Combine Report: Offensive Line

I’ll admit it… I’m a sucker for the NFL Combine. I don’t believe it’s the most important factor in assessing potential draft picks, but I do think you can learn plenty about players from scouting them during this time. This blog is going to be combine-heavy for the next week or so, so if you have the same amount of interest as I do, this is the place to be. Saturday saw the first real on-field participation, so here are my thoughts on the offensive linemen that participated. Because of work commitments I am going to be a day or two behind on these posts to give me time to watch the tape, but I will assess every position before it is all said and done.

Offensive Line

Player I Was Most Impressed With: Rodney Hudson (Florida St.)

Hudson wasn’t the best player in the offensive line group, but he was awfully close and he’s a name that you don’t hear too often. He is an interior O-lineman, and he looked athletically gifted and fairly polished in technique. Depending on where he is projected to go, I think he could certainly be a name to remember for the Rams come draft time.

Honorable Mention: Anthony Castonzo, Nate Solder, Gabe Carimi, Clint Boling, Brandon Fusco, Mike Pouncey.

Most of these guys are the cream of the crop when it comes to projections, so there are really no surprises here. Boling could be on the Rams’ radar, but I think he might go a little high. Fusco is a small-school kid who I was very impressed with, and he could be a nice fit as well.

Player I Was Most Disappointed With: Orlando Franklin (Miami FL)

I don’t know if he just had a bad day or what, but Franklin looked pretty awful. He’s a nice athlete, but he looked stiff and lost in most of the drills. His 40 time and 10-yd splits were good, but he really struggled in most other aspects. I expected more.

Dishonorable Mention: Ricky Henry, Kevin Hughes, James Carpenter, Daniel Kilgore, Lee Ziemba
None of these guys are ranked highly, but I didn’t like what I saw from any of these players. I expected more out of guys like Carpenter (Bama) and Ziemba (Auburn), but they didn’t impress.

I have a previous commitment on Monday so I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the tight end report up, but if not it will be up on Tuesday, followed by running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks. I’m going to try to keep these spread out over the week to give everyone a chance to check them out, but every position should be analyzed by the end of the week. Make sure you come back every day to check it out, and tell your friends to hit up the site as well. If anyone has questions on specific players, hit up the comments section and I will give you a more in-depth assessment.