2026 Offensive Line Prospects

 

Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami

Mauigoa’s game is built around power. As a run blocker he has the ability to blast people backwards off the ball, either driving them into the second level or collapsing the entire half of the line to open a massive hole behind him. He’s an old fashioned right tackle, the sort of player you tilt your entire running game to power behind on a regular basis. He has enough athleticism to pull off a handful of reach blocks, though can sometimes struggle to move his feet around to truly seal a defender off from a play if forced to work too far laterally. He’s better at the point of attack than on the backside, but he’s good enough at both to be a consistent plus in the running game.

The story is similar in pass protection. He isn’t the quickest or twitchiest athlete, but his technique is clean and his strength allows him to get away with things other tackles can’t. He’s a very patient player, mostly just sitting back and waiting for a pass rusher to come to him. This means that he never gets out of balance, and is always in position to react to whatever move is thrown at him. He can sometimes be a bit slow to react to inside moves, but even when a defender is able to get an edge on him he has the upper body strength to keep them from powering through, able to stick out a single arm to stop them in their tracks before they can reach the quarterback.

There are things to clean up in pass protection. Mauigoa’s patience can occasionally stray into passivity, as he’ll hold his arms back and let pass rushers attack into his chest. Most of the time his 329 frame has no problem absorbing the contact, but against good pass rushers he can sometimes lose leverage and be knocked back. He has a strong punch when he deploys it but doesn’t use it often enough. It’s a delicate line between too passive and too aggressive, and most of the time Mauigoa pulls it off, but in the NFL I think he would benefit from leaning more towards the aggression side.

I don’t necessarily see a top tier NFL tackle in Mauigoa, but I see a solid player who can be counted on for years at the position, with enough surety that I’d be willing to take him in the top ten. I would be mildly intrigued if a team wanted to move him to guard, where I think he does have the potential to be one of the best in the league, but I think he’s got enough athleticism that he’ll stick on the outside long term.

 

Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia

Freeling is the high-risk, high-reward player in this year’s offensive line class. As a physical prospect he is spectacular, standing 6-7 and weighing 315 pounds with nearly 35 inch arms. He tested above the 90^th percentile in both the forty yard dash and the vertical leap, and that athleticism shows up on the field. He makes impressive reach blocks in the running game, and he shows incredible quickness in pass protection, able to recover from basically any situation to find his way back into the path of the pass rusher.

The issue with Freeling is that he needs too lean on this recovery ability a bit too often. His technique is very raw, and too often he will be caught leaning too far forward, missing with his punch and having to flail around to try to keep up with a pass rusher. Most of the time his raw athleticism is enough to keep the defender from pressuring the quarterback, but the margins are always thinner in the NFL, and I think he’ll struggle early on.

Freeling only started for a single year in college, and he showed improvement over the course of that season, so taking him is a gamble on that improvement continuing. Because if it does, he has the potential to be one of the best in the league. He’s strong enough to get movement in the running game, and when he does land his punch it’s enough to knock even strong pass rushers backwards. There’s more of his athleticism to harness as well, if he can get better about keeping his feet moving to sustain a block through the course of the play. There’s enough risk of failure here that I’d be reluctant to spend a top ten pick on him, but enough upside that I would be willing to take the gamble over some of the safer players on the list below.

 

Spencer Fano, OT/OG, Utah

There are two Utah tackles likely to go in the first round this year, and I see the two of them as having very similar value, despite being very different players. Fano is the technician of the two, a fairly polished player who is somewhat limited by his physical tools. In his case, the issue is mostly length. He’s 6-5 and 311 pounds, which is good enough for a tackle but still a little less than ideal. The bigger issue is his arm length. At only 32 inches they are below the typical threshold for a tackle, a problem that seems to pop up with at least one lineman each year.

And it is a problem for Fano. He struggles to win when he tries to use his arms, not getting much disruption with his punch on defenders and too often taking contact into his chest. He doesn’t get driven backwards into the quarterback, but he can be knocked off balance to set up the next move. He struggles some to close down the edge against speed rushes, and he isn’t great at sustaining blocks, at times letting defenders slide outside the frame of his body and having no option but to grab hold and hang on for dear life.

This is unfortunate, because all the other parts of Fano’s game are awesome. He tested as a top tier athlete, and while I think that slightly overstates his performance on the field, he is still capable of movement that very few linemen are. He dances with ease to mirror pass rushers across from him, and he can pull off aggressive reach blocks to open things up in the running game. He’s also able to drive defenders off the ball, opening massive holes as a point of attack blocker. At times Utah would even flip the sides of their two lineman so they could run directly behind Fano, not caring that they were telling the defense exactly where the ball was going because they could count on him to win on pure physical force.

Everything I described about Fano makes it seem like he’d make an awesome guard, and I think that is probably where he will play most of his career in the NFL. But his quickness is enough that I would be tempted to give him a chance at tackle, in the event he is one of the rare athletes who is good enough to overcome his shortcomings. With practice I think he can develop enough technique to be at least average with his arms, which combined with his quickness could make him an above average starting tackle. Either way, as a project tackle or a high-upside guard, I see his value as comfortably in the middle of the first round.

 

Caleb Lomu, OT, Utah

Lomu is another tackle who looks great on paper but is still figuring some stuff out on the field. He doesn’t quite have the length of Freeling, but he has what he needs to succeed at tackle in the NFL, to go along with elite level athletic testing. On the field I think his athleticism falls more into the camp of “very good” rather than elite, which is enough to knock him a rung below Freeling, even if he’s closer to being a finished product.

Lomu generally plays with good technique and balance. He can be a little passive on his drops at times and not give himself the space needed to adjust to the pass rush, but this is easily corrected with coaching. When he does take the proper angles, he has the physicality to stop rushers dead in their tracks and the lateral agility to keep in front of all but the quickest rushers. At times he can play a little high, which leads to some ugly losses when defenders attack into his chest, but most of the time he is able to anchor and absorb contact before it can become a problem.

The biggest flaw I see with Lomu is that he seems just a little stiff as an athlete. He can cover a lot of ground moving laterally, but he struggles at times to swing his hips around to seal a defender off from a play. This can cause issues in the running game, where defenders are able to slide off his contact to either make a tackle or draw a holding penalty. This is a flaw that can be mostly smoothed over, and Lomu has enough upside to make him worth a pick in the middle of the first round. I think ultimately he’ll settle in as a middle-tier starter, a valuable player if not an exciting one.

 

Olaivavega Ioane, OG, Penn State

If you’re looking for a guard I think I’d prefer a couple of the names higher on the list converting from tackle, but I wouldn’t blame you if you’d want the safer option of someone who has spent years playing the position. And Ioane is about as safe as they come. He isn’t extraordinary at anything, but he’s very good at pretty much everything. He gets some movement off the line of scrimmage but doesn’t blow anyone backwards. He can keep up with most pass rushers on the interior but can occasionally lose to quickness. He’s a well-rounded, plug and play NFL starter who will be among the better guards in the league for a long time, if not ever the best.

If there’s one part of Ioane’s game that really shines it’s his ability to move in space. He is a fantastic puller, able to get to the hole with ease and then turn up to make plays on anyone in the hole. He has very fluid hips that allow him to flip around and seal defenders away from the play on a consistent basis. This helps cover for what is probably the biggest weakness of his game, which is a struggle to sustain blocks. When a defender is able to keep him square Ioane has trouble stopping them from sliding to the side as the play develops. He needs to use his body to cut them off from the play, and fortunately he has the footspeed to make this happen most of the time.

Ioane has some things to clean up as all young players do—he plays high at times and can get knocked backwards by initial contact in pass protection, which will be harder to recover from in the NFL—but he’s closer to ready than almost anyone else on this list. He’s worth a selection in the top twenty, and for the right team could probably justify jumping a couple of the players I have above him.

 

Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama

Proctor is the behemoth of this year’s offensive line class. He is 6-6 and 352 pounds, and he carries that size well on the field. He is a good athlete who is able to make plays in space, and it is basically impossible to move him backwards. Every pass rusher that tries to attack his chest is simply swallowed by his bulk, never getting more than a couple inches of backwards movement before grinding to a halt.

When discussing a couple players above I mentioned issues sustaining blocks once they get their hands on a defender. That isn’t an issue for Proctor. When he gets his hands on an opponent in either the run or the passing game, the play is basically over. His upper body is incredibly strong, and he is able to grip a defender and hold him inside his frame, in complete control as he moves his feet to seal him away from the ball.

The issue comes in everything before he gets his hands on the defender. Proctor is a good athlete in a linear way, able to cover ground well whether it’s hitting his drops in pass protection or coming around as a puller or heading to the second level. But he struggles to change direction once his initial move has been made, and quicker defenders are frequently able to dance past him. Better technique might clean some of this up, but I think it’s mostly a physical shortcoming that will stick with him in the NFL.

A move to guard might help, but I would also like to see more from him in the running game. He never gets as much displacement as I’d expect from someone with his size and strength. I think his height works against him a bit, as he can play high and have issues getting beneath a defender enough to shove him backwards. He’s still good enough as a run blocker for that to be a plus of his game, but he isn’t the sort of weapon you’d expect just looking at him on paper.

Proctor’s physical tools give him a lot of advantages, but they also hold him back in ways as well. I think this will be the case at whatever position he plays, keeping him from ever being more than a pretty good player. This makes him better suited as a pick near the end of the first round after the players with higher upside are off the board.

 

Blake Miller, OT, Clemson

Miller is another player with all the physical tools you could want from a tackle. He has the height and weight and long arms, and he tested as a phenomenal athlete. That athleticism shows up on the field where he is a fluid mover who covers ground with ease. He has excellent recovery ability and is typically able to find a way to make a block work even if he’s beaten on initial contact.

The problem with Miller is that he relies far too much on this recovery ability, because he is beaten on initial contact too often. Above I discussed some linemen who struggled with power and others who struggle with quickness. Miller struggles with both. He plays with wide hands that leave his chest open to getting bowled over by power rushes. He also will get caught leaning too far forward, leaving him stumbling against air when a quicker defender is able to step to the side to get around him.

Miller’s technique is a mess, and I don’t think he can play in the NFL until he has a significant amount of development and also likely some work in the weight room. There are enough good plays on his tape to make me think he can develop down the road, and his athletic potential gives him good upside if he puts things together. But that’s a gamble that will only pay off two or three years down the road, and even with his gifts he’s not the sort of player I’d want to take until day two.