2025: Tackles

Kelvin Banks Jr. – OT – Texas – 95

Like Will Campbell, Banks was a day 1 left tackle starter at a premier program and had an outstanding collegiate career. A top ten national recruit, Kelvin enters the draft with 42 career starts and only 4 sacks allowed. Look at the boxes he checks – 6’5”, 315lbs, 33.5” arms, 10.5” hands, balance, athleticism, drive blocking, hand usage. Banks can check boxes. Put on the film against Texas A&M. He handles Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart. Kelvin played great in the college football playoff while the right side of the Longhorn line fell apart. Why isn’t he a can’t miss prospect? Basically, because no one else looks at him like I do. Lots of people think he’s a guard. I don’t see that. I don’t think his game translates that great to guard. I see a top prospect that played great, won the Lombardi Award, has tons of experience, tons of talent, and just turned 21. He can improve further. If he loves football and/or money, he will improve. Yes, he’s a bit doughy. But he’s an offensive lineman, they don’t all look like Tyron Smith. Banks is my top tackle, and yes, I’d be happy with him at #4 for the Patriots.

Armand Membou – OT – Mizzou – 94

I absolutely love watching Membou play. He’s just big everywhere but moves like he’s been doing lateral ladder drills his whole life. Membou looks like Michael Onwenu at his correct playing weight, but with way more athleticism. Is 6’4” too short to be an NFL tackle? I don’t think so. Membou always has a solid base, can pull to the outside, and has the length and strength to maintain contact and balance against pass rushers. I’m having a hard time finding downsides, but my big one is that he played right tackle exclusively in college. There’s no talent deficit that would prevent him from moving to the left side. Plenty of guys have done it before with outstanding results – Trent Williams, Tyron Smith. But there’s a nagging thing inside me that just wants to see it.

I know Membou gained a lot of steam after he lit the combine on fire, but the tape is real and so is his talent. He might make it tackle, he might make it at guard, but I like him either way.

Will Campbell – OT – LSU – 94

Can’t the Patriots just have a can’t miss tackle available at #4 this year? Why did the top tackle prospect have to be so polarizing. Will Campbell’s arm length. It’s like the number one discussion point – at least amongst Patriots fans. ‘He can’t even reach the steering wheel, dude’, ‘he can’t even scratch the top of his head’, ‘they installed bidets at LSU cause he can’t wipe his own ass’. I don’t have sources for these quotes but I’m positive they’ve been spoken in the Commonwealth in the last 2 months.

Okay, let’s take a breath. His arms are shorter than average. That means he’s not perfectly sculpted to play left tackle in NFL, but it doesn’t mean he can’t do it. There are examples of successful left tackles with less than 33” arms. Now, let’s talk about his play. For the most part it’s really good. What’s great about starting for 3 years in the SEC is you can find film of Campbell facing up against most of the premier edge players in recent drafts. He started at left tackle on day 1 and after a 3 year run is barely 21 years old. However (you knew there was one coming), he plays on his heels a lot. Guys get into his chest (don’t talk about arm length being the reason) and arch his back for him like a good yoga instructor. To Will’s credit, he usually holds firm in those situations, with a little bit of holding to boot. But I don’t want to see my cornerstone left tackle, who is not an upper level athlete to begin with, get driven onto his heels in pass protection. Now in the running game, he’s tremendous. Some people like to build there offensive line for the power run to the right and expose the left side of the line to one on ones in protection. With Campbell I think you’re looking at a more balanced approach. He’s not going to be ‘set it and forget it’ in pass protection, but you can maintain a balanced run approach and not have huge tendencies. Campbell’s strengths will translate well.

Sidebar – I don’t like this assumption that tackle prospects can just automatically move to guard and they’re going to be great. There are certain traits that guards need, and they’re not ubiquitous in failed tackle prospects.

I’ll get off my stump and give the bottomline. Campbell is not a can’t miss tackle prospects. He is almost certainly going to be a good player, but it might be at guard. Andrus Peat is a nice comparison, Peter Skoronski fits as well.

 Josh Simmons – OT – Ohio State – 93

If he didn’t tear his patella tendon in 2024, Simmons might’ve been a top 10 pick. He’s got phenomenal initial burst for an offensive lineman that eliminates gaps and enables reach blocks. In pass protection, he gets on his toes too much and can be susceptible around the edge if he sets too far inside. Josh ain’t a mauler in the run game, but has the size necessary to play tackle in the NFL. And if he his burst comes back after the injury, someone might get a steal of a left tackle late in round 1. If he’s on the board in round 2, that means the medical evaluations were no bueno.

Aireontae Ersery – OT – Minnesota – 86

Very successful collegiate career, Big 10 offensive lineman of the year, great size, okay athleticism, but I’m having trouble seeing it. He’s so big and long that he’s hard to get around. Ersery moves forward much better than backwards which obviously benefits the run game. In the passing game he gets by, but I don’t believe that he’ll ever be even a league average pass protecting left tackle. That will have to be accounted for in team construction, but he can do everything else at left tackle. For me, I’d take that bargain to get a left tackle in round 2 and work around his limitations by upgrading pass protection at right tackle and lining up a tight end on the left side in passing situations.

Ozzy Trapillo – OT – Boston College – 85

What a moose. BC made the right move to shift him to the right side because that’s where he’ll wind up in the pros. Ozzy is going to be a big plus in the run game, but will need help with speed rushers on the edge. He can get to his spots and set the anchor and he’s hard to move, but without a chip, he’ll struggle against the speed rush. I like him a lot, no reason he can’t be Riley Reiff or Brian O’Neil, which is worth a 2nd rounder.

Josh Conerly Jr. – OT – Oregon – 80

It’s so hard to evaluate offensive lineman from Oregon because there is no drop back pass game. Conerly wasn’t asked to protect beyond an initial strike. I watched him closely in the college football playoff and was not impressed, he didn’t look like an NFL starter to me. For sure he’ll be in the league, but at best as a swing tackle. The long reliever of football. I put on tape of Conerly vs. Abdul Carter which supposedly was the best Conerly played. I came away believing Conerly could’ve been called for holding on every play, and even more impressed with the game wrecker that Abdul Carter is.

Charles Grant – OT – William & Mary – 79

You have to love watching film of an NFL prospect and thinking it was high school film. William & Mary, alma mater of Mike Tomlin, needs a serious upgrade to their film crew. And stadium and fanbase and 99% of their football players. But this one kid on the field, Charles Grant, definitely did not belong. This was a kid from the Big 10 playing against future investment bankers and CIA operatives. To say he manhandles his opponents is an understatement. Grant makes it look like he’s toying with them. It’s remarkable really. Now to project him to the NFL is a challenge. He’s got the size, he looks strong, and importantly, he’s got great feet. I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but I’ve got my eye on him.