Today I wanted to look at and provide some data for offensive tackles in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft. Couple notes before we dive in. First, the players we view today were invited to the combine, and/or the Shrine or Senior Bowl games. Second, the player needed a minimum of 150 total snaps to make the list, and some small school names were left off due to Pro Football Focus not grading them. Also, there may be disagreements/names missing depending on personal opinions, and my list took into account size, projected position moves in the NFL, and/or substantial snaps at the position in their final college season in 2022.
With those things in mind, let’s dive in starting with rush and pass snaps to get a gauge of the players’ opportunities and how often they were able to stay on the field for their squads last season:
Let’s start with the nine players on the top right, who provided above-average availability for their teams in both the run and pass game. Illinois Alex Palczewski had the third most total snaps (894) with 466 in the run game that ranked second and 428 pass snaps (12th). Connor Galvin out of Baylor had the fourth rank in total snaps (883) with 451 run snaps (third) and 432 pass snaps which ranked tenth. Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski ranked fifth in total snaps (882) with 474 pass snaps which ranked third and 407 rush snaps (eighth). Anton Harrison out of Oklahoma had 862 total snaps (sixth) with 447 pass snaps and 415 in the run game which each ranked seventh. Oregon’s Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu had 836 total snaps (seventh) with 433 pass snaps and 403 in the run game that each ranked ninth.
Darnell Wright out of Tennessee ranked eighth in total snaps with 829, with 471 pass snaps which ranked fifth but much lower in run snaps with 358 (16th). Another Oregon product in T.J. Bass lands on the top right, with 828 total snaps (ninth) with 426 pass snaps (13th) and 401 run snaps that ranked tenth. Auburn’s Kilian Zierer had the 11th rank in total snaps (813) with 415 pass snaps (14th) and 396 run snaps that ranked 11th. Blake Freeland out of BYU was the final player with 800+ total snaps (805, 12th), with 446 pass snaps which ranked eighth and 359 rush snaps landing at 15th.
From a total snaps perspective, the leaders are on the top middle of the chart with 550+ pass snaps, starting with Indiana’s Luke Haggard. He topped the list of 29 players with 902 total snaps, with 573 pass snaps which ranked second along with 326 in the run game (20th). Asim Richards from North Carolina was second in total snaps, the only other player with 900 or more on the list, and also had the top rank in pass snaps (574) along with 326 rush snaps.
William & Mary’s Colby Sorsdal had the most snaps in the run game (482) but fifth least pass snaps (316) on his 798 total snaps that ranked 13th. Arkansas Dalton Wagner landed below the mean in pass snaps (382, 17th) but landed 10th in total snaps due to his 435 in the run game that ranked fourth.
With this important quantity context laid out, let’s look at the PFF run and pass blocking grades for the 2022 college season:
The player with the best-balanced grades was Freeland, one of only two players with a 90+ pass block grade (90.1) along with an 86.5 run block grade that also ranked second, while being above the mean in opportunity, with his eighth rank in pass snaps making his pass grade even more notable. The top rank in pass block grade was Skoronski (93) on the third most snaps which is extremely impressive, pairing this with an 81.7 run block grade that ranked fourth on the eighth most snaps. Sorsdal led the pack with an 89.3 run block grade, pairing this with an 83.8 pass block grade that ranked fifth, and important to remember his higher number of snaps in the run game emphasizing his strength there.
Ohio State’s Dawand Jones ranked third in run block grade (83.8) along with an 82-pass block grade, but was below the mean with 693 total snaps which ranked 16th. Palczewski had an 81-run block grade that ranked fifth on the second most snaps, pairing this with an 80-pass block grade (12th) with the same rank in opportunities. Ohio State’s Paris Johnson landed similarly in the grades with an 80.8 in run blocking that ranked sixth, a 79-pass block grade (13th), but was near the mean in snap opportunities with a slightly above the mean 402 pass snaps that ranked 15th.
Broderick Jones out of Georgia had the third-ranked 85.4 pass block grade on a below-average number of snaps, along with a 73.8 run block grade (12th) where he was above the mean in opportunities. Wagner is the final above-the-mean player on both sides of the ball, particularly as a run blocker (77.4, seventh) where he had well above average opportunities and a 78.7 pass block grade that ranked 14th and was just below average in snaps.
So, the players that graded and were available for their teams at above-average rates were Skoronski, Freeland, Palczewski, Sorsdal. Johnson had above the mean grades and was at the mean in opportunities. Dawand Jones and Broderick Jones had above-average grades on less opportunity comparatively. Aumavae-Laulu and Wagner toted the line in one aspect or another but notable on the longer list of names I hope the Steelers do their homework on as potentials to wear the black and gold. While it’s still early in the process, I hope you enjoyed the information and learned something new about the players.
What are your thoughts on the data and the prospects? Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
