NFL Combine: Part 2

If you're a fellow Buffalo Bills fan (and I do hope you are if you're following this blog) then you would know the importance at looking for the best offensive line prospects in this upcoming draft. More specifically, you're trying to find the top Left Tackle prospect.

The left tackle is known as the cornerstone of the offensive line as, for the most part if your team has a right handed quarterback, the left tackle will be protecting his blind side; the side the quarterback is oblivious of any oncoming pass rushers on as his back is facing that direction.

The left tackle is also a position that, in trading away an unhappy Jason Peters last off-season, the Bills are extremely weak at. This is proven by the fact that the Bills finished 29th in sacks allowed last season, finishing in front of only the Oakland Raiders, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Green Bay Packers.

With drafting a franchise left tackle in this upcoming draft being my top priority for the Bills, this blog is going to focus on the following three elite left tackle prospects:

Russell Okung - Oklahoma State 6'8" 299 lbs Left Tackle
Anthony Davis - Rutgers 6'51/2" 328 lbs Left tackle
Bruce Campbell - Maryland 6'6" 314 lbs Left Tackle

For a left tackle the three most important elements of the combine is their weighing and measuring-in, their bench press, and their cone drill.

The first shows that the prospect hasn't gotten lazy or let them self go during the off-season, along with proving that their arms are long enough to have no trouble with keeping the pass rushers in front of them and engaged with them.

The bench press shows the prospect won't simply be bullied around by defenders at the next level and the cone drill shows the prospect is agile enough to stay in front of some of the more speedy defenders.

Okung:
Going into the combine, Okung has been widely accepted as the top tackle prospect in the draft due to his excellence in his 4 year career with the Cowboys of Oklahoma State. But how did he fare at the combine?

Bench Press:
In the bench press drill, Okung did nothing to make any NFL scouts sweat about picking him in the top 10. Okung did a whopping 38 reps of 225 lbs finishing 2nd out of all lineman along with 3rd overall out of all of the participants in the combine.

Cone Drill:
Okung did not participate in the cone drill. While not getting to see a person you're potentially going to be paying top-10 pick salary to may be unsettling, in his 4 year career Okung has done nothing to show he has incapable feet at the next level.

Overall, Russell Okung did nothing at the combine to make him look less appealing or knock him off of the position of being the top left tackle prospect in the draft. While he'll be expensive, if Okung manages to fall to Buffalo at the 9th selection of the draft Buddy Nix shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger and start the contract negotiations.

Bruce Campbell:
Bruce Campbell has held down the left tackle position with dominance since his true freshman season with the Terrapins of Maryland. Declaring to enter the NFL Draft as a junior, Campbell is a projected first round selection and has all of the physical tools to succeed at the professional level.

Bench Press:
Campbell's performance in the bench press drill wasn't jaw dropping but at the same time did nothing to scare any teams out of drafting him. With a solid 34 reps of 225 lbs, Bruce finished in the top half of all offensive line prospects and showed enough strength to hold his ground in the NFL.

Cone Drill:
Campbell again put in a solid performance in the 3-cone drill running it 7.58 seconds. With that effort, Campbell shows a Julies Peppers or Dwight Freeney type defender won't be able to blow around him with ease when playing on Sundays.

Campbell had a very solid performance at the NFL Combine and, if anything, slightly raised his draft stock. Maybe he'd be a bit of a reach at #9 but we could always look to trade anywhere from the 12th to 16th selection to grab him. If not, picking him at #9 wouldn't be a terrible thing and he could be the cornerstone of our offensive line for years to come.

Anthony Davis:
When Anthony Davis declared to enter the NFL Draft as a junior, general managers, scouts, and head coaches across the nations salivated at the idea of selecting him and he was immediately placed in the group of the top 3 tackle prospects in this year's draft. Unfortunately, Davis didn't participate in this year's combine and scouts will have to look solely at game tape to decide whether not he's worth the selection.

Based on their respected combine workouts, if I was in the war room with Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey on draft day I would rank the three left tackles in order of Russell Okung, Bruce Campbell, and then Anthony Davis. Landing any of the three would certainly be a good thing however.