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I have to admit his weight worries me, especially once he's making NFL 1st round pick money. I also don't think the quality of Louisville's opponents was quite on a par with Thomas and Wills playing an SEC schedule, or Wirf's Big 10 schedule.

They switch to RT because most NFL QBs are right handed, and they aren't good enough to play LT in the NFL.

Wills is the opposite. Wills has the athleticism and technique to play LT in the NFL. He plays RT because his quarterback is left handed, so RT protects the blindside.


My point is, had Tua been a righty, odds are that Wills would have played Left Tackle. When you watch the film on the guy, it's clear. He's very athletic. He has the feet to be a Left Tackle. And he's a very good football player. He's polished. He's a very good pass blocker.

Most Left Tackles move to Right Tackle in the NFL because they simply aren't athletic enough to play the position in the NFL. This is not the case with Wills at all.

When we drafted Mitchell Schwartz, did we say "Oh man, i dunno. I'm not sure if Mitchell Schwartz can be a RT. There's a position change there". Of course we didn't. We said, "Mitchell Schwartz would make a great RT, i hope the Browns draft him." And low and behold, they did.


No one is going to be drafting Wills to play RT. That's not what he's being scouted as. He's being scouted as a LT. Sure, it involves a switch in technique, but no different than the switch that a LT has to make when they switch to RT

I agree, and I think Wirfs too.

Its a pretty safe bet that Zona takes a LT.

The Giants are hard to figure if they will pass on a better talent for an OT.

Then there is the Jets who might be looking to get ahead of us for another OT.

And its not like the Jags couldn't use one too, although many have them going defense.

You are projecting that with no evidence he can actually play LT. Using the #10 draft pick on a player who has never played at the position you are drafting him for is too much of a gamble for such an investment.

I agree, and also add that I don't think that the zone blocking scheme is his best fit.

Could you please site examples where a college RT has moved to the LT position in the NFL and was drafted to play that position?

I literally cannot think of a single one in the last twenty years.

There's been guys drafted for LT that failed to adapt that were then tried at RT, but I've never heard of a single case of one going the other direction.

The only reason a college team's best OT would be the right tackle is when they have a lefty QB, to protect his blind side in pass pro. Beyond Stabler, Zorn, Tebow, and the guy from USC who's name escapes me, I can't think of them. In other words, I think its a pretty unique situation. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, just that we don't have any (or enough) examples to provide a measuring stick. I'm confident that if our scouts and other big brains, like Callahan, think Wills has the skillset to play LT, then he can.

Pit, there's not many Left Handed QBs. I tried to find notable RT's and it was very difficult on Google. So i googled left handed QBs. I just saw some stat that said that only 1% of College QBs were lefty in 2017. Notable Lefty QBs i found were, Vick, Mark Brunnell, Steve Young, and Boomer Esiason. For whatever reason Munoz and Boselli both lined up on the left side.

All i'm saying is, when we have to select a RT, we don't start poo pooing College LTs because they have to make a position switch. We look at the skills of the LT, and see how they translate to RT.


Jedrick Wills played RT because his QB was a lefty and he was a very good passblocker. Nick Saban even said it. They never switched him because Tua was lefty.


Wills has all the traits we're looking for in a LT, it just happens that he never got his chance because it didn't make any sense for him to play on that side. There's no reason to think that he can't make the same transition that any LT makes to RT in the NFL.


All it's going to take is some work to change up his stance, etc. Wills has a great work ethic. He's coordinated. He's very athletic. He fits this scheme.

I just think it's ridiculous that folks are going to put players who are nowhere near as good at him above him just because he played on the other side of the line (because his QB was one of the very rare players who happen to be left handed).

To anyone who paid attention to Alabama football ... did Wills play RT when Jalen Hurts was starting QB there?

Off the top of my head, Winston Justice. I believe he was drafted to be LT. He was Matt Leinart's RT. Like Leinart, he was not a good NFL Player

I’d be shocked if the Giants picked anyone other than Simmons.

Someone should be able to find YouTube video of Hurts playing and just see what number was lined up at LT.

Cam Robinson and Jonah Williams were before him. There was no opening

Gentleman could shock u .... that’s shocking .... ...

Where as I agree that they should if he is avalible, that isn't a guarantee that they will.

A true "Gentleman" always acts properly in public and are never shocking.

Gettleman is another story. LOL

As far as the tackles go, I have continued reading and watching what I can find. Thomas is still my number 1 guy and I think he could be available at 10.

I will say I am not really all that educated on the group.

The pick seems like it has already leaked. That’s Gettleman’s MO.

Wills was a freshman RT out of Kentucky I believe in 2017. He stayed there as a sophomore across from Jonah in Tua's 1st season of 2018 and, of course last year.

At least they're consistent ... ...lol

Exactly

I will state this one last time and be done with it.

What you are suggesting is we take the #10 overall pick in the draft and dedicate it to drafting a player who will need to change positions. To the degree that you don't have a single example of it ever having been done before. The risk/reward factor is far too great for the #10 overall draft pick. Experiments such as that are for later in the draft, not at #10.

As for those who think there are four LT psospects who will make it.

Is that enough? Is just "making it" good enough for the #10 pick? To me you should get an impact player at a position with the #10 pick in the draft.

You aren't going to find FOUR impact LT's in this draft who are worthy of the #10 pick. Just ending up with a "serviceable" player at the LT position with the #10 pick on the draft will certainly mean we will have passed up much better players who were available at the pick.

I'm not for that.

I think if your evaluation of a player is that he can be one of the very best at his position - you can draft him at 10. I'm not saying that's the case, but players get draft for what they have potential to become ... if that potential is extremely high then they get taken much earlier than otherwise considered.

And ... never say never on Simmons:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001...ckers-pick-a-qb

Potential means project. When drafting based on potential your odds of success go down. There are reasons to draft such players, but not at #10. There are far too many great players on the board at #10 to pass them up for potential.

That goes against anything even close to BPA. I understand that teams don't always draft strictly according to BPA. But if they are good at drafting, they don't stray far from it unless it's to draft a QB.

And I won't say never when it comes to Simmons, but the odds are slim. I understand the talking heads are sometimes correct. But more times than not they looking for clicks and hits on their web sites at this late stage of the game.

I mostly agree with you, but there are definitely cases where you draft that player at 10, or even higher. QB is the most common reason.

Again, I don't disagree with you. You should absolutely come away with a starter (if not day 1 starter) when you draft in the top 10, but drafts, players, and positions are all different. It's not black and white.

And i'm saying, that even with a position change to LT, Jedrick Wills is the best LT prospect in the draft.

Right off the bat, two of the players have bigger question marks. We don't know if Wirfs can even play LT. There's analysts that think he's best suited to play guard to start his career. Becton, i have huge questions with him. He's started that many years, and he's still so raw? Reminds me of Greg Robinson.


Andrew Thomas is a somewhat safe bet. But he's still not as refined as Wills.


I'll take Wills over the other three. Today and every day. Wills and Thomas, the top two. And to me, Wills is a better prospect than Thomas. And they're both clearly better prospects than Wirfs and Becton.

That's how i have those guys ranked for the LT position and "I will state this one last time and be done with it."

j/c...

1. Thomas
2. Wirfs
3. Jones
4. Wills Jr.
5. Becton

Intriguing prospect: Ben Bartch

There is a guy I want to talk a little bit about. Trey Adams.
At one point he was considered a sure fire top 10 pick then the injuries came.
Now he is being projected as late as round 4 or 5.

I am not suggesting targeting him instead of an LT at #10 but rather in addition too.
I think he would make a great swing tackle
And who knows, if he shows he can stay healthy, he might even win the LT job at some point.

I am not trying to change your mind at all. However, your quote is an opinion. You may be correct and you may not be. No one knows for sure.

How about we all just pimp our guy and not force-feed any one player down the throats of others?

No, they do not mean the same thing, Pit. A 'project' has significant flaws in his game that must be corrected/developed before he is NFL-ready. 'Potential' is an evaluation that the player is expected to be able to compete but has not as yet reached his ceiling. My words hopefully convey what I am trying to say. All players are drafted based on potential...

When asking a player to start at a position he has never played, you are banking on the potential that he can switch positions without the evidence to show he can do so. You're "projecting" he can play a new position. Thus, project.

There are 32 starting LT's in the NFL. So I'm still not quite clear what your definition of "making it" is. Top 10, top 15, top 20? And while I certainly understand what you mean by the needed skill set being rare, expecting someone to play at the opposite tackle position isn't a given.

Not saying it can't be done, but I asked before how many college players that played RT had been successful NFL LT's. I also understand that when you ave a left handed QB that the RT protects their blind side.

Bur years of muscle memory and reflex moving one way certainly doesn't guarantee that you can get a player to reverse that with the same success.

At the point you have to need a player to actually switch positions from one side to the other, I think the risk factor goes up to the point that it most certainly changes their draft status.

I guess I'll go back to your point about how important the QB position is and how rare the skill set it. Yet I've never seen a draft where there are four QB's that are all ranked as high as the #10 pick.

I just don't think we'll ever agree on this one and that's okay. We are both high on drafting OL and understand the importance of the LT position.

Where we disagree is that I don't feel when building a draft board, that at the #10 draft pick you have four guys at ANY one position where you can just take the leftovers and play "insert name here".

To add to this:

Switching tackle from one side to the other is a completely different animal. Your sets are opposite, which feet are where is opposite. Where each hand has to go reflexively is now opposite.

It isn't a switch that can be thrown. Yeah, most can *probably* do it, given enough time, but it will take a year of reps** for the flip to take root and the player still may never be as good on the new side as they were at their native spot.

** yes, they can be passable in a few weeks, but it won't be to the point where they aren't thinking about it for MONTHS. Each time they go to the line, they will have to think about which foot goes where, which side do I set my arms to, where are my hands going to hit the guy coming at me, etc...?

My thoughts on switching from RT to LT that might help us relate is this. Think about if you moved to London. They drive on the opposite aide of the rode.

While you might be a great driver here in America, once you start driving on the other side of the rode it gets really weird really quickly.

After a little bit if time, you sort of figure it out. But it remains uncomfortable making turns into the "wrong" aide of the road which is now the correct side.

I actually have experience with that.

My first duty station in the Navy was in a British colony where we drove on the wrong side of the road. And, yes, it was weird and eventually became normal, but one time when I was back home on leave after having been there for about 19 months, I borrowed my Dad's car and went to McDonald's for some food. As I turned left out of the lot onto the left side of the road, I was wondering why that idiot's headlights were coming right at me. I had been all good the entire trip up to that point, but as soon as I was comfortable enough to slip into autopilot, I reverted to the wrong thing for the situation.

You are so splitting hairs on the pronunciation/meaning of the word. PRO-ject or pro-JECT...