Remaining OL ranked by Zone Grade (1 Viewer)

[joe87]

I went ahead and compiled all PFF Zone Blocking Grades for the remaining OL to get an idea of who the Saints may lean towards in specific rounds. Fuaga's Zone Grade was a 91.3, which I think was the highest in the Draft Class, so let's see if the trend continues. Also, I'm sure that half of these listed OT's project out as OG.

OT
Projected Round	Name	College	Zone Grade
5th/6th	Javon Foster	Missouri	91​
2nd	Kiran Amegadjie	Yale	87.8​
UDFA	Josiah Ezirim	Eastern Kentucky	86.5​
4th-5th	Christian Jones	FSU	82.6​
4th/5th	Isaiah Adams	Illinois	82.5​
7th	Jalen Sundell	ND State	77.9​
7th	Frank Crum	Wyoming	72.5​
3rd	Blake Fisher	Notre Dame	72​
7th	Nathan Thomas	ULL	71.1​
2nd	Patrick Paul	Houston	70.3​
2nd	Kingsley Suamataia	BYU	69.6​
6th-7th	Sataoa Laumea	Utah	69.5​
5th	Caedan Wallace	Penn State	69.1​
4th	Dominick Puni	Kansas	68.9​
5th-6th	KT Leveston	Kansas State	66.8​
UDFA	Trente Jones	Michigan	66.1​
6th-7th	Ethan Driskell	Marshall	63.5​
5th-6th	Walter Rouse	Oklahoma	63.1​
UDFA	Anim Dankwah	Howard	62.4​
3rd	Roger Rosengarten	Washington	61​
7th	Donovan Jennings	USF	58.2​
7th	Delmar Glaze	Maryland	57.9​
UDFA	Karsen Barnhart	Michigan	57.2​
4th	Matt Goncalves	Pittsburgth	55.1​
3rd	Brandon Coleman	TCU	52​
UDFA	Andrew Coke	TCU	50.3​

OG
Rank	Name	College	Zone Grade
3rd	Mason McCormick	SD State	94.7​
2nd	Christian Haynes	Uconn	89.2​
3rd	Cooper Beebe	Kansas State	81.2​
7th-UDFA	Layden Robinson	Texas A&M	74.2​
5th	Zak Zinter	Michigan	72.9​
UDFA	X'Zauvea Gadlin	Liberty	72.1​
3rd-4th	Christian Mahogany	Boston College	67.3​
4th	Trevor Keegan	Michigan	60.1​
6th	Javion Cohen	Miami (FL)	59.1​
UDFA	CJ Hanson	Holy Cross	56.8​

C
Rank	Name	College	Zone Grade
2nd	Jackson Powers-Johnson	Oregon	83.8​
4th	Hunter Nourzad	Penn State	79.2​
3rd-4th	Sedrick Van Pran	Georgia	75.4​
UDFA	Matt Lee	Miami (FL)	74.6​
UDFA	Kingsley Equakun	Florida	73.7​
5th-6th	Beaux Limmer	Arkansas	72.4​
7th-UDFA	Dylan McMahon	NC State	71.5​
UDFA	Drake Nugent	Michigan	70.1​
2nd	Zach Frazier	West Virginia	69.6​
UDFA	Charles Turner	LSU	68.5​
UDFA	Andrew Raym	Oklahoma	59.2​
4th	Tanor Bortolini	Wisconsin	56.4​
UDFA	Nick Gargiulo	South Carolina	55.7​

 

[Swampy Saint]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
I do hope we continue to build the offensive line.
I don't see the point in addressing it half-arsed. It was far and away the reason our team was unsuccessful.
Just finish the job and move on to the next issue.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Krum is interesting, best 40 of all the OT's. Could be a late option for depth.

 

[Saint Spud]

This is really interesting. I’m not normally a PFF guy, but this is something specific that makes a ton of sense.

Thank you!

 

[WxM]

I'll take Hunter Nourzad with a trade up of two fifths.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Kiran from Yale is a neat prospect.

 

[SWJJ]

Josiah Ezirim is a very intriguing prospect, I don't think he goes undrafted. His high zone grade comes from his prototypical size paired with surprising quickness, nimbleness, and athleticism. He's VERY raw. Played at a small school against inferior competition, and lacks proper technique. He started out as a Defensive lineman, but switched to Oline 2 years ago and has played very well, despite poor technique. He is the kinda prospect that could get drafted late or signed as a UDFA and after a few years of development could turn into a phenomenal starter.

 

[Wisco Steve]

Josiah Ezirim is a very intriguing prospect, I don't think he goes undrafted. His high zone grade comes from his prototypical size paired with surprising quickness, nimbleness, and athleticism. He's VERY raw. Played at a small school against inferior competition, and lacks proper technique. He started out as a Defensive lineman, but switched to Oline 2 years ago and has played very well, despite poor technique. He is the kinda prospect that could get drafted late or signed as a UDFA and after a few years of development could turn into a phenomenal starter.

That sounds exactly like a Saint's pick.

 

[Taker597]

Oddly specific

 

[saintfan1972]

Krum is interesting, best 40 of all the OT's. Could be a late option for depth.

Just out of curiosity. What's the big deal with a 40 for a olineman. How many run down the field? I want more of their time for 10 yards for pulling and cone drills. I've never been a big fan of a 315 pound guy running a 5 flat 40. I know it's athleticism, but 40s are a waste for a big guy in my opinion.

 

[Jesse Custer]

Just out of curiosity. What's the big deal with a 40 for a olineman. How many run down the field? I want more of their time for 10 yards for pulling and cone drills. I've never been a big fan of a 315 pound guy running a 5 flat 40. I know it's athleticism, but 40s are a waste for a big guy in my opinion.

Down field blocking on screens and pulls. I can find multiple clips of McCoy and Armstead blocking 20-30 yards downfield for Alvin.

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Just out of curiosity. What's the big deal with a 40 for a olineman. How many run down the field? I want more of their time for 10 yards for pulling and cone drills. I've never been a big fan of a 315 pound guy running a 5 flat 40. I know it's athleticism, but 40s are a waste for a big guy in my opinion.

Idk. When I went and looked at the 2021 Vikings (the year KK was OC and still running his father scheme) I looked up all their Olineman.....all ran under a 5.0 40 yard dash. Every single one of them. When I looked at the 49ers Oline, I didn't do individual work on them but I did check Trent Williams who also ran under a 5.0 40. Now likely, it has more to do with the 10 yard split than the full distance, but the scheme obviously prefers guys who can get to their spots quickly and the 40 yard or 10 seems to correlate with their ability to do so.

 

[joe87]

Idk. When I went and looked at the 2021 Vikings (the year KK was OC and still running his father scheme) I looked up all their Olineman.....all ran under a 5.0 40 yard dash. Every single one of them. When I looked at the 49ers Oline, I didn't do individual work on them but I did check Trent Williams who also ran under a 5.0 40. Now likely, it has more to do with the 10 yard split than the full distance, but the scheme obviously prefers guys who can get to their spots quickly and the 40 yard or 10 seems to correlate with their ability to do so.

I'd think the 3 Cone drill would be more useful for OL than straight line speed. I do remember all those old Broncos teams having smaller, more athletic types on their OL's. I don't believe they spent a lot of higher round picks on them because they didn't need the physically imposing players that go in the 1st/2nd rounds.

 

[J.T.]

I went ahead and compiled all PFF Zone Blocking Grades for the remaining OL to get an idea of who the Saints may lean towards in specific rounds. Fuaga's Zone Grade was a 91.3, which I think was the highest in the Draft Class, so let's see if the trend continues. Also, I'm sure that half of these listed OT's project out as OG.

OT
Projected Round	Name	College	Zone Grade
5th/6th	Javon Foster	Missouri	91​
2nd	Kiran Amegadjie	Yale	87.8​
UDFA	Josiah Ezirim	Eastern Kentucky	86.5​
4th-5th	Christian Jones	FSU	82.6​
4th/5th	Isaiah Adams	Illinois	82.5​
7th	Jalen Sundell	ND State	77.9​
7th	Frank Crum	Wyoming	72.5​
3rd	Blake Fisher	Notre Dame	72​
7th	Nathan Thomas	ULL	71.1​
2nd	Patrick Paul	Houston	70.3​
2nd	Kingsley Suamataia	BYU	69.6​
6th-7th	Sataoa Laumea	Utah	69.5​
5th	Caedan Wallace	Penn State	69.1​
4th	Dominick Puni	Kansas	68.9​
5th-6th	KT Leveston	Kansas State	66.8​
UDFA	Trente Jones	Michigan	66.1​
6th-7th	Ethan Driskell	Marshall	63.5​
5th-6th	Walter Rouse	Oklahoma	63.1​
UDFA	Anim Dankwah	Howard	62.4​
3rd	Roger Rosengarten	Washington	61​
7th	Donovan Jennings	USF	58.2​
7th	Delmar Glaze	Maryland	57.9​
UDFA	Karsen Barnhart	Michigan	57.2​
4th	Matt Goncalves	Pittsburgth	55.1​
3rd	Brandon Coleman	TCU	52​
UDFA	Andrew Coke	TCU	50.3​

OG
Rank	Name	College	Zone Grade
3rd	Mason McCormick	SD State	94.7​
2nd	Christian Haynes	Uconn	89.2​
3rd	Cooper Beebe	Kansas State	81.2​
7th-UDFA	Layden Robinson	Texas A&M	74.2​
5th	Zak Zinter	Michigan	72.9​
UDFA	X'Zauvea Gadlin	Liberty	72.1​
3rd-4th	Christian Mahogany	Boston College	67.3​
4th	Trevor Keegan	Michigan	60.1​
6th	Javion Cohen	Miami (FL)	59.1​
UDFA	CJ Hanson	Holy Cross	56.8​

C
Rank	Name	College	Zone Grade
2nd	Jackson Powers-Johnson	Oregon	83.8​
4th	Hunter Nourzad	Penn State	79.2​
3rd-4th	Sedrick Van Pran	Georgia	75.4​
UDFA	Matt Lee	Miami (FL)	74.6​
UDFA	Kingsley Equakun	Florida	73.7​
5th-6th	Beaux Limmer	Arkansas	72.4​
7th-UDFA	Dylan McMahon	NC State	71.5​
UDFA	Drake Nugent	Michigan	70.1​
2nd	Zach Frazier	West Virginia	69.6​
UDFA	Charles Turner	LSU	68.5​
UDFA	Andrew Raym	Oklahoma	59.2​
4th	Tanor Bortolini	Wisconsin	56.4​
UDFA	Nick Gargiulo	South Carolina	55.7​

The saints need a Guard now more than another Tackle, but they probably draft one of each going forward. To me, these are the players the Saints are targeting at Guard:

Mason McCormick RAS 9.96 (Guard, 89.2 Zone Blocking)

"McCormick’s explosiveness numbers were above the 99th percentile, and overall, his numbers earned him a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.96 — good for seventh-best all-time out of over 1,500 guard prospects in recorded history."

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/mason-mccormick-draft-scouting-2024/

Christian Haynes RAS 9.11 (Guard, 97.4 Zone Blocking)

According to the Relative Athletic Score created by Kent Lee Platte, Haynes scored 9.11 out of 10.00, which ranks him 130th out of 1445 offensive guards from 1987 to 2024.

Eric Watts and Christian Haynes performed well at the NFL Scouting combine

The two UConn Huskies at the NFL Scouting Combine both stood out among their 2024 draft class peers.

www.theuconnblog.com

 

[ELLIASJWILLIAMS]

Right...which was interesting for the Vikings because most of those guys were 1st and 2nd round picks. I think all but one of their starters in 2021 came from 1st two rounds. That's why I keep harping that Bowers likely would have been the pick because they tend to prefer skill position players over olineman due to the scheme making them look better as a unit vs needing individual stars. However, having a good invidual player can only help.

I'd think the 3 Cone drill would be more useful for OL than straight line speed. I do remember all those old Broncos teams having smaller, more athletic types on their OL's. I don't believe they spent a lot of higher round picks on them because they didn't need the physically imposing players that go in the 1st/2nd rounds.