In Round 2 at Pick #55 Miami Selects: Patrick Paul, OT Houston

NFL.com Draft Profile

Overview

Long, athletic left tackle prospect whose pass protection is much further ahead of his run blocking. Paul’s hands are more active than well-timed or accurate in pass protection, but he does a nice job of muting rush challenges with a decent anchor and an adequate mirror around the top of the arc. He’s high-cut with a tendency to bend at the waist into contact. He struggles to sustain and finish as a run blocker but that doesn’t appear to be an issue in pass protection. Paul should continue to add play strength, but he also needs to display better effort and full-time grit if he wants to square off against NFL run defenders and become a well-rounded left tackle.

Strengths

• Extremely long arms with the ability to land the first strike when his hands are right.
• Slides quickly down to the B-gap when edge rusher backs out or twists.
• Hands are active throughout the rep to maintain feel for the rusher.
• Squares and mirrors initial rush moves, which tends to deaden their momentum.
• Has the agility and footwork for recoveries at the top of the rush.
• Slides hips into place post-contact to help seal off kick-out blocks.
• Swings quickly from one block to the next on climb-up blocks.

Weaknesses

• Pass set can turn into a mini gallop when racing out to meet edge speed.
• Needs to keep his weight back and his chin tucked in pass pro.
• Diminishes his length with a lack of consistent track on inside punch.
• High-cut with long legs that lead to consistently tall pad level.
• Allows back-side opponents to fight through his cut-off attempts.
• Doesn’t play with enough core strength or grit to be thought of as a block finisher.