Dallas Cowboys Draft: Scouting 7 Offensive Tackles in 7 Different Rounds
Dallas Cowboys in Round 6
Dan Moore, Texas A&M
Value: Reach
If you heard, Texas A&M had a pretty good offensive line last season. Nicknamed the Maroon Goons, the Aggies had one of the most effective running games in a conference littered in interior defensive line talent. (Or at least it usually is) When you take 5 equally sized 300+ pound human beings and give them solid technique, they’ll move some people in a power running game. Collectively, they didn’t allow a sack in eight straight games.
How does the blind-side tackle of one of the best offensive lines in college football end up in the sixth round and it still be a reach of a selection? Moore standing at roughly 6-foot-5, 309 pounds possesses a big upper body and decently long arms. This is great in the running game as he upper body strength and solid hand placement allows him to latch onto players and prevent them from disengaging his blocks as he can drive them backwards and steer them away from the ball carrier.
The issue comes when he needs to pass protect. Because of his top-heavy build and adequate athletic ability, he routinely struggles to miss his set points when faced up against 7 or 9 techniques especially on speed and counter rushes. He displays a solid anchor that in large part comes from his solid competitive toughness and ability to use his arms to drive defenders up and off their base.
At the Senior Bowl, Moore struggled in the 1-on-1s and it had a lot to do with his inability to read and react to the smaller and more nimble edge defenders that came to the event. After missing coming out of his stance on time, he couldn’t time his punches correctly nor find the correct punch location.
At this point, we’ve reached the point of the offensive tackle class with a lot of undrafted free agents. Some possess more developmental upside than others. Players like Moore could be valuable if he can complete one NFL offseason getting stronger in his core and lower body with the hope that this can help him match edge defenders off the line of scrimmage better.