It doesn’t take long when evaluating the 2021 class of offensive tackles to start getting into the primary game NFL teams play every year when evaluating college tackles: Is He a Tackle, or Is He a Guard? This year, we start with the second offensive tackle in Touchdown Wire’s rankings, Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater. Now, those who watched Slater dominate Ohio State’s Chase Young in 2019 might say that anybody who can do what Slater did to the reigning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year has earned the right to ply his trade outside before being moved inside because his arms are an inch or two too short, or he is an inch or two too short.
The herd: "Rashawn Slater isn't long or agile enough to be an NFL tackle. Just move him to guard."
Me: "That is 100% Grade-A horse hockey."
Chase Young, probably: "Yeah, that's a load of garbage." pic.twitter.com/YhYJ5itNfo
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 4, 2021
Slater is not the only example this year; he’s just the most prominent one. Other prospects are being slammed inside by evaluators because they’ve played inside and outside in college, and it’s just an easier thing to say that a developmental tackle who had more reps inside belongs there. That seems to be the case for USC’s Alijah Vera-Tucker, who played right guard in 2018, left guard in 2019, and showed a lot of potential at left tackle in 2020.
In the end, it depends on what an NFL team wants, and what kind of offense they’re running. If you’re in charge of a heavy pulling offense, especially one in which deep drops are the order of the day, you might prefer more athletic guards. The Ravens would be the perfect example there. If your offense is one in which you want to impose your will with the run game, you may prefer stronger tackles who can hold up under that particular constraint. The Titans would be one such example. And if your offense is based on the second-relation passing game and a mobile quarterback, tackles who are lighter on their feet are of paramount importance. That’s what the Chiefs have preferred in the Patrick Mahomes era, and after releasing both left tackle Eric Fisher and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz this offseason, it’s a paradigm they have to re-invent.
The point is that not all offensive linemen are ideal for all offenses. So when evaluators with NFL teams try to put offensive linemen in one box and insist that “this is the way it is, regardless,” the risk is that you’re missing out on scheme-specific talent with players that might work perfectly for your organization. And that’s what it’s all about.
So, in our offensive line rankings, we have players we feel would work better outside, and players that we feel would work better inside (This is why, if you’re looking for Oklahoma State’s Tevin Jenkins on this list, you’ll have to wait a bit for our list of interior offensive linemen). But we’re doing so based on athletic attributes and limitations as opposed to whether a guy has this height or this arm length. Because in the NFL, at any position, it’s always a mistake to say that one size fits — or doesn’t fit — all.
Note: The percentiles in parentheses listed next to pro day data are compared to all historical athletic testing (combine and pro day) at the respective position of the player. Kudos to Pro Football Focus, and their Pro Day Schedule and Results Tracker, for this. As there was no scouting combine in 2021, and pro day schedules vary, we may not have all testing information for all prospects at publication time. For offensive tackles whose positional specificity is in question, we will include percentiles for both positions per PFF’s data.
Also: PFF’s True Pass Sets, explained in further detail here, represent snaps in which an offensive tackle pass-protects specifically without play-action, rollouts, and screens, with more than a three-man rush, and with between two and four seconds to throw the ball. This gives a more accurate picture of true pass protection.
More top draft prospect position lists from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield:
The top 11 quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL draft class
The top 11 running backs in the 2021 NFL draft class