Top 10 offensive tackles in the 2021 NFL Draft

#8 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Alex Leatherwood (Alabama)

6’ 5”, 315 pounds; JR

Alex Leatherwood

Once the number one tackle and a top five overall recruit in the nation, Leatherwood saw action in seven games his freshman season. These last three years he has started all 41 games – one year at right guard and then the last two at left tackle – and built up one of the most impressive resumes of any college offensive lineman.

After being named second-team All-SEC as a sophomore, he was recognized as first-team all-conference these last two years and a unanimous All-American selection this past season, to go with winning his second national championship

Physically, Leatherwood has exactly the measurements you are looking for, with a thick and sturdy base and a ridiculous 85 ½-inch wingspan. In the run game, he creates a lot of vertical movement on down- or combo-blocks against three-techniques and he consistently widens the B-gap on the front-side of zone run plays, while locking out the edge defender.

He actually has a lot of flexibility in his upper body, which enables him to hit his aiming points even when defenders try to dip underneath him. From the backside of those wide zone runs, he really pulls that far foot across, to gain ground laterally and almost steps behind his guard, to take over blocks.

When the B-gap is free, he makes up a lot of ground horizontally, to open up big cutback lanes behind the backer. At the point of attack, when the end-man is kicked out, he fluidly transitions off those combos on the D-tackle and does a great job of walling off linebackers, once the block on the down-lineman is secured or he identifies a bigger threat to come off to when on the move. He has also displayed the ability of pinning guys inside on toss and sweep play on several occasions.

As a pass-protector, Leatherwood may not be super light-footed, but he is not easy to get around or through, He is very consistent with his sets and the timing of his kick-slides, while not overreacting to rushers trying to give him some kind of wiggle, really keeping his eyes locked on their hips.

He consistently lands that inside hand underneath the man to wide their angle and about half of his pass-sets it seems like he is just riding the edge rusher past the loop, where his ability to flip the hips is pretty darn good. Plus, Leatherwood has the firm base to sustain bull-rushes and is like a wall to run into for blitzers, where he is very patient at picking up any delayed rushers.

Thanks to his length, he can almost touch the guard’s shoulder with that inside hand while the rush is still developing and he is really fluid with the he way he transitions to the D-tackle on twists, with quick eyes to find the man. Leatherwood also does a nice job of selling play-action with that first step, without compromising the position of his base.

He and Jedrick Wills on the right side completely neutralized those two great defensive ends for Michigan in the 2020 Citrus Bowl. He allowed only nine pressures and no sacks in 2019. Last season he was responsible for the same amount of pressures, even through three of them resulted in sacks and four more in hits on the QB.

However, Leatherwood doesn’t blow you away with his athleticism and lacks that mean streak Wills had at right tackle a year ago. He basically pass-sets on the backside of inside zone plays with an RPO element and opens the inside door, as you see edge defenders shoot that B-gap on those kind of plays way too often.

When he gets into space, he tries to catch bodies more than engaging with them actively. And I think he will have more holds called against him at the next level for the way he twists defenders.

The real concern for Leatherwood however is that he doesn’t nearly display the foot speed you usually see from elite pass-protecting tackles. He had a so-so Senior Bowl week, where he insisted on just playing left tackle, but had problems handling quick guys around the edge, even though he did finally have a good day three. You also see guys beat him with quick swim moves at times when he leans too much forward.

This is an interesting situation to follow. Leatherwood might be better suited to play guard at the next speed, where that lack of foot speed to match speed around the edge isn’t as apparent, but I think he has made it very clear that he wants to stay out at tackle.

So evaluating him as that, I think he is almost in a tier of his own, in terms being the next name after numbers four to seven. There is plenty to like with Leatherwood, but also some flaws. Either way, I think he can definitely be a solid starter at both spots.