The Final Lineman
by trigrdan | 4 years ago | 0 Comments
Lombard, IL – Here we are, the final look at all projected draft picks on the offensive line. We’ll round this out taking a look at the final 9 tackles. If there is one guy to circle on your draft board, he is here!
As always, we’ll start off with guys that were projected to be drafted but probably shouldn’t be. There are definitely some surprises in this group! As a reminder, all of these guys have talent that is undraftable, therefore their OVR rating will be 62 or lower – no room for that on your roster. No surprise with RT Kevin McGee falling in this category. Originally projected as a 7th round pick, McGee falls short across the board – leave him on the board.
A few surprises when LT’s Emmett Holland and Emmett Chaisson both graded out poorly. Despite Holland’s impressive IBL rating of 82-85, he quickly falls off in his other categories. In fact, the jump in grades is one of the worst out of all of the lineman eligible in the draft! Chaisson also turned out with some pretty bad grades and would be lucky to earn a backup spot in the league.
The next two guys were an absolute shock and disappointing news for those looking for a tackle. LT Henry Freeman came into the season projecting to be a 2nd round pick…hit the brakes he is not. His biggest strength is pass blocking and that only graded out at a 76-77. It’s not bad, but when everything else is down from there, you’re in trouble! That brings us to the biggest bust so far, RT Carson Kovacs. Kovacs, like Freeman, started the season with a 2nd round pick projection. Out of the 43 lineman that Draft Insiders has looked at…he ranks 43rd!!! Just an absolute bust for the Oregon tackle. Kovacs will have a pass block rating of 70 or 71 and a run block finesse rating of 69 or 70. These are two of the lowest grades that any lineman has received. You’ve been warned.
On to our draftable players, the reason you are here. 3 tackles should be available in the 3rd-4th rounds and are worthy of consideration - RT Drew Pritchett, RT Roman Reece, and LT Nick Griggs. Both Pritchett and Reece come in with a similar skill set, led by their IBL rating in the 78-81 range. Now, depending on your needs, Pritchett is the guy you want for pass blocking (78-79) and Reece is the guy if you need help with run blocking (76-77). Both will be of help to a lucky team in the MOF, it just depends on what you need more help in. Griggs fell from his perch atop the LT projected draft picks, but is still worthy of a 3rd round pick. Griggs is definitely more of a pass blocker, which suits him on the left side, turning in PBK and pass block finesse grades of 75-77. His run blocking may be lacking a bit, we’ll have to wait and see, but I think that he can do a fine job in protecting your QB.
The next guy is somebody who should be drafted higher than his talent rating suggests and is worthy of a 1st round pick. That, of course, is the talented agile LT out of Washington, Charles Ferguson. Ferguson will be an immediate starter with an OVR rating of 72-73. We can talk about his LBK and PBK abilities but there is one thing that’s sets Ferguson apart from the rest. Ferguson has an AWR rating of 75-77. You might be thinking, that’s not that great. Remember earlier when I told you that Draft Insiders has looked at 43 offensive lineman? How many of those guys graded out in AWR? I’ll tell you – only 1. Ferguson is the only lineman to receive an AWR grade. This sets him apart from every other lineman available and may even give him a hidden dev trait (I can’t say that for sure, but I’d be willing to roll the dice on that!)
We have finally reached the point that you have all the information you need to try and build up your offensive line. As stated in the twitter poll sent out, the MOF will decide what position we look at next. With exactly 0 votes over the three-day period, I will not tell you.