Figured would start a thread on OL since we will be taking one or two in the draft and this article is an excellent read.
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Tennessee Titans find offensive linemen hard to rate because of spread offense
Titans Coach Mike Munchak earned a Hall of Fame jacket for being one of the best offensive linemen ever to play the game.
Titans offensive line coach and former Munchak teammate Bruce Matthews has a matching yellow jacket for his 19 excellent NFL seasons of protecting quarterbacks and paving paths for running backs.
So it’s safe to say they know a few things about the guys in the trenches.
Yet as Munchak and Matthews evaluate offensive line prospects in the NFL Draft, it’s tough to block one thing out: College spread offenses are making it more difficult to judge how a lineman might perform in the NFL.
“A lot of the time you don’t get a chance to evaluate an offensive lineman with his hand on the ground,” Munchak said. “Even with a center, sometimes you say, ‘Well, this center never snapped to a quarterback who wasn’t in the shotgun all the time.’ So there’s little things like that make it harder.
“A lot of offensive linemen haven’t been developed in certain ways and been asked to do certain things. … So it is a lot harder.”
According to an ESPN.com study, 48 college teams ran a version of the spread as their primary offense in 2009, and that number is believed to have risen since then. That’s a drastic increase from a decade prior.
Across college football, there are many versions of the spread, and all of them are drastically different from the conventional offenses used so widely in the NFL.
For Munchak and the Titans, who are in search of interior offensive linemen in the April 26-28 draft, it puts a lot of extra guesswork into their homework.
After all, how can you judge a player from his college tape if you’ve never seen him do what he’ll be asked to do at the next level?
“The guys in the spread, you generally don’t have the deep drops. The passing game is a lot quicker,” said former NFL scout Russ Lande, a draft analyst for Sporting News. “The run blocking, you generally don’t get to see a lot of physical, run-blocking plays in a spread offense. So you almost are guessing, based on a guy’s competitiveness and size and strength, whether he can be a good run blocker. You just don’t see it in the spread offenses very often.”
Spread offenses that have become all the rage usually feature the quarterback in the shotgun formation, often with a no-huddle approach. Four- and five-receiver sets are common, along with wide splits by the offensive linemen, who are usually standing.
Former Titans tackle Brad Hopkins, who works with offensive line prospects at D1 Sports in Franklin, stresses technique and offers tips on how to beat defensive linemen.
First, however, he stresses they must improve in other ways.
“How are you going to be effective when you are already standing tall in your stance?” Hopkins said. “If you are not used to being in an offense that features a tight end or a strong rushing presence, how are you going to be at moving forward and hitting a guy? Pad level is key, especially in the trenches. And some of these guys come in raw and at a disadvantage.”
Munchak said the speed of the game and how specialized defenses require an offensive lineman to block numerous guys with greater regularity only add to the struggles.
Defensive coordinators, Munchak said, are doing a better job than ever of confusing young offensive linemen and identifying mismatches.
All of this, of course, has led to some difficult times for offensive lines across the league, Scouts Inc.’s Matt Williamson said.
“How many lines can you look at of the 32 and say that is a really good line, there is no need for them right now?” said Williamson, a former NFL scout. “And I think the huge reason why is all of these guys were operating in college out of the two-point stance. They don’t know the basic run plays, they have to come in and learn.
“You have to teach them run fits, and how to come off the ball in a three-point stance, and I think that has made the learning curve a lot more drastic in recent years than ever. Coming in, if you have to re-teach them the basics, who knows what you’ve got?”
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