2017 NFL Draft Preview: Offensive Linemen

Offensive line play across the league was staggeringly bad last year. At various times I heard all of the Rams, Giants, Seahawks, Broncos, Panthers, Chargers, Eagles, and Vikings referred to as the worst line in the league, and they all had valid arguments to make. The league right now is barren of line talent, with the exceptions of a few teams like Dallas, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, and Oakland that have built units without a single obvious hole.

A lot of teams need offensive linemen. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to find it through the draft. This is probably the weakest position group in this year’s class, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see none taken in the first twenty picks. But for teams desperately in need, there are potential starters to be found, even if none of them is likely to become a future star.

Ryan Ramczyk, OT Wisconsin

 

Ramczyk is reliable, which is enough to make him the best offensive linemen available in this class. He isn’t a phenomenal athlete, but he plays with good technique and understanding of the position. In pass protection his drop step is very consistent, getting him to his landmark on balance so he can react to run with a defender outside or come back down to the inside. He absorbs contact well, and he is rarely beaten by a bull rush even when a defender can get into his chest.

Hand usage is critical for an offensive linemen, and this is where Ramczyk really sets himself apart from the class. He has an excellent initial punch, which can stagger an opposing pass rusher and knock him off his lane. Ramczyk’s grip is strong as well, latching on and rarely letting the defender get away once he’s engaged. In the running game he can use the leverage generated by his hands to turn a defender’s shoulders and seal him off from the play, making up for his general lack of power or leg drive.

Ramczyk feels like a fairly safe pick, but there are worrying signs at the next level. At times in college he appeared to be playing on a knife’s edge, beaten up the field by quickness he can’t match that leaves him exposed on the corner. But he always seemed to bounce back, getting enough of a shove to work the defender upfield. Part of this is natural talent, a strong upper body and quick feet that allow him to recover. But that might not be enough against the speed and strength of NFL defenders. There is some risk here, and not much upside either. And even though there are so many teams in the NFL desperately in need of offensive linemen, it’s hard to justify Ramczyk before the end of the first round.

Dan Feeney, OG Indiana

Feeney played some tackle in college, and it was an utter disaster. He doesn’t have the quickness or the balance to hold up on the edge, and he will play his entire career at guard. This definitely hurts his value, but he is the best guard in the class, and that should get him some consideration to go in the first round. A very good athlete with polished technique, I like his fit in certain situations in the NFL, even if he could prove unable to fill some of the roles that NFL typically teams ask of their guards.

Feeney is very mobile for an interior offensive lineman. He is skilled at moving and turning as a lead blocker on pulls, and he is even better attacking the second level on running plays. He takes excellent angles towards defenders, and he smoothly transitions from a run to a punch, staggering smaller linebackers and getting him in position to win the block. His hands latch on well, and he can swing his feet to seal the running lane.

Strength can give him problems. Good defensive tackles can get inside his arms, turning his shoulders and pushing their way into the backfield. He is usually capable of maintaining contact and forcing them to run out of the play, but like Ramczyk his margin for error will shrink in the NFL. In the right situation he can get beneath a defender’s pads and bend him backwards, but he isn’t going to clear running lanes by brute strength alone. And while not susceptible to a bull rush in the middle, the same lateral quickness issues that plague him on the outside can prevent him from recovering in pass protection.

In a zone running scheme Feeney could be an excellent player. If he’s asked to play in a more power heavy system, he’ll still be a decent player, but he will always be vulnerable to being overwhelmed. Strength is something that can be added at the next level, and he has the technical skill to make it work. But I still don’t see a whole lot of upside here.

Forrest Lamp, OT/OG Western Kentucky

 

Lamp is everyone’s favorite sleeper prospect of the draft. A small school offensive linemen who generally faced mediocre competition, his buzz has been building since his excellent performance against Alabama, and now I’ve even seen suggestions he could go in the top ten. He is probably the best athlete of any lineman in the class, and he was extremely productive protecting the blind side at Western Kentucky. The biggest criticism anyone has raised are his ludicrously short arms, which checked in at the 9^th percentile among offensive linemen.

It sounds like a joke, but short arms are a real issue on the outside, particularly for a player who struggles to punch like Lamp does. His hands are strong, and he makes decent use of them, and once he latches on to a defender with his feet beneath him, he has pretty much won. But he doesn’t generate much push with his initial thrust, and that puts even more emphasis on his feet to carry him to the outside. NFL rushers will get the edge on him far too easily, and I’m not confident he can make it as a tackle in the league.

That’s perfectly okay, and most people are pegging Lamp as a guard. He certainly has the physicality to win in there, dominating as a blocker at the point of attack. He still sometimes surrenders his chest too easily, but when his hands get engaged he is capable of blasting linemen back off the ball and driving them into the ground. His short area quickness will also serve him well at guard, and the only consistent way to beat him will be to go through him.

The transition to guard is trickier than it seems, and even though Lamp has the necessary physical attributes, I’m still concerned about taking someone this raw and moving him to a position he’s never played before. He’ll go before I’m comfortable, and he could prove well worth it. But I still would hesitate to pull the trigger before the end of the first round.

Cam Robinson, OT Alabama

Light on his feet and quick moving side to side, Robinson’s athleticism allows him to cover up many of his flaws. He covers ground incredibly well for a man his size, and at his best moments he can look like a premier tackle. He makes blocks in the running game that other linemen have no hope of reaching, and he shows excellent recovery on the edge. It is impossible to beat him with a counter to the inside, and even if he gets out of position he has the flexibility and quickness to turn a loss into a win.

The problem with Robinson is that he’s forced to rely on his natural gifts far too often. When he gets into a proper pass set, he is difficult to beat, but too often he comes up short, not setting far enough back and giving pass rushers an avenue to the quarterback. He doesn’t have much of a punch either, and if he can’t get his frame in front of the defender he doesn’t have the ability to push them wide.

Robinson is athletic, but he isn’t very strong. He can win in the running game by spinning his hips to seal a defender off, but he isn’t going to be plowing any holes open. When he does try to overpower someone, he has a habit of leaning too far forward, robbing him of his ability to recover to a defender’s moves. He shows some clever tricks with his hands, but they still aren’t particularly strong, and too often his man is able to slide away from his grasp and make a play on the ball.

Robinson has potential, and he could very easily turn out to be the best offensive linemen from this class if he can patch up the little things. But there are a lot of little things that Robinson has to deal with, and even if he gets them all he doesn’t have the pure ability to be one of the best tackles in the league. There’s upside here, but it isn’t enough to get him into the first round.

Garett Bolles, OT Utah

There are a lot of similarities to be drawn between Robinson and Bolles. Both are excellent athletes who excel with their quickness, moving side to side faster than ordinary linemen to keep themselves between the defenders and the ball. Both struggle to generate power, particularly when it comes to their punches, and both can be beaten around the edge with speed rushes. Like Robinson, Bolles struggles to stay engaged, and he is hurt by his habit of letting his arms get outside his chest as he grabs a hold of a defender.

There are two main reasons I have Bolles ranked below Robinson. First is that he is more than three years older than his Alabama counterpart. He is more physically mature, and he has less room for growth at the next level. And despite these extra years, he is also 25 pounds lighter than Robinson with only slightly more athletic ability. This weight difference is apparent on film, where Bolles is blown backwards by the sort of speed rushes that Robinson anchors and holds against.

There is a place for Bolles in the NFL, and it might even be at left tackle. The lack of power worries me, but this is a problem that won’t be solved by moving to the inside. He has to gain weight without losing his agility, and he needs to build muscle in an NFL strength training program. If he can do that, he has the potential to be an above average starter. His ability to move in space is rare for an offensive linemen, and he is an asset to any running game when he is asked to pull or fire off downfield at a linebacker. But a great deal of this depends on him improving himself physically at the next level, something that simply might be out of reach.

Antonio Garcia, OT Troy

Garcia can’t match up athletically with top notch pass rushers, and it will always hold him back. He put up good times in the forty yard dash and did well in both the jumping events at the combine, but he was in the lower half of both the agility tests. He doesn’t move laterally or change directions very well, and once he’s beaten he struggles to recover. His inability to change direction and react inside forces him to be conservative with his drops, leaving him vulnerable to speed around the edge.

Garcia makes it works sometimes thanks to excellent hands. His punch is inconsistent, but when it strikes it can knock a pass rusher off balance and give him the time he needs to properly set himself. He does an excellent job keeping his hands moving to fend off any swats or grabs from the defender, and when he’s at his best he can keep a pass rusher dancing in front of him long enough for the quarterback to get the ball off.

When his hands aren’t perfect, it’s a problem. He has very little margin for error, and even a small seam on the edge is enough to get him knocked backwards and his shoulders turned. He doesn’t hold up well against power rushes, and pass rushers with a good combination of speed and strength can cut a huge chunk of distance off their rushing angle. This weakness translates to the running game, where he can be effective shielding the backside but struggles at the point of attack.

I don’t know if Garcia can play tackle in the NFL, and I’m pretty sure moving to guard won’t help him either. His lack of quickness won’t be quite as damaging on the inside as it is on the edge, but the inability to play with strength will be a fatal flaw against interior pass rushers. With some development he could turn into a starting tackle down the road, but I wouldn’t want to commit myself to that until at least the third round.

Taylor Moton, OT/OG Western Michigan

Moton played right tackle in college, and it wouldn’t be a disaster if he spent some time as a spot starter out there. He isn’t particularly quick, but he takes strong and steady drops, aggressively stepping out to engage the defender as early as possible. He is strong, and he doesn’t get shoved backwards, and even though he’ll be beaten around the edge every now and then, he won’t kill an offense.

But his best position is at guard, and that will probably be the long term home for him in the NFL. There his strength will be an asset enough to overcome his questionable agility. He still gets beaten through the gap more frequently than I’d like for a guard, but he should have less to worry about when he no longer has an edge to defend.

Moton isn’t a physically dominating force, and he won’t become a top tier guard in the NFL. He absorbs better than he drives, and he doesn’t move very well working to the second level. His hands can be overpowering, but they also come in wide. This leaves him in position to be called for a lot of holding penalties, and it also opens his chest up to the opponent. Advanced defenders are able to grab him and throw him aside, and he doesn’t have the footspeed to recover once they start trying to run around him. Moton will be a capable starting guard, and a good utility tackle if a teammate goes down. But this versatility probably isn’t enough to make him worth a pick before the late third round.