Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2021 NFL Draft

#2 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Rashawn Slater (Northwestern)

6’ 4”, 315 pounds; SR

Rashawn Slater

This former top-700 overall recruit immediately became an impact starter for the Wildcats and excelled at both tackle spots.

Rashawn Slater started out at right tackle, where he was named in the Big Ten All-Freshman team. In year two, he made the third-team all-conference for his services at that spot. He switched to the left in 2019, where he somehow was only a consensus honorable All-Big Ten selection as an 11-game starter, despite being one of the consistent players at the position in the country.

As a run-blocker, Slater uses good leverage, makes the head of defenders snap back when he meets them and rolls his hips through contact to go with excellent hand-placement. He is so technically sound in that area, whether it’s blowing the B-gap wide open on the front side of zone plays and locking out his man or showing off his mobility from the backside, scooping up interior guys, cutting them off and taking the appropriate angles up to the second level, where he establishes contact with force and takes some linebackers for a ride.

He just bullied Tuf Borland and those other Ohio State linebackers in 2019, and it was very much the same story for the front seven of Stanford that same season. So it’s not just technical refinement, but he actually sets the tone with the way he drives defenders off the ball.

Slater's athleticism is also apparent when he almost backpedals on the backside of rollout protections. And he displays that fluidity in his hips when adjusting angles on the move or pivoting back around to cut off pursuit defenders. Slater is pretty impressive with the way he puts hands on DBs in the screen game for such a big mauling dude.

In pass-pro, he has a quick hop out of his stance to counter speed rushers, and he displays great timing and placement in his punch, attacking the middle of the chest to avoid getting long-armed.

He does a nice job of keeping edge rushers at the end of his reach, and when they try to knock his hands down, they quickly land back on the target. When his man actually does successfully attack his chest and gets some momentum, Slater quickly shuts that down by kicking his feet backwards and re-anchoring.

He has plenty of junk in the trunk to hold his ground against big base D-ends as well as wide rushers looking to convert speed to power. So you really have to string moves together exceptionally well to even get a couple of wins in a game.

Slater has something on tape that no other linemen in this NFL Draft has done – he was clearly the better player one-on-one that day against a generational player like Chase Young. Whether it was locking him out and making him stop almost every time they were at the point of attack in the run game or the way he completely neutralized him as a pass-rusher.

You saw the confidence the Northwestern coaching staff had in their left tackle, as they left him soloed up against Young for pretty much the whole time. They put a tight end over to double every single snap he went up against the right tackle.

In 2019, Slater surrendered no sacks, just one hit on the QB and five overall pressures over the course of 355 pass-blocking snaps.

As impressive as all that is, Slater can’t quite be number one, as he doesn’t have the type of physical upside Penei Sewell has. Slayer doesn’t quite have those nimble feet or elite recovery abilities, and he doesn’t meet those prototype measurements in terms of height or length at 6’ 4” and 33-inch arms.

Slater doesn’t the loosest lower body among this group, and his foot speed isn’t quite there to cut off speed-rushers around the corner solely with his lower body. While his tape is very clean overall, his hands and pads do have a tendency of sliding a little high as plays progress. Because of his measurables, some NFL scouts might want to see transition to guard at the next level.

However, I absolutely believe Slater should stay on the edge. What he does lack in arm length, he makes up with hand-combat, and while he might not quite have elite foot quickness, he rarely takes false steps.

I think he could really excel in any system he runs in and will probably be the best day-one starter of this entire group. Slater can bully defenders in the run game and be very frustrating to get around on passing downs, from day one potentially.