With the 55th Overall Pick in Round 2, Miami selected Patrick Paul, OT – Houston
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.
