Drive Time: Offensive Tackle Offseason Capsule 2025

Senior Bowl. So I'm glad we are not doing the podcast yesterday because I would have been just snoring out loud and you get no good football takes.

change your list? Like, just tell us about the week that was both in Fort Worth and Mobile?

group is hilariously good. I actually think it's a really good trench meat and potatoes type of draft class in general, when you look at both sides of the ball, which is great news for the Dolphins, but I mean, you look at Darius Alexander and Walter Nolan, and you look at TJ. Sanders and just a handful of guys on the defensive side of the football is interior defenders.

tackles on Friday. Those are positions that traditionally outside of offensive tackle obviously, which is you know, in line to go number one any given year and round out with seven or eight guys in the first round at that position, but guards and centers and even defensive tackles sometimes that group can fall a little bit. How does the depth of those two spots impact team's ability to possibly get starters on Day two, you know, back end of Day two.

And you know, as I look at this offensive line class to your point, both in free agency and the draft, like you know, last year the Dolphins went the continuity route in terms of bringing back Rob Jones and Leam Miichenberg was there and Isaiah Win came back. Do you think that teams have foresight to say, like, hey, next year's class is pretty dangloaded. With those two spots, we can kind of, you know, get ourselves a bridge situation

and get onto that you like. And that's a lot of questions for you, But do you get on saying, Kyle, like, does that make sense?

the first round. Then you had some guys who you saw go in the first few picks in the early second round, and then it kind of got quiet again until the middle of the third round. And that's because teams spore spending thirteen fourteen, fifteen, sixteen million dollars on veteran players in free agency to come in or. I think this is the inverse of that. I think you see just how deep it is in these spots in the draft, and you may not see the same urgency

to spend dollars like crazy. So I think the ways in which you play the board on an annual basis every year is unique. But I think this is in some ways the inverse of what last year was, and it'll be really interesting in six or seven weeks when the league county year open to see if the league tells us what they think about the draft with how they choose to spend on players that are already in the league. We're going to cover this this week on the show and for a couple of months leading into

the draft and a free agency. But if you could, Kyle from the Senior Boy, I know you did like an All Star Game only mock draft on Touchdown Miami. Correct, that's where you hosted that, Okay, so you can find that on Touchdown Miamio. Kyle loves his classes just from that All Star week alone, so he's very bullish on

the draft. But if you could give our fans here, our listeners some day two offensive line options that you like as fits in Miami, because you know, I think that when you're talking about the tackle spot, like that's obviously always in play at thirteen, even if you have Austin Jackson and Patrick Paul, just because the value and

the versatility of those guys. But in terms of interior guys where that's a little bit more of where Miami's range has been in the past at that position, especially in this scheme, in this offensive tree goes back for years without taking those guys like in the first But give me a couple of names that pop off the tape there for you in that part of the draft that could be possibly selected in the second round, third round,

and maybe start opening day from Miami. Yeah, if Gray's Able didn't play his way into the first round of the Senior Bowl, I think he would be the home run choice because they love positional versatilities. Guys played tackle. He's capable and keep his head above water. But the

ceiling at guard feels significantly high. And it depends on what kind of body type they want to where do you want to improve the players that are of the arc type in which you've tried to be or do you want to bring something different and bring some new DNA into that position group. Because if you want to bring some new DNA into that position group, maybe Tyler Booker from Alabama I think is a strong option as a top fifty pick three hundred and sixty five, three

fifty two. As far as for if you'd like a contrast on just the point of attack power skills that a guy has at three point fifty two, that's pretty athletic. That's a name that I would point to Tate Ratledge from Georgia at six six, three twenty. I think Anthony Belton from NC State was at the Senior Bowls played tackle. I thought he did a really nice job with the limited looks that he got inside a guard too, So I think that's a player. I don't think you can

completely dismiss. Miles Frasier from LSU's a red shirt senior. He's played his log starts at left guard, right guard, and right tackle throughout the course of his career at LSU, and he had a great week in mobile at the Senior Bowl, including a day in which he almost worked

exclusively at right tackle. So that's another player who's maybe not a great ideal athlete, but the past protection IQ in which he has, and he's big enough and physical enough at three twenty four verified he can create some movement at the point of attack.

I think he's a guard exclusive. So you see really talented players that are at devalued positions, they slide from time to time. And would not dismiss it for Tyler Booker despite the fact that I do think he'd be pushing it, and as things currently stand, he's a player that's about thirtieth on my personal big board.

And then also a Jaln Milrow, I'm curious to get your takes on those two guys. And then also because you've been ahead of the curve on this guy that popped off this week, Jack besh Man, what a stud he is. If you can talk about those quarterbacks, Jack, and then maybe anybody else in the skill groups that you liked, whether it's Mason Taylor, Elijah, like, give me whatever you take from the skill groups is.

into contact and makes the play. As far as the quarterbacks go, it was not a great week for Jalen Milroe. I think there's probably more questions for Milroe now than there were going into the week, and that's never really where you want to be when you're attending an All Star event like that. But just looked like it was a lot of information for him to have to process in real time. So I think he's he's a player that I think is losing ground. I think based off

his traits. If he told me he still went in the middle portion of Day two, I wouldn't be surprised, But I don't think this is a player that you're looking looking at in those first few picks in the second round of the team bypasses a quarterback but needs one. I'd be really surprised having this kind of audition in this environment if he ended up getting coveted in that regard.

for the Miami Dolphins and in general. Was there a deeper position on the field for the Miami Dolphins in twenty twenty fourth in the tackles, I mean, they needed every bit of that room and then some tapping into in season acquisition Jackson Carmen in a game that amounted to a playoff game before the playoffs, right in the Houston game, and he got proper washed in that game. I don't know what else you could expect from him, though, I will say I was surprised to see Chris Greer

eviscerate him at his end of season press conference. That's what the tape called for. He was not NFL ready in that game. This is a reason, however, that you need to consistently invest into positions with youth. And that's no more true than on the offensive line, where misses are vast in terms of the evaluation process, injuries are even more prevalent, and you're physically outmatched one hundred percent

of the time. There is not an offensive lineman who athletically measures up against any guy he faces on the other side of the ball on any given stap across the entire league, right, We saw it all around the playoffs. Critical players are down, rookies are stepping into the critical roles across the offensive line. That's the nature of playing into January. I know, we don't know much about that. And for the Dolphins, just making it to Thanksgiving with

a healthy brood has been a challenge. Austin Jackson suffers a freak injury getting wiped out sideswiped on a lateral play at the end of the Buffalo game, and you can really track a regression in the run game production to that exact moment. Hell, that was the best ball. That was the best we've run the ball. You know, even just throwing the numbers aside. You know our ability to gash the Bills defense for seven eight nine yards a pop throughout that game and what it did for

the passing offense. I'll say that was the best running game showing we've had in the McDaniel era. And I mean before that too, because this era has been the best run game we've had since Ronnie and Ricky, Like it goes that far back. You lose to ron for just two games on the stat sheet. But the truth is he was up and down in a few more games, battling through that knee injury that he's had countless surgeries on, and he's endured the pain and the way he gets

his body ready for a couple of years now. For I mean, that guy has been through the ringer in terms of what a human body can withstand and the injuries and the rigors of playing on the offensive line for twelve years, and yet he battles and gave us everything he had and finished a game in Week eight team when we were out of the playoffs. I mean, somebody else could take note on that, right, One of the smartest players I've ever talked to might be number

one in that category. Then you got a super super promising showing from Patrick Paul in brief action in place of Toront Armstead, enough so that I think if you go into twenty twenty five with him written in Penn at left tackle, I would feel very good about that. Another reason Paul was a smart pick, and I know guard was a bigger need. But like Zach Frazier, doesn't

change the way twenty twenty five plays out. But if Paul hits like he looks like he will, getting that player at the cost of a rookie contract for what you normally pay for left tackles in the open market. That the relief you get money in financials there gives you the room to buy all the frickin guards that

you want. That's why that as smart. I thought Kendall Lamb did an awesome job when he was called upon really throughout his Miami tenure, and he's a great example of it working with some teams and systems versus not. I thought Kendall's best football happened here in Miami over his ten year career, and he mentioned when he resigned this would be his last, so we have to assume he's retiring. Keon Smith, you'd imagine, will be ready to roll by camps given that he was hurt last August.

And that's what you dealt with in twenty twenty four, right. I think twenty twenty five projects well for a lot of these guys. And the interesting thing about this draft class is there are a lot of guys that played one spot but can project elsewhere, and we've seen this

team find different ways to use lineman. Nobody loves to take tackles and convert them to guards like the Miami Dolphins because of the athletic profile that tackles have and how you have to play in this offense to run off the football and be able to you know, out athlete people. And I get this pushback on social about stop taking athletes on the offensive line, start getting more strength and size, and like, I agree to a certain point,

but do you not understand how this offense works. You clearly don't, because to execute this offense, you have to run off the football and you have to be able to threaten a five technique with the reach block from the right guard. You have to be able to do that stuff for this offense to function the way it does. And I don't want to strip this offense down and be less of what it is. I just want to

add other elements and curveballs and changeups to us. Don't take away what makes it good and fun when Tua is in there, just add to it.

Let's go back to the players here real quick. To Ron Armstead, if this was the last ride, big fella, well, it was an honor.

pass pro. He has a couple of reps where he got beat one on one against some of the best in the world, and that's what was asked of him week in and week out, was to beat the best rushers in the NFL. But Tran was built to play in this system and it was fun as hell to watch him do it. He'll be tough to replace if he does call it a career, and if he does, I think he belongs in Canton. Number seventy three, Austin Jackson.

I have a difficult time explaining the value through words that I think that Austin Jackson provides, and just how much I enjoy covering him. He can articulate the vision, the plan, the technique to put all in motion from an offensive line as well as anybody I've been around besides Tron Armstead, and knowing Austin's inquisitive nature, I doubt there was anybody that took more from Tistad in his time here than aj did. He was outstanding this year,

particularly on those outside runs. Has really settled in as a lockdown pass protector of the last two years too.

physical traits. So if we just saw that, it would be a positive rookie season. But he took that and he developed his game. I thought his weight distribution was vastly improved, his hand placement, ability to operate on an island against a wide nine technique, all of that looked like a man that put the work in from his last college game to his first pro game. Then there's the wipeout blocks, the way this offense empowers him to utilize all that athletic ability. I cannot wait to watch

him with a full year under his belt. One of the biggest upside pieces we have on this roster, Number seventy Kendall. Lamb brief with Kendall here, given his previously declared intentions to retire, I thought he was exactly what you hope to have in a swing tackle like quintessential swing tackle stuff. Veteran seen everything this league can offer from multiple tactical revolutions played both sides, could do it in a pinch, could practice at left tackle all week

and slide over to right tackle on game day. Big voice in the locker room. I have zero qualms with anything Kendall did in twenty twenty four and the role that he played now. Was he a great fit in the system. Did the run game really struggle with him? The answer is no and yes to the second question. This is why it's so paramount to draft and develop players at the spot and why they desperately need to start getting returns from guys like Ryan Hayes, Andrew Meyer,

Braden Daniels. It is so tough to get guys up to speed in this complex system that you need a pipeline locked and loaded for guys that can do it. Kendall just wasn't cut for some of the outside zone stuff that Austin could get to. It made the offense different right when you have playmakers at offensive tackled this offense hums. It's a position that's as important as any on the team besides quarterback, and substantially more important than guard.

Like if tackle was a ten on the one to ten scale, I would say guard is probably a three,

and center is like an eight or nine. Brandon Daniels number sixty six It's easy to see the fit when you watch what he did in college and across his limited pro tape in the preseason, combination blocks in the running game, getting to the second level, the profile out of Utah in twenty twenty three, I mean, his Aris scorecard was all green, sub five second forty yard dash, ninety seven percent tile are better in all the time speeds, and eighty eight percent tile or better in the vertical,

the broad jump, the shuttle, the three cone.

investment into the youth at the position. Don't rest on Paul Jackson, Hayes and Daniels. Invest in other youngins and if a starter. If it's a starter in round one and we move somebody inside, so be it. If it's a third rounder, you have plans for playing in twenty five, that's fine too. Or no plans for playing in twenty five, we should say just keep identifying fits and taking swings. It needs physicality, but honestly, with Pat and Austin, I

don't think there's any shortage of that at all. I think a veteran swing tackle your next Kendall Lamb is one of the biggest needs on the roster just because of Jackson's injury history fluky or not. But you're in a good position to have to not go spend crazy at the spot to round out the room additional assets here on this group Ryan Hayes, the former seventh round draft pick and Bidon Matos, a international Pathway Program player. Normally we take a break right there because this podcast

is going to be so long. We are going to roll right into the free agents and talk about guys that could fit the need we just expressed here on the show. And it's a difficult position to work out here just because I don't think we're in the market for a starter. Although if you draft want to move somebody. I'm definitely okay with that, but I think we're very

much in the market for a veteran swing guy. But there's a fine line between a third tackle that comes in with the belief that he can compete for a job and a guy that just understands that he's here to be that third guy. Kendall Lamb is a perfect example of that. Nobody's gonna beat out Pat or Austin again unless you draft someone high and move Austin to guard, and that would just give you more depth and more

options when injuries do occur. So we're not working up in this exercise, Ronnie Stanley, right, we're not spending time on that. We are spending time on Charlie Heck, the first guy in our athbetical order here. This would be your Kendall Lamb replacement. He doesn't hit the metrics usually required to play here. But you're paying the cost for

a player like this for development. The price tag Deniers paid for four years drafted by the Texans, logged thirteen hundred snaps there, moved on to the Niners before after the Texans and gets one hundred and seventeen snaps.

out your three and four tackle positions. Joseph noteboom Rams fans reactions to him last year are like Dolphins fans with Jesse Davis.

He's a starter, I think for I think because of the dearth of talent in the league right now, he is a starting tackle. So he probably signs for, but I think you could sign him and have the concept of either kicking he or Austin inside. I think I like note Boom at right guard. Probably circle back on his next contract as a swing tackle, but this could be a nice little multiple problem solutions starting guard and third tackle type problem here again is injury history. He

missed a lot of games. Shoot, maybe he has a backup for that cost and cheap, you know, because of all the injury history and the lack of recent production on tape. The next guy is my favorite of the group. Spoiler Josh Jones requisite measurables in terms of getting off the football. Another one of these toolsy guys that did not develop over his rookie contract, and honestly, the fact that Baltimore dealt for him tells me a lot. When good teams trade for players, I usually like that player

a little bit more. They used him as an extra offensive lineman this year and six man packages, and he was moving people off the football, plays in the good pad shelf and drives edges off the football and condemn them inside on pen concepts. His feet are outstanding, and I think the more reps he gets, the more the fact that they are hardwired together will look like it's seamless, like the punch with the feet to move to keep yourself, you keep your base in position to match that punch.

He's patient with the punch, doesn't really get overextended. He can sift through his run game assignments and stay in control and on balance and chip without getting knocked off his track to go attack a second level defender. His redirect game inside is awesome. My conclusion here, I'm really curious to see what his market looks like, but I would not mind throwing a good little investment his way with the promise of the swing job and if you impress enough, we'll move some guys around to get you

on the top five. I am sold on this dude, my top free agent option. I sent it to my buddy Eric Smith. It was great contact for I believe Five Reason Sports is where he posts his content to and he was like, how the hell was Josh Jones a backup last year? He should be starting in this league given all the lack of talent across the league. Speaking of lack of talent, Matt Pert, there's a theme here, right.

He plays a lot of his stands and explodes off the football with pretty good footwork in the running game, but he is an unmitigated disaster in pass protection.

and Josh Jones at number one. Huge drop off after number two, then an even bigger drop off like Billy Bean Brad Pitt Oakland A's fifty feet a crap drop off after number three. I can see a world where Heck makes some sense. I cannot get on board with Skip or Pert Jones will have me giddy, and I'd be pretty happy with Joseph note Boom too. I had Cam Robinson in here until I watch the tape. That's

a starter. He's gonna get paid big somewhere, just like Ronnie Stanley, Alaric Jackson and Jedrick Wills, even if they're not that good. I don't think the guard conversion works because somebody will pay these guys like starring tackles and they're not about to turn that money down. I also, uh yeah, those are the names. Morgan Moses and Tyrant Smith also did not get work ups. All right, first break right there, come back on Trench Week and talk

about the draft class. That's next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Autonation's.

tape is the best in the class. If he didn't tear his ACL back in October, I think teams would have him in the running for OT one.

entire class. Explosives all get out, smooth weight transfer, and able to lean onto his blocks and get his feet right on the fly as he kind of works through stuff, super comfortable into his set, good range on the kickslide, and the paired ability to process inside slants and cut

them off with his athletic ability is really impressive. He locks guys out better than anybody else in the class and keeps them off of his frame like there's a lot of blocks where there is him and then thirty four inch arms, and then the other guy across him where he's not allowing them into his chest plate. Really good hand positioning and control upon contact. He can reach block anybody at any position in my other alignment, and has a tape full of Aren Brewer type of blocks

out in space. He's going to wind up with one of the offenses of the Shanahan Tree, the Dolphins, the Packers, the Niners, the Rams, and be a stud from day one. He might be the easiest guard convert in the class too, because of his height and pad level. He's six foot three, but the thirty four inch arms make me think he'll play tackle from the jump. He's a top fifteen pick for my money, my number three tackle. I could easily make the case he's number one, but Will Campbell from LSU.

There's not a better technician in the entire class in terms of understanding of the relationship between his body and what's required for the type of rush he's facing, and how to execute a handful of moves to thwart the rush move that he sees. He's not an athletic as some of the other guys you get in this class, and certainly not Makai Beckton type coming out. And I don't think Joe Alt was those things either, and he went number five overall and is a great player for

the Chargers already. But grip strength, the little tricks, the trade that he understands about how to grab certain areas and control guys, his ability to get to the anchor but then keep the feet going. He can articulate the art of pass protection, and he plays with the real main streak off the football, and he has the heaviest hands in this entire class. I think he's a top ten pick all day long. Number four is Kelvin Banks,

Junior out of Texas. He reminds me so much of Austin Jackson, and I'm trying to peg at which stage of Austin's career I'm thinking of here, because Austin came in as a twenty year old handful of college starts, missed that year with the bone marrow transplant, started slow because of it, and became a cornerstone tackle by the age of twenty three. Now Banks turns twenty one in March,

so I think that's kind of the same timeline. I think he's probably just a peg below Austin right now, but that's a good sign for his long term projection. I think there's some work to be done in pass pro where things aren't always matched up in terms of the timing. He can catch sometimes a post to punching, but my goodness, the way he runs guys off the football, the way he can reach a four eye from the weak side to wall that player off, or get out in space and go get the safe on outside zone.

I think he has the chops to play guard too, So he's a guy you could draft and just try to figure out the best five you have because of his flexibility and the way we prioritize that so explosive. I feel like he's pretty far below the top three right now. There's a bit of a drop off there, but I would not be surprised if he was the best tackle from this class in three or four years.

The same I think could be true of number five Josh Connelly from Oregon, perhaps the easiest mover in passpro in the entire class.

in the run and pass game. I think he's going to be the best protector from this group over his NFL career. Doesn't quite have the same juice firing off the ball as Banks in the running game, but he's a smooth operator. Another top twenty pick for my money, and I ended up with number six my last first rounder here Arianta Ursery from Minnesota. This is one of the more intriguing players at the spot because of the size and athleticism combination. What the hell is it with

these Gopher offensive linemen and these hulking tackles. Daniel Flele was four hundred plus pounds. Ursery is not that he's six six, three thirty, but man, he can move and he's another guy that I think might be a guard convert as well. And given the size and movement profile, he might be like the perfect guy that can keep your outside zone game alive but also give you counters

like duo and power and you know, geez counter. You can't think of their damn run scheme when he pops guys and they feel it like there's a lot of helmets jerking back on tape, a lot of pancakes, a lot of rushes stymied in their tracks. He kind of reminds me of Rob Hunt, to be honest with you, and remember Rob was a tackle at Ull with comically good tape and then he kicked inside to become a

Pro Bowl nine figure guard. Right in passpro. He is so strong he can dump guys with upper body strength and kind of hip toss them and settle into his sets with relative ease. If there's one question, it's his redirect and you'll face a lot of that in this league with all the rush games coming back inside. But kicking him into guard would definitely help with that skill set,

of that weakness. I should say in his game to me, he's a first round pick that gives me six first round grades at tackle, and I did some more workups on guys that I don't think we'll be first rounders. We'll save that for a future podcast down the road.

and so much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time, Fin's Up, Carolina and kaplack Daddy's going col