Advertisement

Greg Cosell's Draft Preview: Why 'Blind Side' OTs are riskier now

An offensive tackle used to be considered a safe pick in the top half of the first round. That hasn't been the case lately.

Greg Robinson, Jake Matthews, Taylor Lewan, Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel are a few tackles taken very high in recent NFL drafts who haven't lived up to their draft status yet. Any one of them could still have a great career, because they're all young and still learning. But it's also true that tackles don't seem like safe picks anymore, like they were considered to be just a few years ago.

It's another way the difference between the college game and the pro game is affecting NFL draft evaluation.

A large majority of major college football uses the spread offense in one form or another. From an offensive standpoint, it's one back, empty sets and the offensive linemen use wide splits there's a lot of space between linemen before the snap. Spread offenses spread the defenses out too of course. There aren't many people in the box in college. Sometimes it's just five defenders in the box. That's something that you will not find in the NFL game.

Also, because there isn't a lot of time between snaps in college, defensive pass rushers don't have a chance to reset between plays and think about moves and counter moves, they just have to go. So tackles on an island don't have a lot of stress on an island. Then they get to the NFL.

The NFL is not a spread game. There are many more bodies in the box, in the middle of the field. Teams don't generally run a very fast tempo. An offensive tackle is seeing better pass rushers with moves and counter moves. You're battling against more defensive schemes, including blitzes you don't see in college. You can't blitz in college when you don't have the numbers in the box to do it. But now a tackle who has rarely seen a blitz from a second-level defender or a third-level player like a safety, he has to account for that.

As a tackle you have all these things to deal with that you never dealt with in college. That's difficult, and it can take a lot of time to adjust to it.

Greg Robinson (AP)
Greg Robinson (AP)

Robinson was the second pick of the 2014 draft by the Rams. He was a physical specimen and a workout warrior and people said, "We haven't seen a left tackle prospect like this." And, when you looked at the measurables, everybody agreed with that assessment. But when you looked at the film at Auburn, Robinson didn't even know how to kick slide, and that's a basic fundamental for NFL tackles. But Robinson wasn't taught it in college. He's learning to do it against the best pass rushers in the world, and that takes time. Because when you're under stress, you revert what you're used to doing. In his case, I don't think it was as much mis-evaluation in his case (and it's early in his career, and he still has time to improve), it's that the fundamentals of offensive line play in college aren't the same as they are in the NFL. The college game has changed so much it affects the NFL at all positions, including offensive linemen. It makes it tougher to evaluate tackles, and the NFL transition can take a lot longer for those players.

So what about this year's crop of tackles? I do think Laremy Tunsil is a better prospect than the tackles who were picked high in recent years: Robinson, Matthews, Lewan, Fisher, Joeckel and Lane Johnson as well. I think Ronnie Stanley is better than all of those tackles I just mentioned as well. You do not see a left tackle with Tunsil's natural skill set in every draft. Tunsil showed excellent strength as a run blocker and outstanding flexibility with the smooth ability to slide and mirror in pass protection. He's a top athlete at the position.

So if you had to predict, you'd say Tunsil will end up being worth the high pick a team will use on him. But the way we have to look at offensive tackles is changing. They're not quite a sure thing anymore.

We talked about this year's offensive line draft class and then some sleepers to keep an eye on for the second and third days of the draft in the fourth episode of our podcast:

 

PREVIOUS NFL DRAFT PREVIEWS FROM GREG COSELL
Comparing Carson Wentz to Andrew Luck is valid
Jared Goff's strengths and flaws
Laquon Treadwell's NFL WR comparisons
The case for Josh Doctson as draft's No. 1 receiver
Ezekiel Elliott's NFL transition
Derrick Henry needs the right scheme fit
Joey Bosa can do it all
Carson Wentz fitz Rams best (Podcast)
A sleeper at running back (Podcast)
Jalen Ramsey and scheme fit (Podcast)
10 late-round sleepers (Podcast)

- - - - - - -

NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.