The 6-foot-6, 309-pound Beau Benzschawel is a menacing run blocker with above-average size and athleticism for the guard position. He has started games at right tackle, guard and center throughout his collegiate career, and he played tight end, defensive end, basketball and baseball at Wisconsin’s Grafton High School. He led all qualifying draft-eligible interior offensive linemen in run-blocking grade (88.9) and ranked second among all FBS guards with 200-plus run-blocking snaps in positively-graded run-block percentage (19.68%) in 2018.
Apparently, the ratings for this guy are all over the map, some said as early as the 3rd. Whatev, let’s see if he can learn to pass pro well enough to play in the NFL.
BO KNOWS!!! Beau had 20 teams vying for his services and smartly chose the Lions that have an opening for a starting RG. Surprised he wasn’t drafted and I bet he also has a huge guaranteed salary for an UDFA… Nice pick up:)
I’m so glad to see this quite frankly. He seems like he is pretty athletic, so hopefully he can improve his pass pro, and become a starting quality G for us sooner rather than later.
From what I’ve read he can be overpowered, so he needs to get physically stronger. Hard to say how good his coaching was at Wisconsin, which is mostly a running football team. And the college game these days is quite a bit different from the pros, so many OL guys come into the NFL with a lot to learn technique-wise. Odd that he didn’t get draft at some point though, but yay for us that he didn’t.
I do think we oughta temper our expectations for him though, if it takes him a year to develop into a decent starting RG then I’d have to call that a win. Big win.
IMO, it’s always insane when UDFAs make a roster, let alone start. I have zero expectations on this dude. Seems if he was this good, he’d at least have been drafted in a mid round.
Dude got beat hard in at least 2 or 3 games against decent talent. Reading his bio, he looked bad at the senior bowl too. There is a reason guys get undrafted, but there is also reason why some hiring managers take risks on guys they think they can make better.
Apparently, the guy is a pretty good run blocker, has good size, and athletic. He needs to be coached up on pass pro, but it sounds like he has a good foundation to build from.
Backup special teams guy. Sounds like a bulldozer with average to poor technique who winds up on his back too much
Interestingly, it seems like we’re really building the team to be a run-first team. This is in stark opposition to Stafford’s entire career.
We are loading up on tight ends who can block and road-grading lineman. The big question now with this offense is, how well can Stafford run a run-first scheme with ostensibly way more play action than shotgun?
That’s a lot of dough for a UDFA (Ryan Pope), I dunno if he’s gonna be NFL ready this year but if he can be next year’s swing tackle then it’s a good deal IMHO. Maybe even a starter down the road if Crosby slides inside. But that’s maybe just wishful thinking at this point, although you don’t give that kind of money to a guy that probably won’t make the roster.
I thought there was a total limit on the money a team can give to it’s UDFAs. This guy must’ve taken just about all of it.
“The Detroit Lions felt good enough about their offensive line that they didn’t spend any of their nine NFL draft picks there.”
That and the faith they have in Darrell Bevell and Jeff Davidson.
Those guys are probably throwing darts at a Jim Bob Cooter cardboard cut out in the coaches break room.