Top 10 interior offensive linemen in the 2019 NFL Draft

#3 Elgton Jenkins, Mississippi State

In protection Jenkins pops out of his stance with square up pads and awaiting eyes

A Mississippi native, Jenkins has been a versatile performer for the Bulldogs for all four years. He started three of eleven games played between left and right tackle as a freshman and then five between left tackle and guard the following season.

However it wasn’t until his junior year when he moved to center that Jenkins really got attention from the scouting community and his stock really rose his final year with MSU, when he was the integral piece of an offensive line that was responsible for the SEC’s highest number of total rushing yards and yards per attempt.

At 6’4”, 310 pounds with 34-inch arms, Jenkins has more tackle size. He might not be the most physically imposing run-blocker, but he puts a hat on a hat, winning by torqueing opposing pads with glue-like grip and bringing his hips around to seal defensive linemen.

He does not let having aggressive nose guards right over him bother his snaps, putting the ball right on the money every single time.

Jenkins continues to move his legs and bring through his hips into initial blocks, while showing awareness of when he can climb to the second level by feeling his teammate coming around and eyes on that second defender- He looks comfortable at putting hands on linebackers in open space and often times even beats those guys to the spot.

In protection Jenkins pops out of his stance with square up pads and awaiting eyes. He makes it look easy to move laterally with rushers with rapid, controlled, short steps and a quick punch, as he rarely gets out of position.

While his pad level gets pretty high on occasion, he has a strong base to anchor and the agility to recover after over-setting first. Something you feel like he is in pretty bad position to be pushed back, but the center somehow finds a way to recapture his balance.

Jenkins stays ready for looping defensive linemen on different stunts and twists if he is originally uncovered and has no blitzer to pick up.

He helps his fellow linemen secure their responsibilities when not being matched up against somebody and I have even seen him make up for his guards whiffing in protection by flipping his hips and driving that defender off the spot to give his quarterback room to step up. Overall the Bulldog center surrendered just six total QB pressures in all of 2018.

The tall center is quite dependent on his upper half in the run game, extending outside his pads a little early on and can be more of an “arms-bocker”. He barely drives people off the spot by himself and might be limited to zone-based run schemes.

As a pass-protector his hands can get a little wide and I think needs to tighten his base some. Too often he is taking a blow early on, looking to catch the rusher, and is forced to recover, which he won’t able to do at such a high rate against savvy NFL defenders.

Jenkins Had a pretty strong Senior Bowl week and the problems I saw from him on tape look very correctable.

He gave up an early sack to Quinnen Williams in the Alabama game, but overall he more than held his own versus a strong Bama D-line, even though he might not have been left one-on-one a lot.

Every year there seems to be a center that moves up into the late first round and I think that could be Jenkins or the next guy on this list.