Left tackle remains the most glaring need on the Kansas City Chiefs’ roster with the 2021 NFL draft a month away. Their interests have remained under wraps for the most part, but on Wednesday the team made an overture toward a prospect at the University of Florida pro day.
The Chiefs had a scout or coach in attendance and running the on-field drills for the offensive line. Among the participants were former Florida OG Martez Ivey, OL Brett Heggie, and International Player Pathway OL Alfredo Gutiérrez. The player that the Chiefs were there to see was the starting left tackle for the Gators, Stone Forsythe.
You’re probably wondering, who? That’s because Forsythe, the starting left tackle for Florida in each of the past two seasons, has been flying under-the-radar in the pre-draft media cycle. NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein seems to be the highest on Forsythe, ranking him as his No. 11 overall offensive linemen. He’s even listed ahead of some well-known tackle prospects like Texas’ Samuel Cosmi, Clemson’s Jackson Carman, Stanford’s Walker Little and BYU’s Brady Christensen.
A #Chiefs scout/coach is running the OL drills at the Florida pro day. A name to get familiar with is Stone Forsythe – towering OT prospect who played left tackle for the Gators last season. Really good pass protector with rare movement skills for his size.
— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) March 31, 2021
NFL teams tend to align more with Zierlein because they’re intrigued by Forsythe’s size, athleticism and NFL pedigree. He is the son of former Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Ray Forsythe.
His testing numbers at the Florida pro day on Wednesday were extremely impressive given his size. During his on-field workout, Forsythe put his flexibility, footwork and movement skills on display.
https://twitter.com/JimNagy_SB/status/1377382917819793410
Turn on his game tape and you’ll see a fluid mover with smooth pass sets and the ability to latch onto defenders. Some of his best performances came against top-tier competition too like Georgia’s Azeez Ojulari, Kentucky’s Jamar Watson, and Alabama’s Christopher Allen in the SEC Championship Game. The NFL is a passing league and pass protection is Forsythe’s biggest asset.
Like any draft prospect, you’ll also see some very noticeable areas where he needs improvement. Forsythe doesn’t get a lot of push in the ground game off the line of scrimmage. Sometimes he misses his targets in the run game and screen game when he’s on the move. His size is an asset, but it also poses a constant problem with his pad level. There are also times when he struggles to use length as effectively as he could.
The bottom line is that there’s a good foundation here, one that Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck can work with. With some time and hard work, there’s no question that Forsythe can be molded into an elite tackle in the league. We’ll soon find out where an intriguing prospect like Forsythe is valued in a draft class that is considered to be loaded at the tackle position.
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