that it almost leads to bad habits at times where when he doesn't bring
Starting point is 00:32:52 his feet guys will cross his face or they'll get him with speed or a counter move he's an interesting one man it's it's really really difficult because he has a lot of ability that the best nastiest run blocking lineman in the NFL do. And he also has a lot of the issues that some of the biggest, but first round offensive line bus have as well. So yeah, I didn't have him in my top five. I know he's going to be a really popular player.
Starting point is 00:33:25 I just, I just got afraid of the variance of two years of tape. Obviously, this is not the last time that you and I watch tape on these players. And so we'll see. But again, I thought I was going to be in your camp or closer to kind of where you had him on the rankings. And to me And there's, there's, to me, there's just too much good.
Starting point is 00:33:47 Um, even with the bad, it's like, damn, I'd still probably, I'd still take this guy in the first. I just think that he's, he's just too talented.
Starting point is 00:33:58 And, um, yeah, so that's where I landed on him. We got the top three coming up, but before we get to that, this year, it's a new year. You
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Starting point is 00:35:30 We can help the people out before they get into trouble. That's our goal of the show. All right, who's offensive tackle three for you? You know who it is. It's Talisa Fuaga from Oregon State. Let's go, baby. Yeah, wow. What a year for Talisa Fuaga honestly two-year starter right
Starting point is 00:35:46 tackle uh was good last year but was great this year and i think that says everything about fuaga who's 6'6 335 like just once again mountain of a human house house good weight honestly really good build on him i'll jump into the notes here um okay fuaga i mean number one you just start with team captain a big thick generates power from head to toe i thought team captain i'd follow this man into battle yeah i would too just about any battle it'd take me three reps and be like all right cool we're we got the right guy actually you're the first off the bus so he's the guy at the coin toss who's just staring at the other team doing the thing where he's just like swaying side to side but the the ref asks him a question and he just doesn't answer right he just he might not he will not break eye contact with his opponent.
Starting point is 00:36:46 He might not. He might not. He might give you absolutely nothing. He's a player that a lot of these guys are big and strong, but they get a little reckless to how they try to generate power, whether they're leaning, ducking. He just generates power from head to toe. You could see it in his waist. You could see it in his upper body.
Starting point is 00:37:08 Another guy that does not get beat by power. The core strength in the anchor is a plus for Foucault. I mean, guys could try. They could lengthen their runway. They can go wide nine. They could stand up and they'd be like, I'm going to go speed to power. And they just get stopped in their tracks by this dude so that's a great baseline for him to have
Starting point is 00:37:30 because it's gonna force guys to get more creative with their rushes where he got beat was by inside moves i saw him get beat by an inside spin and stutter step where they try to would try to cross his face where he said a little bit wide and he wouldn't necessarily have the agility to cut off the inside now i will say this trevor i think it's something that he's gotten better at throughout his time there i think he's gotten better at as he's gotten more playing time his awareness of stunts and blitzers is also still work in progress that was something where i was like okay he's a little late a couple times or i can now what you need to recognize is too
Starting point is 00:38:11 especially he's not playing with a quarterback that's going in the first round some of that too is on the quarterback as well not identifying pressures or like it wasn't one of those things where i'm like man it's so obvious and he's not seeing it but there was just times where a pressure package or a stunt and he was late why he's one of the best offensive linemen in this draft his ability in the outside zone game outside like the running game is elite he's quick off the ball he's got length to cut guys off he can reach block and he can dump defenders he hits the strike zone and this he could also do this in man blocking like he can get off the snap and just drive block guys into the ground he and it's consistent he had
Starting point is 00:38:59 a 91.7 grade as an outside zone run blocker yeah i mean like he there's not a lot of bad reps with him on the move and you look at a guy that's 66335 and you're like and he plays right tackle everybody's like oh i like him but you know is he all power we're just gonna have to run downhill when i was so pleasantly surprised with what he does when they have him climb when they have him reach when they have him get outside so fuwaga who keeps getting better in pass pro but is already a standout run blocker stand out run but he's a let me say this he is a better run blocker than olu fashanu oh and it is not close no not close right now no so now we'll get to ollu in a bit of why, you know, what makes him special.
Starting point is 00:39:47 But Fouaga, a lot of people keep asking me like all in Fashani when I get it. I've been in a blender trying to separate those two. Fouaga is not in this tier that's out on Mars. Like somebody is going to take Fouaga, I think, unless he just bottoms out in the testing. I don't see that anymore in the top 12 to 15 and be like, damn, this guy was in a normal offensive line class. He'd be that dude.
Starting point is 00:40:10 He would be that dude. So I know, and I know you've been really high on him too. You're one of the first people to ever text me about him months ago. He's, he's a great player. And one that if you know what you are identity wise, like in the run game,
Starting point is 00:40:23 you're just going to absolutely love plugging him in right away. I think he is the Peter Skowronski type of player for this year's draft. I also have him in offensive tackle three, so obviously this is an easy conversation. And I think our top three is maybe going to be the same. Maybe we'll have a different number one. Maybe. Here's the thing.
Starting point is 00:40:42 I think he's the Peter Sk skronsky conversation of i think he's a starting caliber offensive tackle i think he's a starting caliber offensive guard like it doesn't matter i think that this guy is starting at the pro level one way or the one way or another i think he's got the foot speed to be able to survive at offensive tackle but here's the thing i don't know exactly what fuagas measurements are but he's listed at 6'6", 335. So let's say he measures in at like 6'5 1⁄2", 330, whatever. Skowronski's measurements were 6'4", flat, 313. So this guy does what Skowronski does, but he's taller, he's bigger,
Starting point is 00:41:24 he's got more length. So if you debated this with Peter Skowronski does but he's taller he's bigger he's got more length so if you debated this with peter skronsky is he a tackle is he a guard which obviously the titans put him at guard right away and he's gonna be a damn good guard this guy gives you a lot of what you were missing from skronsky in terms of length now i will say this because i agree with you 100 and he's just an absolute mauler in the run game his finishing mentality as a pass blocker and as a run blocker is just, it is a thing of beauty. The first line that I have in my scouting report for him is, Fuaga is the kind of ass kicker that every single team in the NFL wants
Starting point is 00:41:57 on their trenches. 100%. Every single team. Does not matter. Don't care what your thresholds are. Don't care what your run and zone gap. I don't care if you're a run first team a passer team what you want this guy in the trenches because he is an absolute tone setter for you I think that is I think that his feet are fast I think
Starting point is 00:42:14 that his hands are fast and he loves to take the fight you mentioned earlier in the podcast takes the fight to guys that's something I loved about Darnell Wright last year and I see that same mentality for Fuaga now Now, of course, I see them a little bit the same in that they can get a little overaggressive. You can get a little overzealous. You can extend a little bit, and that can sometimes get you in a little bit of trouble, but I think that's okay. The longer he plays this, the more he gets to the pro level, the more he understands the pro level strength, what he could do, what he could get away with, his confidence level. I think that that'll be all right. You'll live with some of the overzealous tendencies for what he gives you
Starting point is 00:42:48 as an aggressive player in the other parts of his game, as a pass protector, taking the fight to guys, as a run blocker, absolutely erasing people out of the game. So I really like all of that stuff from him. I think that in pass protection, he has fast feet, but you could tell he doesn't have a super long stretch or flexibility in his groin. So that kick slide, especially on those vertical sets,
Starting point is 00:43:18 they're not covering as much ground as it is for other players. He just doesn't have the longest legs. You'll watch guys like we'll talk about olu fashano we'll talk about joe or joe all yeah these guys i mean they're just covering all sorts of ground with their kick slides because their strides are just so big fuaga's not the same way so he makes up for it with really quick feet but there are times when he gets exposed a little bit with the outside shoulder or against really good speed rushers. Sometimes he over, he oversets himself a little bit,
Starting point is 00:43:51 gives up that inside shoulder a little bit, just because he can't quite get to the landmarks as fast as the other, these other guys that have longer stride lengths. However, unlike some guys where that might be the case and they struggle to recover, he has the fast footwork to be like, okay, if you, if I didn't get to my landmark and you tried to hit me with an inside counter, he does get into them and has the strength to redirect them. Well, right. Some guys, some guys just don't have that strength, right? If they get, if they can redirect and they can get back into your chest, but they're already winning to the inside, maybe they're not going to be able to push these players enough to get away from the quarterback. Fuaga has that ability. He has that innate strength. So I think
Starting point is 00:44:31 where his weaknesses certainly exist for questions of whether or not he can play tackle, I believe the strengths that he has in his game mitigate that more than maybe this conversation that we have had with other players like I think of Graham Barton right where Graham Barton love the footwork love the grip strength but I don't know if Graham Barton exactly has that redirect ability that Fuaga does where that's why I'm confident for him to be a good offensive tackle at the next level so man I I am glad that you said it the way that you did. I wonder if this podcast is going to be one of the podcasts that's a little bit higher on Talize Fuaga because I'm not going to lie. I'll spoil it now. I got Olu at two. The debate between Fuaga and Olu
Starting point is 00:45:20 was kind of tight for me because I am not worried whatsoever about this guy having the strength and power profile to play at the NFL level. Sometimes I worry about that a little bit with Olu and kind of the way that you were talking about JC Latham, you don't like entrusting guys who maybe have that kind of deficiency to them.
Starting point is 00:45:44 I'm just, I'm not worried about this guy being strong enough to play at the pro game. He's a pro trench player and you've seen it over the last two years. And I absolutely love it. Now an issue from him before I, before we move on penalties, he had six penalties or sorry, 11 penalties over the last two years, eight of them were those false start penalties.
Starting point is 00:46:08 Now, not all eight of them, because I watched all of them, not all eight of them are him trying to get a jump in passing. No. In fact, I think more than half of them is he's so eager to get off the line and kill somebody. Yeah, it's a Kentucky Derby in the gate like let me out let me out I want to run so I'm not nearly as worried about his false starts as I am some of Latham's that might be more pass protection related he's not having that kind of a thing
Starting point is 00:46:39 so I wanted to make sure that I mentioned that as well i had the same thought and that is taking us to a great conversation that i guarantee everybody listening right now is a little surprised that we both ended up with joe wall as the top tackle wow look at that i probably i we don't text each other for a reason and it's for moments like this as i sat there last night i even tweeted it into the atmosphere like i am oh i saw it so torn because i like them both so much i i guess we'll start with olu right before we get to all with olu and I think you kind of already hinted at this, for all his greatness, and he is a great pass protector. Like his floor in pass protection almost made me put him at one because I feel so good about it.
Starting point is 00:47:36 But the play, he's still getting stronger. And I think the Ohio State game opened up my eyes a little bit to that. It was almost jarring, right? Like, it was almost like watching someone that you thought was like Rocky IV. It's with, what's his name? The Russian boxer. I can't believe this is driving me that nuts. But I'll get there in a second.
Starting point is 00:48:01 Ivan Drago. Yes. Thank you. Like, he finally sees his own blood and it's like, what that was watching Olu against Ohio state. You're like, I thought this guy was titanium and it's not that he got murdered. I want to make this very clear.
Starting point is 00:48:12 It's not like for Sean, who was unplayable against Ohio state. It's just that he's been so good since he's been on the field for Penn state that it was, you know, it was a little bit surprising in a way, but besides that, I think with Olu,
Starting point is 00:48:28 his run blocking right now is just not where it needs to be for an elite, like an all time kind of prospect. I think, I think that he's, he's a great athlete. He can absolutely fly in the open field. He has no fear or lack of urgency or, you know, drive. But he just doesn't consistently generate lower body power as a drive blocker.
Starting point is 00:48:56 And in the zone game, he plays high and doesn't sustain blocks. Like he just misses his landmarks and doesn't sustain blocks. Like he just misses his landmarks and doesn't sustain. Guys, he might make the first contact, but a guy is going to work through him or around him or over him. So it's not that he's an unplayable run blocker. Like we're really nitpicking a great player here in Fashanu. But it was the one thing I wanted more out of from summer scouting.
Starting point is 00:49:25 And I think it got better this year. i don't think it got a lot better and i was disappointed by that really disappointed by that because this is a dude that built in a lab so explosive in past bro so good in past bro can play on an island with the best of them and that is going to make him an nfl starter right away and a really good one like what i would love to have on my team but if he wants to be an all pro player which is what i think a lot of us have been billing him as potential as the run game it has a few steps to continue to grow i agree i agree with you on uh on a lot of what you said. Just expounding a little bit on his background. So funny, I love looking up when guys were multi-sport athletes growing up,
Starting point is 00:50:13 and Olu wanted to play basketball, actually. He said, quote, all my life, I always played basketball. But as a guy got older, I was just the big center who was out there to rebound and play defense, and I didn't really enjoy that as much so uh kind of a little hint into all right he just he he didn't want that kind of a game he didn't want to be a paint player nearly as much so switches over to football which is funny because in trenches it's literally only paint play um basically your entire career another interesting tidbit about him i read he so okay he is six foot six 320 pounds both of his parents are five foot eight yeah it's wild isn't it what happened i don't know man did he take the super
Starting point is 00:50:57 soldier captain america serum i hope kristin and i get that lucky i really do that i just have this child that's like eight inches taller than me, and I'm like, yes. That actually would make sense for Penn State because Penn State has so many freak athletes. Maybe Penn State does have the Captain America serum. Maybe they actually do have it. I'm starting to believe it when you watch these guys athletically.
Starting point is 00:51:19 To talk about how athletic this dude is, he was on Bruce Feldmanman's freak article going into the season um they said that he olivashano at 66 320 ran a 497 40 yard dash which would be 93rd percentile for offensive tackles and at a short shuttle time of 463 which would be 73rd percentile um this is all this summer it's a truly just pretty rare athletic moments and you mentioned how great the pass protection is over the last two years. So this is both 2022 and 2023. This is across 1200 snaps total.
Starting point is 00:51:50 So these aren't all pass blocking snaps, but raw pass blocking grade, 89.2 damn nearly pass blocking grade on true pass sets. So you're taking a lot of, of like the gimmicky stuff, the quick throw stuff, the RPO stuff. Like you're taking a lot of that out.
Starting point is 00:52:04 These are true drop back passes, 84.4 pass blocking grade, which is great. But then you go to the run game. You mentioned over the last two years, run blocking grade in gap, man gap plays 67.2, run blocking grade in zone blocking concepts, 65.8. So neither one really great. And here's the one that bothers me the most.
Starting point is 00:52:29 So we have some advanced stats at PFF, and we have these things that are called stable or unstable metrics. And we categorize them as such. Not every single metric falls into one of these two buckets, but some more than others fall into them. And we like to categorize them appropriately because not every data point is as translatable as another. They're all valuable.
Starting point is 00:52:53 They all help tell the story, but not the stable metrics that we have are the ones that we deem as the most translatable. The good players at the next level at this position typically show good scores grades in these areas. When it comes to the run game for offensive tackles, avoiding negatively graded plays is the more stable metric than even saying, okay, what about a positively graded play? Because the negatives are more translatable or more consistent from year to year it tells you more about the player it paints the clearer picture for olufashanu he had a negatively graded play percentage of 12.9 over the last two years that's just in the 10th percentile so obviously not closest to 100 is is you want to get. 10th percentile, 12.9% of you have a negatively graded run blocking plays.
Starting point is 00:53:49 That's not great. And then when you marry that with him struggling with power when it comes to pass protection, it gets me nervous, man. And that's why I had a debate in my head about Talize Fuaga above Olu Fushanu because I'm not worried about that with Fuaga. Now, Fuaga doesn't cover near the ground that Olu does. He's not near the pass protector he is, but the floor, what I know he is going to be as a run blocker first and foremost,
Starting point is 00:54:21 and then the type of player he is as a pass blocker, is that worth it over a guy that I got strength question question marks i got strength question marks with him in the run game i got strength question marks with him in the pass blocking game phenomenal finesse player and this is probably the best i i want to read my full scouting report on on olu because i think it does a good job of kind of encapsulating what i think about the dude. So here it is. If the saying is true that offensive linemen are the best athletes on the field, Fashanu is a poster child for it. His finesse and pass protection game is so impressive for how fast his feet are and how well he moves. This has yielded very good pass protection grades over the last few years. The power profile for him, however, is adequate, but not elite. He just does
Starting point is 00:55:03 not pack a punch of contact in the run game despite being 320 pounds and has some flexibility and foot issues foot speed issues that don't allow him to maintain blocks in the run game i assume that he uses low hand techniques to make up for that lack of natural pad leverage at six foot six and it also increases his strike zone when the hands move up as well as it keeps his hands low so pass rushers cannot knock them away from from his body as they are coming into him and getting into their pass rush moves however these low hands expose his chest far too often and for a player who is not as dense as an anchor this appears to be a source of much of what he is dealing with right now
Starting point is 00:55:45 when it comes to his struggles versus power rushers. When he gets his arms up, and even against good speed-to-power players, he can't anchor. The long arms are a big advantage to him when he's keeping pass rushers at bay, but failing to keep his arms inside makes his chest too easy to attack, and right now, he is not dense enough to anchor immediately, and that forces pressure on the pocket for how he takes on power rushes. We've talked so much about how good Olufushanu is, but the power profile to his game, to me,
Starting point is 00:56:14 is still at a point where I ended up with Joe Walt as my number one tackle, simply put, because I don't have that worry with him. So before we talk about all, I do want to get to an add read, but I want to make sure if there was something else that you wanted to talk about with Vachon who I gave you the floor before I got into that. No, I just want to hammer home how excited I am about Vachon who has a pro
Starting point is 00:56:39 prospect, because I think a lot of people listening right now are like, it's almost like a gut punch because for Sean, who has been, was talked about as a top eight pick, if he declared last year, he's still probably going to be right. He goes back.
Starting point is 00:56:51 He's still going to be a top eight pick. He's still really good. He's a special pass protector. Yeah. Athlete length. It sounds like person. Like when you hear teammates talk about him and team captain, and I think it'll be a,
Starting point is 00:57:04 a, a foundation of an offensive line for a decade in the NFL. But it just came down to who has the higher ceiling because of what they do in the run game right now. My final bottom line of Fashanu was, Fashanu is not only incredibly talented, but will also be one of the youngest prospects in the 2024 class. That's a great point.
Starting point is 00:57:24 Which is important because if it's a guy you know kids right we talk about these guys being kids he's 20 years old he's 21 years old he's probably gonna get a lot stronger at least he has the ability to get a lot stronger certainly when you look at his age he is the type of athlete in the trenches that you absolutely draft in the first round very high even if he needs to get stronger to live up to his very very high potential so there you go that's our thoughts on on on uh old upashani we'll get to our joe alt breakdown in a sec but nfl fans it is time to unwrap the non-stop football action this holiday season by throwing down big matchups with draft king sportsbook an official sports betting partner
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Starting point is 00:59:16 See dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gambling resources. Both got Notre Dame left tackle got notre dame left tackle three-year left tackle very very impressive yeah freshman to play at that program uh it's who so we got joel at number one talk to good people about joel well i think first off what's so wild So wild about it is all, all the guys you've heard us talk about today. Latham, Mims, like they were some of the best recruits in their entire class,
Starting point is 00:59:55 not a tackle in the entire class, counting the quarterbacks, counting the other positions. I don't think all was viewed that way coming into the school that he would be this instant three-year starter right he's only a four-star okay i thought he was a three i mean but either way the hype was like there's a million four stars every year this guy started eight games as a freshman at left tackle then 13 as a sophomore in 2022 and then all 12 this year yeah he's played over 2 000 snaps over 2100 snaps in college on the offensive line he's only had four penalties in his three years of starting
Starting point is 01:00:32 nuts two false starts and two holds nuts that's insane nuts and they like you watch his true pass sets they ask a lot of him trevor they really do This is a guy that like he's out on an island. Oh, it's a true drop back offense like that. Yes. A hundred percent where I'm like, this is what playing tackle in the NFL is going to be like. He is phenomenal at recognizing and picking up stunts and communicating with his teammates. I wrote down specifically from summer how unfazed he was by Miles murphy trying to rush against him with power and then this year one of my favorite edge rushers that actually went back to school ashton gelati on louisville he looked really good against that front as well all is a big time player
Starting point is 01:01:17 plays up to competition because he is the competition and there's really not a lot of weaknesses in his game like i it's over summer there was some hand placement questions for me and pass pro i thought he refined that this year he's the size of a skyscraper so there's times where it's like leverage you're thinking okay right is he going to get out leveraged by the 6-1 bursty bendy rusher but he's a good athlete at his size he can bend his knees he doesn't you know tip over he doesn't duck he doesn't overreach uh he's got great length inside zone he just erases people if you ask him to drive block and just push people backwards he does that when they have him open up and run as a puller he does that he's not beat a lot in pass pro he sustains blocks so well guys when they counter him he always knows what to do with his hands he brings his legs with
Starting point is 01:02:18 him he's got a very strong core he's got a good anchor sometimes he'll slide back but then he he recalibrates and readjusts and he locks into the ground he's i mean he my favorite tackle i've ever evaluated is penne sewell in that draft adam is the number two player behind trevor lawrence all is i think every bit as good as Penn a soul as a prospect. Like that is how good of a prospect he is that he's at least tied for the best tackle prospect I've watched. High praise, but worthy,
Starting point is 01:02:56 worthy of the high praise. We, uh, what is it? We pray at the, the alt swinging a mess. I saw what you were going for.
Starting point is 01:03:07 I see the vision. It didn't manifest itself. I hope that's not the open. We got to go back. I really hope that's not the open. I might need a week off. All right. You know it's going to be the open.
Starting point is 01:03:19 I'm going into hiding. Ryan's going to punish you so hard for that one. Yes. Okay. Well earned. So a little bit of background on Joe Walt. Started his high school career. Well, first and foremost, family background.
Starting point is 01:03:32 His father, John, played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs. And his older brother, Mark, is an NHL defensive. I mean, what the fuck, dude? Right, right, right right right right so joel started in high school as a freshman quarterback before moving to linebacker and defensive end as a sophomore and then he moved to tight end as a junior notre dame offered joel a scholarship as an offensive line prospect after watching his junior season when he played tight end at 240 pounds. By the time he committed to the Irish, he was nearly 260 pounds. And by the end of 2021,
Starting point is 01:04:13 when all had signed with Notre Dame, he weighed nearly 280. So now he is listed at 322, six foot eight, 322 pounds. So not only does he have a athletic family background, he's got a multi-position background. I'm sure he played multiple sports growing up. I talked about some of those. Probably played hockey. He's from Minnesota. Probably played hockey.
Starting point is 01:04:32 He probably played hockey. Probably played highlight. Probably was in NASCAR. I don't know. I wouldn't doubt him. We talked about some of those stable metrics that PFF has. I'm going to list you off all of the stable metrics that we have here. Past block grade. Now, these are over the last two years. He's played 1,600 snaps at left tackle
Starting point is 01:04:51 over the last two years. So this is a cumulative score for over the last two years of play for him. Pass block grade, 89.0. Pass block grade on true pass sets, 82.1. Run blocking grade in gap plays, 83.0. Run blocking grade in zone plays, 93.4. Negatively graded run plays, just 7.2%. That's in the 89th percentile. Total penalties over the last two years, three. Where's the bat? What are we? I mean, he's such a great prospect.
Starting point is 01:05:22 He has such a great high IQ of what wins at the position. Despite being 6'8", he's got really good hamstring flexibility to be able to get down in that three-point stance because Notre Dame asked their offensive linemen to all get in three-point stances when you're doing run plays. He's got that flexibility, even though his butt's pretty high in the air because he's 6'8". He can get his pad level low and get his hand on the ground because he has that hamstring flexibility so the hands are very
Starting point is 01:05:48 consistent and powerful in their punches um he's just an extremely impressive fluid athlete coming from that linebacker tight end background that you're now seeing at left tackle the i mean he's just he's got great awareness he's always looking for extra work he's very calm in his pass sets because he knows that a lot of people just aren't going to be able to get around him with his sheer size certainly when he pairs that with his technique so you don't see a lot of panic from him but if I had to say that there were things that I noted in his game that make him not the perfect prospect one the groin flexibility I've talked about this a little bit with Talisa Fuaga, where the total stretch that you have when you were in your kick slides, it's a little bit stiff, but he's six foot eight. So he covers plenty of ground anyways, even if it's not this long stretch that it might be for some of these other guys like Ola Fushano and like I've seen with JC Latham players like that.
Starting point is 01:06:42 So the groin's a little bit stiff, but it's not really anything to worry about because he's got the overall size. He does have a little bit of a tendency to overextend. You know, he will kind of get his shoulders over his skis, if you will, when he is trying to dictate contact, when he's trying to get his hands in there. And there are times when if the rusher is really patient with him
Starting point is 01:07:05 or if they're trying to bait him, he can get a little off balance and he can get a little top heavy, and you can kind of manipulate him a little bit that way. But that's more of a consistency thing than anything else. I'm interested to see what his arm length ends up being because despite him being 6'8", when I watch him, it's not like his arm length is like a Marius Mims
Starting point is 01:07:28 or something like that. He doesn't have vines for arms. Now again, him having a 6'7", 6'8 frame, maybe it doesn't look like that. I think it's a trick of the eye. And it might be a total trick of the eye, but there are times where I go, okay, well, maybe your arms aren't
Starting point is 01:07:44 as long as your 6'8 frame would indicate. And maybe that's a reason why you get a little top heavy. And when you lunge a little bit, you get your shoulders over your toes a little bit, but man, it's that stuff that it's just more confidence. Like he doesn't even have to do that. So I mean, three-year starter, multi-positional background. He's got the frame. He's got the size. He's got the athletic family background as well. He understands the position so, so well. The football IQ is already so high for him. There's just not a lot that this guy does not do well. If I am drafting Joe Walt in even the top five, now, I don't know if he's going to go top five in this class. We'll see what the final draft order ends up being and what the quarterback position ends up being. But if I'm drafting Joe, Joe Walt in the top five, I don't know if he's going to go top five in this class. We'll see what the final draft order ends up being and what the quarterback position ends up being. But if I'm drafting Joe Alt in the top five, I am sleeping like a damn baby
Starting point is 01:08:31 if I am the GM of that team on Thursday night getting ready for Friday. I'm just, I have no reservations about this guy in any offense with any team, and he's going to be a stud. I'm with you all the way. I mean, he's a no-brainer pick on the offensive line. What a career he's had at the college level, and everything he does just screams that it'll translate well to the NFL.
Starting point is 01:08:55 I mean, just looking at the draft, and he might not be the first tackle taken. It could still be Fashanu. Oh, for sure, yeah. But, man, it feels like when you have the titans and jets lurking at that seven and eight spot yeah there's just no world where those two guys could fall past those those spot again they're i think they're locked in its top eight picks even with potentially four quarterbacks and a couple of receivers going i would agree with you i would agree with you for
Starting point is 01:09:19 sure anybody else in the top five that we did not get to that you want to shout out at all we already talked about your guy number seven with with latham but uh anybody else on the list yeah i mean i'll give a quick shout to tyler guy and he is such a ball of clay that i think that'll really excite a team maybe the end around one maybe around two instead he's a great athlete he moves really well he's out there just kind of aing for better or for worse. We talk about this class having really good athlete offensive tackles. He is without question the best. And that is truly saying something.
Starting point is 01:09:55 We have really good athletes in this offensive tackle class. And it takes one game of Tyler Guyton to go, yup, you are truly different. He's a great developmental pick. He is. But just so far away that I couldn't have him over those five guys. Had him at six, but yeah, that was the main one for me. What about you?
Starting point is 01:10:16 He's the one who I have some extensive strengths and I have some extensive weaknesses. And at the end, it's just like, he's too high variance of a player right now for you to stick out there in the NFL. But, I mean, to me, Tyler Guyton's probably going to be a top 50 pick just because, again, he's crazy athletic. All right, two guys that I would love to give a shout-out to.
Starting point is 01:10:39 Kieran Amagaji, the left tackle for Yale. Got an Ivy Leaguer in here. 6'5", 325 pounds. And I know what you're thinking. You're probably like, okay, why are we talking about a guy who played at Ivy League level competition? Well, it's because he absolutely dominated the level of competition. So this is somebody who you're going to hear more and more of as you start to dive into draft season. I think he's a really good football player, man.
Starting point is 01:11:09 I think he is somebody who can start at offensive tackle or he can start at guard. He started at left guard for every game in 2021 before moving to left tackle for 2022 and 2023. So he's got that versatility to him. He's put on more than 30 pounds since he was a recruit and got to Yale. So I think he's put on more than 30 pounds since he was a recruit and got to yale so i think he's put on weight really well he's a he's a really good athlete for a player his size i think he's got really good strength he plays a little bit too high of a pad level but a lot of the stuff that you would fix with them either it will get fixed on its own through snaps and time in the nfl or you can alleviate that by putting him
Starting point is 01:11:45 at guard. I just think that he's got starting caliber potential at either position. He is somebody who I really, really liked. And, um, over the last two years, pass blocking grade, 87.8 true pass blocking grade, 88.3. So this is somebody who, um, is, is a really good pass protector, but I'm excited to see him. I think he's at the Senior Bowl. Yep, I'm pretty sure. Yes, yes. Okay, so he's at the Senior Bowl, so he's another offensive lineman at the Senior Bowl.
Starting point is 01:12:10 I'm really looking forward to watching. I thought. Is he not? I thought he was as well. I'm still going, still going. There's a lot of offensive linemen already committed. There are a lot of good offensive linemen. There really are.
Starting point is 01:12:23 I wish I knew how to work a computer. Okay, hold on. I'll talk about it. I uh who knows i thought it was so redshirt senior matt gunclavis from pittsburgh he's a guy i have to watch still i had him on the summer list of course so he is somebody who i really like unfortunately tore his acl this season and missed most of this season it was going to be pretty crucial for him he is not imposing at anything really um he's elicited six foot six 331 pounds but you know not a lot of that weight not as much of that weight as probably you would want in the lower half so it's not like he's super dense with the lower half but i just love how controlled he plays the position i mean the footwork is still super fast he doesn't have as much ground as kick slides. He's not the greatest athlete. He's kind of like a low ceiling athlete when it comes to the NFL level. I don't think he's going to test really well, but the hand usage is
Starting point is 01:13:12 great. He's so calm and confident when it comes to that hand fighting, you know, like he, he loves, in fact, he loves it too much. He loves the hand flash move. He loves to like start kick sliding back and then boom, I'm flashing the hand to get the defenders to put their hands up and then it's like okay boom i got you you may have gotten hands on me first but i'm redirecting i'm getting them off of you and then boom i'm right into your chest and now i'm controlling this situation so he he he wins so well with football iq um i just think again he's super controlled i i think he's he's super controlled. I think he's got a flat back, so he's got really great power going all the way up from his feet through his posterior chain into his chest, into his arms. It's just such a fluid motion for him. He's just a lower ceiling athlete,
Starting point is 01:13:57 so I don't think he's going to get drafted super high, but man, I think this guy would be a great mid-round pick. Third round pick, fourth round pick would be great value for him because I think this guy would be a great mid-round pick. Third-round pick, fourth-round pick would be great value for him because I think he's got the ability to be a really nice swing tackle for you. He's played right tackle. He's played left tackle during his time at Pitt. This would be a fantastic depth player in his first year or two in the league, maybe even evolving to a starting caliber player. I think that that is well within reason.
Starting point is 01:14:22 He's one of those guys that you watch you know how like sometimes we'll get those offensive linemen in the nfl and they're just like late round picks like anything like third fourth fifth round picks and they end up just being such a solid starter at offensive tackle and you go man how do we miss it on this guy i feel like goncalaves is one of those players who it's like not gonna wow you with the testing he's not like this you know you're not gonna look at him not like this. You know, you're not going to look at him and be like, Whoa, future pro player, but he just gets it.
Starting point is 01:14:47 He just gets how to win at the position. Last guy. I'll shout out. Blake Fisher, the right tackle for Notre Dame. So the guy that's playing on the opposite side of the football from, from Joe all not as clean in his finesse game and his past protection game as he needs to be yet,
Starting point is 01:15:05 but a very powerful player. Another player that I'm not worried about the strength part of his game. He is somebody who I would take somewhere on day two, really nice investment player. Wasn't even sure if he was going to declare for this draft, but he ended up doing that. And I think that the baseline of a power profile that you got with this guy is a people mover and a mauler he already showed some nice improvements in the past protection game i think you might have yourself uh a a starting a a a starting potential kind of a player if you end up getting him somewhere on day two so he's one of those day two names to watch out for as well and this is just the tackles
Starting point is 01:15:40 folks i mean this is a really, really deep, strong tackle class, and we have a lot of exciting guards and centers to talk about too, and some guards with tackle flexibility. So it's like we said at the top of the show, it's so great to have a strong offensive line class for the balance of the NFL. Listen, man, this class is fun. This class is really fun. There's so many good guys at the premium position spots.
Starting point is 01:16:08 Quarterback, wide receiver, offensive tackle, edge rusher. There's so many good guys at those premium positions, and we're going to keep working through a lot of them. But we would love to hear your thoughts on our thoughts when it comes to this offensive tackle position. Obviously, our top fives and some of the other players that we give a shout-out to. Best way to do that. Hitting us up in the comments on the YouTube channel,
Starting point is 01:16:27 youtube.com backslash at NFL stock exchange. We are over 16 and a half. Amazing. Thousand followers already. 20 by the draft. I'd love man. If we get to 20 by draft. Well,
Starting point is 01:16:39 man, we already love you guys so much, but that would be wonderful. Yeah. We would. We thought that we couldn't but we absolutely do if you are audio only you can still hit us up uh and get your opinions out there for us on x and uh instagram at tampa bay trey at connor j rogers that is the
Starting point is 01:16:54 best way to do that but um yeah let us know as well what team that you want to see next because we'll probably do a handful more fix your franchise because it's january now folks the bear is the one is coming for everybody we we will tell you here is one here is coming yes yes yes it might be coming on monday depending on if you guys are uh if you guys are vocal in the chat again maybe we we just cannot deny it any longer plus we'll obviously get to see where the Bears are officially picking. We know the Carolina pick at number one, but also where their pick is. And then we'll get into the Justin Fields conversation as well. So I'm getting ahead of myself.
Starting point is 01:17:33 Maybe we're doing it on Monday. Maybe not. It kind of is up to you guys. Let us know in the comments section. But, Connor, anything else before we get out of here? No, sums it up. I'm excited, man. We'll keep rolling through these position groups.
Starting point is 01:17:42 Trevor and I, if you didn't already know or didn't expect it, will be boots on the ground at the Senior Bowl, at the Super Bowl, at the Combine. So a lot of good stuff coming to the feed. Yeah, it's going to be a wonderful draft season. Appreciate you guys already rocking with us. Keep doing so, and we'll give you all the NFL draft content that you could ever want. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers.
Starting point is 01:18:03 Thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We will see you for maybe the Bears episode on Monday. We'll see you next time.

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