The 2022 NFL Draft was headlined by a really strong trio of offensive tackles that were drafted in the top 10 and are immediately starting for their respective teams heading into Week 3 of the 2022 NFL season. Ickey Ekwonu of the Carolina Panthers, Evan Neal of the New York Giants, and Charles Cross of the Seattle Seahawks all represent the value that teams place in finding elite talents with elite physical tools to play on the edges versus all of the dominant edge rushers that are on NFL defenses today. So, the projected 2023 NFL Draft class looks to be even more intriguing, with a lot of players that come with extremely high ceilings. So, here are my initial Offensive Tackle rankings for the 2023 class.
Broderick Jones, LT, 6’4” 310 lbs, Georgia (Redshirt Sophomore)
Strengths:
- Really physically gifted Left Tackle prospect with impressive physical tools.
- Absolutely strong and explosive for a player his size with great arm length and powerful hands
- Excels at punching defenders at the line of scrimmage and stalling them thanks to his really powerful jolt and heavy hands
- Athletic gifts allow him to recover when beaten even when he doesn’t have proper technique and leverage.
- Can generate movement at the point of attack in the running game, being really good at latching and sustaining his blocks through the whistle.
- Has decent mobility to pull in space and has good straight-line speed and acceleration to hunt for downfield blocks
- Also able to execute seal blocks and chip blocks with nice angles and timing.
- Good agility and balance in pass protection to slide and mirror
- Plays with a nasty demeanor and aggressiveness, an alpha-like mentality based on how he plays on tape
Weaknesses:
- Lacks a little in lower-body flexibility, plays a bit heavy-legged at times in spite of his athleticism, needs to play lighter on his feet and sink hips more during block
- Inconsistent at winning with leverage, struggles a bit anchoring down and playing with more knee bend in run and pass blocks, gets by for now with natural strength and pure athletic gifts
- Will only have one full year of starting experience if he comes out for the draft after this season and is relatively raw in some key fundamentals that need more coaching in order for him to become a really dominant player.
Paris Johnson Jr, LT, 6’6” 310 lbs, Ohio State (Junior)
Strengths:
- Has an outstanding combination of size, strength, length, and athleticism
- He is really nimble and light on his feet for a player his size
- Really good at executing blocks directly on a man at the line of scrimmage as well as finishing blocks in space on the move
- Excels at sustaining blocks and creating movement by sinking hips and driving his feet, which leads to a lot of pancake blocks.
- Versatile linemen who showed the ability to be a quality Right Guard in 2021 when 2022 3rd Round draft pick Nicholas Petit-Frere was the starting Left Tackle
- Plays with above-average strength and pretty good hand placement to use his strength effectively
- Knows how to time combo blocks as well as climb up to the second level to be in front of most defenders behind the defensive line, which helps create more lanes on the perimeter.
- I believe his season playing guard helped him harness his natural power and leverage better in order to fully translate as a Left Tackle prospect.
Weaknesses:
- First year playing Left Tackle in college, was the starting Right Guard last year, thus he needs to gain more experience at the position
- Lateral agility needs to improve, needs to move his hips better versus counters
- He is inconsistent at protecting his inside versus pass-rushers as he gets beat there too often and needs to cut off defenders more.
- Lacked awareness versus stunts and twists, missed a few assignments while playing at Right Guard.
Peter Skoronski, LT, 6’4” 315 lbs, Northwestern (Junior)
Strengths:
- Excellent and fundamentally sound technician at the Left Tackle position, really sound blocker who rarely gets beat, shows amazing consistency with leverage and hand placement techniques.
- Good and sturdy frame, strong and dense body.
- Excels at leveraging angles vs assigned defender: shows impeccable angles to seal defenders on a down zone run blocks; cuts off his inside with nice timing on counter moves and stunts; excellent recovery balance to redirect defenders after being initially beaten
- He is excellent at latching and sustaining his blocks through the whistle once he has his hands on a defender.
- Displays great awareness to pick up stunt or blitz defenders coming from the opposite side and communicates blocking assignments well with his teammates
- Pretty nimble, can block downfield in space with decent speed and fairly good balance and agility
- Good knee bend and keeps his hips sunk on blocks
- Consistently washes out speed rushers away from his QB, really nice kick slide and mirror technique
Weaknesses:
- Below-average arm length for the Left Tackle position, may be undervalued by teams prioritizing prototypical length at the position but will garner the interest and appreciation of teams that don’t as he compensates for his lack of length with the aforementioned outstanding technique, footwork, and balance
- Lacks anchor strength a bit, and can be driven back too much towards QB at times, although his game vs Nebraska shows improved core and lower body strength to defend vs bull rushes.
- Some teams may view him as a Guard, which will diminish his value as a true blindside protector come draft time, which would be a serious mistake in my opinion.
Zion Nelson, LT, 6’5” 316 lbs, Miami-FL (Junior)
Strengths:
- Great size and length, prototypical for a Left Tackle prospect and a smooth athlete
- Reportedly started out as a 265-pounds freshman offensive tackle to now a 316-pounds player, showing tremendous body development and growth, carries his weight well
- Shows tremendous body agility, lower-body flexibility, and coordination in his pass protection which helps him mirror edge rushers laterally, and can recover fairly well after being beat to a spot
- Able to anchor down versus bull rushers to stop their momentum
- Adept at washing out speed rushers away from the QB
- Good and consistent effort to latch and sustain blocks in both blocking phases and shows a killer instinct at times.
- Plays with a consistent motor and has a short memory for bad plays.
- Good awareness to pick up blitzes and stunts.
- Good explosion off the snap and into assigned defenders for blocks.
Weaknesses:
- Needs to work on his balance, tends to lose it when defenders counter moves in their pass rushes versus him
- Needs to stay more consistently low and take advantage of his lower-body flexibility more, tends to be too high at times and loses leverage too often
- Lacks strong upper body strength to stall defenders and control his blocks more
- Hand placement is a glaring weakness as his hands are too much outside of the defender’s shoulder pads during his blocks, which can lead to a lot of penalties in the pros.
Jaelyn Duncan, LT, 6’6” 320 lbs, Maryland (Senior)
Strengths:
- Top Senior Offensive Tackle prospect in this class with a lot of potential for improvement still.
- Best combination of size and athleticism of any offensive tackle, and probably offensive linemen, in this draft class
- Elite and twitchy athlete with incredible footwork, agility, balance, and speed, and he is lethal blocking in space on pulls, reaching second and third-level defenders with relative ease
- Good strength with a glimpse of being able to jolt defenders at the point of attack
- He is really explosive out of his stance.
- Has an intriguing ceiling given his athletic gifts, and seems like the type of athletic linemen that will have outstanding numbers at the NFL Combine given the way he moves on the field.
Weaknesses:
- He is not technically sound for now, still really raw.
- Stance and kick slide techniques have bases that are too wide
- Below-average blocking techniques lacking proper hand placement that tend to be too high and wide instead of low and within the chest plate of defenders, and he also shows late snap reaction too often
- Lacks the killer instincts and appropriate technique to latch and sustain blocks and punish defenders, too often he just stands in the way of defenders with a little shove
- Tends to be too high and is too often forced to turn his hips versus edge rushers instead of mirroring and cutting off the rusher’s lane.
- Really needs to improve technique-wise as a pass protector, especially on the blind side, to be fully reliable as a starter.
Other names to watch: Ryan Hayes (Michigan), Matthew Bergeron (Syracuse), Jaxson Kirkland (Washington), Dawand Jones (Ohio State), KT Leveston (Kansas State)
