Troy Fautanu scouting report: Exploring the Washington OT's strengths and weaknesses

This four-star recruit from 2019 initially took a redshirt and saw action as a backup in four games of the COVID-shortened season. After starting two games at left tackle and one more at left guard the year after that, Troy Fautanu was in the lineup for all 13 contests in 2022, when he made second-team All-Pac-12.

He improved to first-team this past season, being a mainstay in the lineup and key member of the Washington’s magical run to a national title game appearance.

Profile: 6-foot-3, 320 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Troy Fautanu's scouting report

Troy Fautanu: NFL Combine

Run-blocking:

• Urgently comes out of his stance and is looking to quickly erase the space towards his D-linemen on angular blocks
• You never see defenders crash through his inside shoulder when asked to seal the backside, instantly erasing the space to where the guard was originally aligned and turning his hips
• Provides the short-area agility to reliably scoop-block three-techniques on the backside of wide zone concepts
• At the same time he can secure the outside pec of edge defenders to his side and allow the ball to get out to the corner on sweeps and other concepts like that
• On vertically-oriented concepts and particularly in short-yardage, Fautanu’s ability to come off with low pad-level and get underneath the pads of defenders really stands out
• Shows the loose hips to adjust on the fly and get linebackers walled off as he works up to the second level
• Displays impressive control and athletic ability to cover ground, come to balance and secure moving targets in the screen game
• Along with eliminating arm length concerns (34.5 inches), Fautanu had an excellent all-around combine showing – 5.01 in the 40, 32.5-inch vert and 9’5” broad jump

Pass-protection:

• Generally well-coordinated athlete, who even if the footwork isn’t always by the book, he’s able to stay in front of guys and glide laterally to counter their movement
• Does a good job of timing up his punch and keeping edge rushers at the end of his reach
• Shows an excellent understanding for the depth of the pocket and regularly ends up riding rushers just past the quarterback
• Has incorporated some fake-stabs with the outside arm to bait the hands of the rusher and then gets inside their chest effectively
• Capable of calming his feet in an instant, as the guy across from him stutters or tries to foot-fake or cross-face him
• Manages that space to the guard very well and provides the lateral movement skills to efficiently pass off slanting D-ends and still be able to get in front of loopers coming from the inside
• The eyes consistently seem to be in the right place and immediately transition to his ultimate responsibility as he sees mugged up backers drop out or just pictures clearing up
• Excellent cut-blocker on quick game and outside screens, where he pulls his rusher up with a long kick-step and then really shoots through that guy’s knees
• Handled over 600 pass-blocking snaps each of his final two seasons with Washington, where he didn’t surrender any sacks in 2022 and received an 88.2 pass-blocking grade from PFF last season

Weaknesses:

• Despite being solidly built at 320 pounds, Fautanu isn’t the most overpowering run-blocker, with fairly short strides that lack impact
• His hands generally arrive fairly high and he relies heavily on the two-handed punch in pass-pro at this point
• While the arms measured in above-average for NFL standards, you do see Fautanu get out-reached quite regularly because he allows guys to land long-arms into his chest
• Too often will lift his post-foot and present a soft inside shoulder for rushers who understand how to take advantage of it
• Drew 14 flags over the past two seasons, in part because defenders regularly are the ones with hands inside to control reps

Troy Fautanu's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Troy Fautanu: NFL Combine

The fact that Troy Fautanu came in with 34.5-inch arms instead scraping at what generally is considered a benchmark for tackles across several NFL organizations will most likely affect his grading for the teams that may select him, but I’m not sure it really changes how I view on.

I thought he easily had the lateral mobility and feel for framing rushers on the edge that’s necessary to make a living there, but he’ll need to work on being firmer with his inside foot and dictating terms with his hands rather than constantly having to counter with them against professional quarterback hunters.

With that being said, I believe for a team that runs a lot of outside zone and/or utilizes him as a move-blocker on toss and screen plays, he can be a high-quality starter at either tackle or guard.

Troy Fautanu’s not just going to displace defenders near the point of attack on gap schemes, but even with more prototypical tackles available, to get such a fluid athlete who you can plug in at multiple spots, I think he’s worthy of a top-20 investment.

Grade: Mid-to-late first round