Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2019 NFL Draft
Now that we’ve completed the interior portion of the offensive line, it is time to look at the guys on the edges. When it comes to offensive tackles, maybe more than at any other position, size is definitely a skill. While you don’t have to be exact prototype size and weight, there are thresholds when it comes to height and length that all successful players at the position seem to reach. Until a few years ago, people acted like your left tackle is far more important than the one on your right side. However, once defenses started putting their top pass rushers against those formerly less talented right tackles, the NFL learned that both those spots have to be filled with quality players if you want to survive in this league.
This class of offensive tackles is falsely labeled as a poor one in my opinion. It more so due to the fact that four of the top five guys are better suited to play on the right side. I think there is one prospect that should absolutely be a top ten pick and at least four more that I could easily see going in the first round. After that, there are a lot of different opinions, but no matter how you turn it, twelve of them should end up being the top 100 prospects. I will refer a lot to these guys’ performances at the Senior Bowl because with offensive linemen the one-on-ones against quality competitions are the most indicative drills when it comes to their pass pro abilities.
Check out my positional rankings on the running backs, linebackers, interior offensive linemen and interior defensive linemen as well. Let me know your thoughts or if you are interested in some other prospects in the comments and I can share my notes with you!
#1. Jonah Williams, Alabama
A former five-star recruit from California, Williams was one of the highly coveted offensive line prospects in the country. He didn’t fail to meet expectations but only exceeded them during his time with the Crimson Tide, immediately earning the starting right tackle spot, where he outperformed Cam Robinson on the opposite end and was named a Freshman All-American. He moved into that left tackle spot when Robinson departed for his draft and was not only a two-time first-team All-SEC selection but also an Outland Trophy finalist and unanimous first-team All-American last season.
This is about as rock-solid an offensive line prospect as we’ve had in recent years. Jonah might not be the greatest athlete, but he plays under control and with excellent technique. He brings a good thump at initial contact in the run-game and plays with excellent leg-drive until the whistle blows. He does a nice job locking out defensive ends on the backside, is comfortable pulling around, driving guys on the second level or putting hands on people in space. Williams flies to the second level if he can directly go there and makes linebackers back up. Once his running back is stood up, he continues to push the pile and grind out extra yardage. During his time at Alabama he has collected experience in different zone and gap-schemes, showing mobility and proper hand-placement.
The best thing Williams does in protection is squaring up his target and being patient with his hands as well as making those edge guys widen the arc and driving them deeper into the backfield. He keeps that post-leg ready to shut down counter moves consistently and makes it look easy when mirroring some of the top edge rushers in the country. There’s good sink in his hips and perfect timing in his strikes. Williams makes up space to his teammate when he sees defensive twists and then takes on the secondary defender with a good punch. Overall Williams is just so consistent in protection and it shows in the numbers, as he didn’t allow a single sack and just 12 total pressures all of 2018 despite facing all the best pass rushers of the SEC.
Williams doesn’t have prototype length at 33 5/8-inch arms and a move to guard has been discussed a lot during this pre-draft process. He simply isn’t the most devastating drive-blocker, especially when you look at some of the guys behind him on this list. Williams occasionally ducks his head too much into contact and can be slipped by. Clemson’s Clelin Ferrell did that to him a couple of times in the 2017 Sugar Bowl and even made things more uncomfortable for him in last year’s National Championship game, when he lifted him off his feet once and put him on his back, as well as throwing him off balance on a couple of other snaps.
I don’t really understand the doubts that have come up about Williams’ ability to play on the edge at the next level. I think he could play guard if a team really wanted him to, but to me, he is a plug-and-play starter at right tackle and clearly the most consistent guy at the position in this class. Just go back to his freshman tape. People always talk about that game against Clelin Ferrell at the end of the season, but there was really just a few bad plays for him and that only shows you how good Jonah really is if we talk about how he gets beat every once in a while. To me, this is the clear-cut number one guy across the offensive line, because he is a natural and technically sound player.