Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2021 NFL Draft

Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual - Oregon vs Wisconsin

#4 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Samuel Cosmi (Texas)

6’ 7”, 310 pounds; RS JR

Outside of the top 1000 in his recruiting class, Samuel Cosmi redshirted his first year on campus before starting all but the season-opener at right tackle for Longhorns as a freshman.

Since then, he has been a fixture in the lineup and a key piece on the left side, helping the Texas offense score 35.2 and 42.7 points per game, respectively, in the last two years. He earned second and first-team All-Big 12 selection honors along the way. Cosmi could have easily entered the 2020 NFL Draft but decided to come back for his redshirt junior year and opted back in after initially saying he wouldn’t.

Cosmi displays excellent functional athleticism in all areas of his game. As a run-blocker, his leg-drive and finishing mentality really shine out. He has tremendous agility to scoop or reach-block defenders in the B-gap to either seal the backside or enable his fellow linemen to pull.

He can hit defenders’ chests to turn their bodies and put his own in front of them or he can cut put them off by attacking across their legs. Yet, you also see him wash down guys on the inside to create big holes, and he has those reps, where he rides the edge-defenders on the front side of the inside zone runs down the line, pushing underneath that inside armpit to get them off balance and bury them.

Cosmi routinely beats linebackers to the spot and forces them to go around him when asked to directly climb to the second level. And he has the ability to catch smaller bodies out in space while exceling in 'move' blocks.

In the pass game, Cosmi has the foot speed to match true speed off the edge, and he rarely allows anybody to establish those half-man relationships. He is able to flip and push those guys past the arc that attack too aggressively upfield, or sometimes just slap down their hands as they try to work some power-based move to make them fall flat on their face.

He does a really nice job of timing up initial contact and engaging in hand-fights, so he can clear the frame of the defender coming off the edge and get his hands inside, where they rarely come off anymore. His cleats really eat grass to anchor against bigger rushers, and he can torque guys to the turf, where he doesn't have to wait very long for the Texas tackle to land on top of them.

Cosmi may not always have that post-leg ready to step vertically, but his athleticism allows him to match inside counters anyway. And he quickly closes the distance to his guard when his man drops out. He just isn’t matched up with anybody, which enables him to pick up anybody working over the top to him or knock down those guys on the interior. Cosmi has allowed just four combined sacks and QB hits since the start of the 2019 season, doing so on almost 1000 drop-backs.

Nevertheless, Cosmi lifts that inside foot too much at times and can literally be 'caught on the wrong foot' to create some balance issues. That’s exactly what happened a couple of times against LSU’s K’Lavon Chaisson in 2019, who beat the Texas OT for multiple hits on the quarterback.

I think he needs to do a better job anchoring against the bull-rush altogether. Moreover, his feet can get too narrow in his sideway shuffle, which can be a problem against guys who can convert speed to power.

Cosmi's hands are a little wide and low, while his pads and weight are too far out in front a lot of times in general, which makes him vulnerable to push-pull maneuvers and forces him to just slip off blocks in the middle of a run play. He also has pretty skinny calves that look bulky because of the leg protectors he wears.

OT4 was probably the toughest choice of any group so far. For me, numbers one, two and three are pretty clear, but then from four to seven, you can really go either way.

They will all have top-40 grades, and depending on what you are looking for in terms of skillset and scheme fit, they would all make sense. I decided to go with Cosmi here because if he learns to slide that inside foot more and work on his base strength, he could be a top-tier pass-protector, as he has shown superb agility and finish as a run-blocker.