When projecting college players to the NFL, one of the most obviously important aspects of that process is the understanding of scheme and positional fit at the next level. One of the more interesting parts of that process is the number of college offensive tackles who have been asked to kick inside to guard when they go pro.
Whether due to height, arm length, movement and agility concerns, or simple team need, it’s happened a lot in the last decade. Zack Martin, Joel Bitonio, Brandon Scherff, Kelechi Osemele, and Jamon Brown are among the tackle-to-guard converts who have played levels from starter to All-Pro over the last decade. Mitch Morse even converted from left tackle at Missouri to center for the Chiefs, who selected him in the second round of the 2015 draft, and Morse has played at a high level for both Kansas City and Buffalo.
That said, it’s not always sensible to move a guy around. With the retirement of left tackle Anthony Castonzo, the Colts are reportedly toying with the idea of moving left guard Quenton Nelson outside. Which seems insane to me. Nelson is the best guard of his era, and one of the best I’ve ever scouted. I had Nelson as the best overall player in the 2018 draft class ahead of everyone from Lamar Jackson to Josh Allen to Baker Mayfield to Nick Chubb, and if I had to do it all over again in 2021, I’d still give Nelson the nod among all players in that class.
You can draft a left tackle (I had the Colts taking Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw 21st overall in my most recent mock draft). You can sign a free-agent left tackle, and the Colts have the cap space to do just that. But you don’t take the best player at his position in at least the last decade and start messing with his natural home. At least, that’s how I see it.
How I also see it is that just because a player doesn’t fit your physical parameters for the position doesn’t mean he can’t play the position at an exceedingly high level, no matter the circumstance. What this is all leading up to is the professional future of Northwestern offensive lineman Rashawn Slater.
At 6-foot-4 and 314 pounds, Slater (literally) falls short when it comes to the preferred height for NFL left tackles, and there are arm length concerns as well. That’s led a lot of people to automatically kick Slater inside to guard in their heads once he hits the NFL, but that’s not at all how I would project Slater’s future. Especially after the first time I watched Slater deal with Ohio State’s Chase Young in 2019. Slater opted out of the 2020 season, but after this game, you could say he’d done all he needed to do.
The herd: "Rashawn Slater isn't long or agile enough to be an NFL tackle. Just move him to guard."
Me: "That is 100% Grade-A horse hockey."
Chase Young, probably: "Yeah, that's a load of garbage." pic.twitter.com/YhYJ5itNfo
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 4, 2021
And I’m not alone.
Rashawn Slater is going to fall short of the arm length threshold for several teams. But his tape says he can play tackle.
Scratch that, his tape says he can thrive at tackle. Can’t overthink it – Slater is the top OT prospect not named Sewell (and has been since the summer). https://t.co/1XVRgUTsaJ
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) December 7, 2020
Mr. Brugler is absolutely on the nose here. Longtime offensive line performance coach Duke Manyweather, who I worked with on Bleacher Report’s NFL1000 project in 2017 and 2018, and has worked with Slater himself, had this to say on the subject.
“Rashawn is a tackle, I don’t care what anyone says,” Manyweather told Brugler last October. “At some point, teams have to realize they’re missing badly on offensive linemen because they’re looking at bull[bleep] things that are ancillary. Don’t get me wrong, things like length are important when trying to make up the gap. But Rashawn understands technique and body position extremely well. I’ve been doing this a long time and rarely miss on this – he’s a tackle.”
Against Ohio State and specifically Chase Young in the sixth game of the 2019 season, Slater never let his play slip at all despite the fact that the Wildcats took a 52-3 butt-kicking from the Buckeyes. Slater was powerful, technically sound, and mean off the snap from start to finish, and when Young (the 2020 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year) faced Slater, he was able to accomplish very little. In fact, there were times when Slater physically dominated Young, which is something a lot of NFL tackles found exceedingly difficult to do. Slater allowed no sacks, no quarterback hits, and two quarterback hurries in the game, and no sacks, one quarterback hit, and four quarterback hurries in 355 pass-blocking snaps in the 2019 season.
“You know that NBA clip with Matt Barnes and the in-bounds play where Kobe (Bryant) doesn’t blink? That’s Rashawn. He doesn’t blink,” Manyweather concluded when asked about the Young matchup. “Him and Chase were matched up 16, 17 times throughout the game, and Rashawn won almost every rep because he was so clear on his strong suits and his technique. I saw a calm, consistent player.”
Watch Rashawn Slater ( LT – No. 70) handle this Swipe Move from Chase Young in 2019.
Didn't even flinch, keeps his center of gravity, resets his hands, and then eliminates Young from the play. Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/3cvsNUN0Sv
— Kyle Yates (@KyleYNFL) January 8, 2021
So did I, which is why I sent Slater to the Chargers with the 13th overall pick in my mock draft. Let’s go to the tape and take a detailed look at the traits and attributes of Rashawn Slater, Professional Left Tackle.
Slater’s first rep with Young on his side was an inside run play, so Young wasn’t his focus. Instead, Slater went quickly to the second level and just bombed linebacker Malik Harrison. Slater’s nasty athletic temperament shows up over and over on his tape, and this is but one example. He’s great at climbing to linebacker depth, re-positioning if he has to, and setting the edge wherever it needs to be set.
On the very next play, watch how Slater uses a good functional kick-step to stay in line with Young. Slater won’t make anybody forget Joe Thomas with his ability to protect the pocket arc with movement, but it’s good enough. Slater has to scramble a bit with his hands to match Young’s timing, but in this instance, he’s got the power to get away with it.
Slater’s rep against Young with 12:16 left in the first half is where we can start to dispense with concerns about his arm length. Why? Because Slater has a great adaptive strategy — he’s already learned to get his arms out quickly and aggressively, and plant his hands on the defender tor leverage and power. Young tries to checkmate him by slipping out of the block, but that’s just not going to happen. Slater will occasionally drop his hands too quickly, and that leads to pressure, but it’s a fixable issue.
As far as Slater’s movement skills in space and his ability to keep his head on a swivel… yeah, no worries there, Occasionally in this game, Northwestern would put a tight end directly on Young and ask Slater to back up to the pocket with a “molly” block (the same kind of thing NFL teams started doing in the early 1980s to counter Lawrence Taylor’s furious rush), so understand that Slater can get things done all over the place.
But it was this block with 8:43 left in the first half where I started to get giddy about Slater’s transition to NFL left tackle. As I said before, you just don’t see a lot of offensive linemen physically dominate Chase Young like this at any position, at any level.
(Also: Phooey on your arm length concerns).
“I do see myself as a tackle,” Slater said last October. “I think I’ve put out some good film of my strengths. But at the same time, I do have that versatility – I can play all five positions on the offensive line. I played guard in high school and I’ve never played center, but I believe I can learn it.”
I’m sure he could, but he shouldn’t have to. Were it not for the presence of Oregon’s Penei Sewell, who I believe possesses a skill set you see from a left tackle maybe once or twice in a decade, Slater would be my OT1 by a considerable margin.
If I were to make an NFL comparison for Slater at this point in his development, two players come to mind: Patriots left tackle Isaiah Wynn, and Buccaneers right tackle Tristan Wirfs. Both players are strength monsters with the functional agility and adaptive efficiency to get things done at the edge of the offensive line at the highest altitude, and there’s no doubt in my mind that the NFL team that selects Rashawn Slater can benefit from those same attributes — if that team is so inclined.
