Dallas Cowboys Draft: Scouting 7 Offensive Tackles in 7 Different Rounds

Dallas Cowboys in Round 4

Adrian Ealy, Oklahoma

Value: Excellent

Ealy would be another player in a long line of Oklahoma offensive tackles to hear their name called in the NFL Draft. In fact, Ealy would likely be the second offensive linemen from his own school taken in this draft cycle. It’s pretty impressive how much talent Oklahoma is producing as of late with players like Cody Ford, Bobby Evans, Dru Samia, Ben Powers, and Creed Humphrey.

The 6-foot-6, 325-pound tackle displays good size and a thick upper body, but uncharacteristically shorter arms at only 32 5/8 inches. His body type does a pretty good indicator of his playstyle; a powerful run blocker with solid athletic ability as a pass blocker.

Oklahoma is very creative with their running game presenting similar looks while ultimately changing up the play call depending on how the defensive line reacts to the front. For this reason, the offensive line is often asked to be incredibly sharp, mentally, so blocking assignments don’t get mixed up. Their mental and technical prowess is why Oklahoma tends to have some of the highest rushing efficiency in the entire country.

Ealy displays the ability to move and drive defenders away from the ball with his solid agility, lateral quickness, good punch timing and location, and instincts. He likely would be best in a gap running scheme in order to take advantage of his good upper body and grip strength.

In pass protection, he displays solid agility that allows him to generally hit his set points. He can struggle with speed and counter pass rush plans in large part due to his shorter and leaner legs that don’t allow him to change direction as easily. His shorter arms will allow defenders to initiate contact at the POA which could be a problem because of his adequate balance.

In all, Ealy does display enough pass block ability to, at the very least, be a spot starter for a team in the same way Brandon Knight is for the Cowboys. The greatest difference is Ealy is a better run blocker. At the beginning of Day 3, you won’t find me complaining about Ealy wearing the star.