One of the most interesting prospects to watch in Mobile, Alabama at the 75th annual Senior Bowl event was Houston OT Patrick Paul. Before the week started, I was excited to see him on the field after his measurements dropped the night before practices began. He measured 6-7 333 pounds with 36 1/2-inch arms and an impressive 86 3/4-inch wingspan. For comparison, people were fawning over OT Dawand Jones’ 87-inch wingspan just a year ago in Mobile. After watching Paul the first day of practice, I knew I wanted to speak with him to see what he is all about.
Paul was born in Nigeria and is a first-generation American.
“I’m originally from Nigeria,” Paul told me. “Parents just had a change of heart. Moved us back there, but we quickly moved back to America ’cause the opportunities were right here.”
Things worked out well for him and his family as his brother, Chris Paul, was drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 draft by the Washington Commanders where he has started eight games in his first two seasons at guard. His other brother, Nick, also played football at Northeastern State University.
His body type might not suggest it, but Paul is adept at multiple sports. I noticed on the Houston team website that he listed his sports hero as former UFC champion Conor McGregor.
“I’ve been a martial artist for six years,” Paul said. When asked how that translates to his game in football, he said, “Hands, footwork, hand-eye coordination.”
An offensive tackle with that kind of length who knows how to use it with solid punch timing and placement is a dangerous combination, and he put some of that on display throughout the week of practices. He has been working on his use of hands with offensive line guru Duke Manyweather this offseason preparing for the draft.
“He works a lot of single independent hands,” Paul told our Jonathan Heitritter in a separate interview. “Actually, before we left, I was working on it. Just working on applying it. You get certain rushes, and you gotta go in certain situations. You can’t do it all the time.”
He played almost exclusively at left tackle in college but was asked about the difference between playing on the left and right side.
“Depends on what type of quarterback you have, but it’s about the same. Left side, if you’re defending the quarterback’s blind side, it’s a lot more at stake,” he said.
The footwork and hands are the two most difficult things to translate over to the other side as players build up muscle memory, so their pass sets and punches come as second nature. Given his fighting background, he should be more comfortable than most with using either hand. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in an interesting position as they will most likely be after a tackle in the draft. It is unclear which side they will be looking to address as 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones is naturally a left tackle, but they had him at right tackle for the final ten games of the season. Head coach Mike Tomlin said that he is “undecided” if Jones will be moving back to the left side.
One thing that may be more important than the side he plays on is the scheme in which he is used to blocking for. Houston operates an air raid offense.
“We ran inside zone, we ran gap, but we were an air raid team,” Paul said.
The Steelers’ new offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith, does not have a track record of running a lot of gap/power run plays. Further, the Steelers figure to be a run-heavy team in 2024, so the lack of overall run-blocking reps coming from an air raid offense could be a tough projection for Paul to a place like Pittsburgh.
