This is almost definitive. Any one continuing this debate had better come with strong evidence.
Twenty offensive linemen were drafted within the top 100 picks in April. Two of the six offensive linemen drafted in the first round were centers (though neither played center in high school). Seven of the first 10 offensive linemen taken in the NFL Draft are interior guys. Thirteen of the 20 top 100 picks were ranked inside the national top 500 per 247Sports. Nine were four-star prospects. Four were unranked completely. There were nine prospects ranked in the top 100 between the 2013 and 2015 class, who were available in the draft but went unselected. Five of those nine transferred at some point during their college career while each of the 20 drafted prospects finished with the school he signed with.
This is no surprise and it is consistent with the first takeaway. Offensive linemen that land in the NFL are athletes, not just wide bodies, and there are a lot of ways to sniff out an athlete beyond the film. Does an offensive lineman play defensive line too? Twelve of the prospects that ended up taken within the first 100 picks played significant snaps on defense (I could only verify that two of the nine undrafted played defense). We have high school testing numbers on six of the first 100 selections. The average 40 time was 5.24, shuttle was 4.77 and vertical was 27.1. The average numbers for the three undrafted prospects that we have data on were 5.7, 5.13 and 23.6, respectively. There’s also the multisport background that gives valuable insight. Quenton Nelson practiced taekwondo. Mike McGlinchey was a four-sport athlete that played lacrosse. Nevada second-round pick Austin Corbett was a four-sport athlete that wrestled, played basketball and threw shot and discus at a high level. Joseph Noteboom played ice hockey while Chukwuma Okorafor had a heavy soccer background. At least four of the 20 drafted prospects converted from tight end in either high school or college. Six of the 20 threw shot put better than 54 feet. Only one of the nine undrafted had a shot put mark of better than 50 feet.
Redirect Notice
The reason why you see so many 3* OL drafted is because there are so many. Just like the overall draft picks favor 3*s but the stats show a better chance of being drafted 4/5* >3*. How many 4/5* OL at UF have been drafted in 1-3 compared to 3*s.
