NFL Draft: Pro comparisons for the top 32 prospects in 2021
By Adam Patrick
NFL Draft 2021 Pro Comparisons: Christian Darrisaw → Duane Brown
Good left tackles are hard to come by at the NFL level. Great ones are even rarer to discover, but former Virginia Tech offensive lineman Christian Darrisaw has the opportunity to develop into one of the top blindside blockers in the league.
The 6-foot-5, 314-pound Darrisaw started as a freshman at Virginia Tech and it only took him three seasons at the school for him to evolve into a pro prospect that could be drafted in the first round.
One of the biggest things that NFL scouts love about Darrisaw is the fact that his techniques and abilities are much more advanced than most offensive line prospects who enter the league. A team should be able to plug him in at left tackle in Week 1 and not worry about their quarterback getting pummeled from the left side of the line.
Why he compares to Duane Brown:
More than a decade before Darrishaw was the starting left tackle at Virginia Tech, Duane Brown had the role. Since he was selected in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft, Brown has spent time as a starting left tackle with both the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks.
Darrishaw is a little more polished coming out of school than Brown was. But both displayed a similar level of impressive athleticism when asked to get moving and block downfield. Brown was a Day 1 starter as a rookie and there’s a very good chance that Darrishaw will be too wherever he ends up landing.