Taylor Decker is often seen as the third best offensive tackle in the 2016 NFL draft, but was he crowned a little too soon?
The 2016 NFL draft class offers a very good crop of offensive tackle talent this year including Laremy Tunsil, Ronnie Stanley and then it is usually Ohio State’s Taylor Decker as the third best tackle. However, I feel that Decker may have been crowned far too soon.
It’s easy to fall in love or like a tackle from a very competitive school who doesn’t have bad tape. But I find Decker’s overall athleticism based on the NFL Scouting combine to be pretty suspect.
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To explain this in a little more detail let me explain the three main athletic metrics I use in evaluation:
- Explosive Lower Body Strength Score
- Speed Score
- Dynamic Speed Score
The explosive lower body strength score uses the vertical and broad jump measured against mass density to compare the explosiveness of athletes across numerous draft classes. Explosiveness is important to get the jump on opponents off the snap at the tackle position, and the more explosive a offensive tackle is determines the types of schemes they may fit best in as well.
Speed Score uses the forty yard dash measured against mass density to determine how fast a tackle is for their size. Speed is also important in scheme fit as faster offensive linemen work better in power schemes where they need to travel farther distances.
And the dynamic speed score uses the forty combined with the short shuttle and 3-Cone to determine the flexibility of the speed. It’s another trait that determines scheme fit, and it gives you a clear idea of the flexibility of a tackle to maintain leverage too.
Now let’s briefly get to Taylor Decker.
Decker overall was not a very good athlete at the tackle position. He isn’t very explosive, fast or flexible.
And there aren’t that many tackles with his athleticism profile that have had long-term success in the NFL since the 1998 draft class. That doesn’t sound like a tackle that should be drafted in the first-round.
It also doesn’t sound like a tackle who should be considered the third tackle off the board either. Now I’ve seen Decker’s tape, and he isn’t a bad tackle by any means.
But you do get a sense from his film that he has some issues with speed, explosiveness and flexibility, which didn’t impact that much in his college football career. However, he could be a big liability at the next level.
And I didn’t see a high level technician either. So while players like Jason Spriggs, Joe Haeg and Jack Conklin have technical aspects of their game that need to be fixed.
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I believe teams who draft a Spriggs, Conklin or Haeg will be much happier with the results long-term than they will in Decker. It always comes down to preference with NFL teams.
But I think Decker may be one of those tackles this year that teams will fall a little too in love with and get burned a bit. He simply doesn’t have the tape to make his concerns as an athlete mute.
And if this tackle class is anything like last years class, then there will be a lot of teams wasting first-rounders on underwhelming tackle prospects.