But even the ones who were OK for a tick like Andrews or McKinnie were in the end disappointments. Guys you wish had been just a little bit better (or a lot, in some cases). Very, very few of them surprise us, or meet the dreams of what we believe they can be. Maybe that’s on us for having those dreams, and maybe it makes them seem a little more disappointing when they don’t reach them. Either way, the vast majority of them underperform their draft stocks.
Also, when you just put on Proctor’s tape from this year… it’s pretty bleak man. Yeah, there are some highlights, and even a couple of games when you think “hey maybe he’s finally putting it together,” only for the next game to be not just two steps back, but 5. He’s just beat over and over again by anyone with any juice whatsoever. And in the end, I have to go back to what I’ve seen, rather than what I think he might be if he puts it all together.
Well my point was with guys like Andrews they never put together the fitness and nutrition aspect. Proctor probably won’t either. But I just think that these massive men can become absolute game changers if they commit themselves to physical fitness.
As for Proctor’s 2025 I’m not going to use the tape thing bc I have not studying them. I do know that those that do chart pass protection sets had a really nice middle patch. 3-4 games in which he graded out quite well. And then that was sandwiched by crap.
I get it, but how many of these have there been? Maybe three ever? And it’s very possible they would have been very good even if they were regular-sized OL. It might not have been their freakish size that made them good, it might have been their juice, smarts, etc… Sure there are advantages to being that big, but there are some clear disadvantages as well.
The middle of Proctor’s season was better than the beginning and end, for sure, but even then it’s more like “hey maybe he’s starting to put it together-”good rather than actually dominant-good. The kind of good that needs expectations behind them to get people thinking. If he was just some random giant guy, nobody would have called them good, just “no longer really bad.” Certainly they weren’t like the last 5-6 games of Freeling’s season, which were legitimately great.
I think what I’m learning is you have a soft spot for giant OTs the way you do speedsters lol.
Not really. Certainly not like spindly burner wideouts. I don’t even want to draft Proctor. I liked Bell when I first discussed him with you but he was a day 3 pick. I liked Pearce a ton last year once we got to day 3 but obviously I missed something with him. I didn’t even really like Becton when he came out.
But I tend to like OTs that are unusually athletic and I tend to like them with size. I do agree that anything above 330 is usually diminishing returns. Proctor’s frame is big enough that I think he’d look great at 335. I do think I like Davis (kind of flying by my seat of the pants a bit on that one) and he just weighed in at 335 and isn’t even all that tall. But he sure seems to move well to me.
Yeah, fair enough. I was mostly just giving you the business.
IMO the difference with Pierce was that he’d done what we wanted the giants to have done in college, shown the discipline and work ethic to actually get his body right. I don’t trust anyone who can’t do that at a big time program, or really anyone who does it their last year before the draft. Sometimes they really have turned over a new leaf, but very rarely.
I also firmly believe Proctor’s athleticism is overrated. Yes, he’s very explosive and very good in a straight line, freakishly so, but I think that is being conflated with “good all-around athlete,” and you and I both know that isn’t necessarily true. You are hoping that with weight loss it might be true, but we really don’t have any evidence of it. I think at best you’re looking at average lateral juice no matter what he weighs, but I could certainly be wrong about that.
I’m not overly worried about the weight number, honestly. Wirfs and Penei hover in the 330s and they’re possibly the two best OL in the league. I think the height is honestly probably more of a problem, combined with clunky feet. Mims, Mailata, Ogden… they’re heavy too, but their feet aren’t clunky. It’s just a matter of athleticism.
Well I do think 360lbs is just too heavy. But more than anything it’s body constitution. I don’t want OT’s with big beer bellies. And while it’s not “proven” I feel pretty good about him dropping 30lbs of fat giving him a definitive bounce in athleticism. I just don’t at all feel good about him being able to do that.
So I’m definitely not a proponent of that pick. I just can see the upside and IMO my reading of the tea leaves suggests much of the league is higher on him than draftniks. I could be wrong about that but that is my impression.
One last thing about talking to him at the Shrine Bowl. It’s the freaking Shrine Bowl. You better talk to him. He’s probably going higher than just about anybody in that building.
Oh I agree with this, but I also saw it coming, so not terribly surprised.
100%. I don’t care that we talked to him, we talk to tons of guys that don’t end up Lions. It’s more that I’m somewhere in the denial/acceptance phase because I’m quite certain Dan and Brad are gonna be into him. I think I told you that like 4-5 months ago. I just hope there are others we like more.
This guy SHOULD be on our radar. He is intriguing. And yes, the Alabama OL coach had issues. His 2023 center left Alabama due to snapping issues they could not correct. Seth McLaughlin left Alabama and won the Rimington Award for best college center in 2024 as a Buckeye. Now there is this player with technical/talent issues front and center.
Holmes needs to look closely at these issues. He needs to know if this is correctable OR baked into the cake. If correctable he has elite size you can’t teach. If technique can be corrected he could be incredible. OR…a disaster if he doesn’t work hard and is out-of-shape. Speed rushers will kill him. Holmes should be interested in this kid. Premium position, premium size, possibly terrible feet.
Oh man i used to physically feel fear when I’d watch him play.
You’re right I just checked. Feels like yesterday I saw him in the top 5. Now he dropped pretty far. That kind of makes me happy tho If they like him. I’m still in that trust Brad and DC 100% camp.
I get what you’re saying tho. Some of these over sized guys haven’t panned out. I get excited over these super bigs. I got super excited for Bromart and Manu.
Dude they had Dan Skipper starting at LT and even Manu while keeping Peni at RT, a lot of there run game goes that way. Your welcome to think what you want. I do think they move him.
The Cardinals need a tackle to pair with Paris Johnson.
Overall, Proctor played well in 2023 as a freshman. Except for struggling against Michigan in the college football playoff, Proctor was generally reliable in protecting Jalen Milroe. Proctor (6-7, 360) is a massive left tackle with a very good skill set of size and strength. Proctor is quick and athletic for his size, but some might feel he could be a right tackle candidate for the NFL. The tapes against Missouri and South Carolina suggest that. NFL team sources say they have concerns about Proctor’s weight. They feel he will lose weight for the combine and pre-draft process, but they are worried he won’t keep the weight off and could get too heavy. That could cut down on his effectiveness as a pro player.
Charlie is an excellent mock drafter, but I don’t think he’s a very good evaluator. I think he, like Rich Gosselin (the original mock draft guru) are excellent information gatherers. In fact Gosselin says straight up he didn’t know anything about the prospects, he just had the best contacts. “I’m a writer, not a scout.”
Charlie is renowned for the work he does collecting info, but his early mock drafts are no better than anyone else’s because he hasn’t had time to gather as much information. His mock at this time last year had Ezieruaku, Emmanwori, Revel, etc.. in the first, Booker, Mykel Williams, Conerly, Campbell, Pearce more than ten picks away from where they would go. Not awful, but not the award-winning stuff he puts out in April.
Do you even read what they print in Draft Buzz? ESPN in THAT link has him at a rating of 91/100. Rivals has him at 100%. 247 has him at 99/100. Draft Buzz uses the opinions of these sites and individual writers for their rankings. “Made the 2025 Feldman freaks list - he wrote:"The biggest, by far, of Alabama’s three O-line Freaks, the 6-7, 366-pound Proctor’s body has 274 pounds of lean muscle mass with 26 percent body fat. His strength numbers are awesome. This summer, he squatted 815 pounds, benched 535 and power cleaned 405.” Dude, your personal biases are bull shit.
If they like him. I’m still in that trust Brad and DC 100% camp.
