Top 10 interior offensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft

Just missed the cut:

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Ben Cleveland (Georgia)

6’ 6”, 350 pounds; RS SR

A top 100 overall recruit all the way back in 2016, Cleveland redshirted his first year in Athens, before playing in all 15 games and starting the final five at right guard as a freshman, including the national championship against Alabama.

Four games into year two, he fractured his leg and was only a depth piece late, while started seven of 13 games in 2019. This past season, he finally became a regular in the lineup and was named first-team All-SEC for his efforts.

This is a barrel-chested, hauling guard prospect, who guy brings a mean streak to the table as a run blocker and wants to put defenders on their backs. Cleveland creates plenty of lateral movement in the zone run game and pushes those defenders in position for the guy next to him to just drive that defender and he can get up to the second level.

When he is coming from the side on nose-tackles, he gets under their arm-pit and can blow them off the ball, to create huge lanes behind him. And he shows good fluidity climbing up to the backer and stunning that guy at first contact, after getting movement going that way already on the combo.

On more gap-oriented runs, he extends those arms with some wrath, as he grabs that near-shoulder plate and throws defenders through the B-gap basically, to open up space on the inside, and when he just delivers a little bump from the side, that guy often pops up quite a bit.

He does a really good job of getting tight to his teammates with the elbows and on duo blocking, to not allow defenders to split or slip through somehow. Cleveland’s mobility was on display quite a bit as a puller leading up in the hole on power runs. What stands out about Georgia’s right guard in the pass game is how patient he is with his hand-usage and how his long arms allow him get hands on the defender even when that guy lands his stabs first.

He is also able to guide rushers along and not force the quarterback to move off the spot. Moreover, even big D-tackles have a tough time pushing those 350+ pounds very far into the depth of the pocket, thanks due to his competitive mindset, to re-position his hands and the base strength he has to slow down their momentum.

Cleveland displays good awareness and ability to counter stunts & twists, where his head really snaps over to find the looper, he delivers a strong shove and does a good job squaring up the secondary defender. Over these last two years combined, he didn’t give up any sacks and just one total hit on the quarterback on just over 500 pass-blocking snaps.

However, Cleveland does play too tall for the guard position and loses the leverage battle for the most part. He is really high-hipped, that chest flips forward and eyes drop a lot, when initiating first contact, which can create some balance issues and tend to have him slip off blocks.

Because of his build, he is certainly a bit of a waist-bender and his hands get pretty wide in protection, not necessarily landing forceful strikes routinely, while the ability to redirect literally is average at best. due in part to how much he limits himself at the hip level. And let’s not forget, that he only has one full year as starter, because of past academic issues and a broken fibula in 2018.

I’m big on mobility in the hips, to be able to open and move laterally, which is why I’m probably a little lower on Cleveland than the consensus and I like the guy playing next to him better. But he is still a fun prospect to watch, who will give an offensive line an attitude in the run game. While a power-run offense would fit him best, I don’t see him as a scheme-dependent player and I think he could probably kick out to tackle and survive there in a pinch.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Kendrick Green (Illinois)

6’ 3”, 300 pounds; RS JR

A former top-500 overall recruit at defensive tackle and one of the highest ones in the state of Illinois, Kendrick decided to stay home and play under Lovie Smith.

He redshirted his first year on campus, to transition to the offensive side of the ball full time, and now has started all 33 games over these last three seasons, with all but four of them at left guard, jumping in at center for those other ones. In 2019 he was an honorable mention All-Big Ten and then consensus first-team all-conference this past season.

His freshman year, Green played a big role for the most-improved running game in the nation (+137.4 yards per game from 2017 to ’18). He received an elite zone-blocking grade by PFF in 2020 and it’s easy to see why.

He has very mobile hips and crazy agility, to be able to cover ground laterally for reach-blocks on three-techniques or scooping up shade nose-tackles in the wide zone run game, where he continues to swivel his base around, to put his frame between the defender and the ball, plus he smoothly transitions to LB off zone combos.

Yet, he can also create plenty of vertical movement and ride guys down the line if they shoot upfield aggressively, plus he has the grip strength to throw defenders to the turf, as he tries to create that late space between him and the center late. He excels at catching bodies on the move, where he leaves little space between them and stays on top until the whistle blows.

Green has experience with a multitude of pulling responsibilities in the Fighting Illini’s run-heavy offense – skip-pulls and isolating backers, kicking out end-men, wrapping around or getting out to the edge and leading the way on sweep and toss plays, where he shows some good speed and overall delivers some umph at first contact.

In the pass game, he displays a tight punch, to strike upwards, and neutralizes rushers early on, with his feet dug into the turf. His eyes are always up in protection and he uses balanced, well-coordinated steps and slides, to get in front of rushers.

When they are engaged, he operates with good sink in his hips to stymie their power and sit down on them. Green does an excellent job squaring up edge rushers slanting into the B-gap or blitzing coming from off-alignments, where he has the anchor strength to slow down their charge.

There are a few snaps, where he has no work in protection and you see him actively target rushers, accelerate up to them and blow them up coming from the side. Last season, he didn’t allow a single sack and allowed just six total pressures on 238 pass-blocking snaps.

When you go back, Green’s 2019 tape was not nearly as good as last year’s. You see defenders crash through the B-gap on the frontside of zone runs on several occasions, where he doesn’t show quite show the agile footwork or strength to keep those bodies parallel to the line of scrimmage.

His aiming points are a little off at times, and his angles up to the second level can be too aggressive. Green tends to overextend against pass-rushers, taking wider angles and missing on edge defenders showing in the B-gap because he gets too enamored with landing a big hit rather than just protecting his space.

Moreover, he is a little late to diagnose games up front, And you see him land on the turf on too many occasions, especially as a puller, often without any third party's intervention.

Green might only have one season of tape on which I would grade him close to a top ten prospects on the interior O-line, but we also have to consider that he hasn’t played only those positions for very long. So there are certainly still things he can and will clean up. I really liked what I saw from him at center, where those issues of working through lateral contact won’t hurt as much, and I think he will go higher than expected, because he had some freakish testing at his pro day, in the 97th percentile or better for every single testing measurement.

# 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: David Moore (Grambling State)

6’ 2”, 350 pounds; RS SR

With only two years of playing high school football, Moore was a no-star recruit, despite being an all-state selection in Arkansas, and joined one of the more-recognized HBCU programs.

He played in nine games as a backup his freshman season, before starting all contests at either guard spot respectively in 2018 and ’19, earning some attention from NFL scouts and Jim Nagy’s Senior Bowl team, where he intrigued talent evaluators again in late January, after the SWAC didn’t play in 2020.

Moore presents a very solid, block-like build, but he has surprising quickness off the snaps and he kind of stands out along up front right away on tape. He has the power to uproot one-techniques out of the gap on vertical run schemes,to open some lanes that a car could drive through.

Moore can whack over defensive tackles into the opposite A-gap, when he comes over to deliver a bump before working up to the second level. Moore does a really job good securing blocks on A-gap defenders and then has that almost odd suddenness to come off and wall off the backer with excellent timing, when you consider what his frame looks like.

He is under really good control and very effective getting up to linebackers in general. Moore also shows pretty good mobility to pull out to the edge or skip-pull leading up in the hole and is a like a tank clearing the way. He has that finishing mentality and from what it looks like play-to-play.

Moore has vice grip on his hands, to end reps in pass-pro on the spot, keeping rushers tight to his chest, where nobody sees that he’s grabbing cloth, plus he takes those small steps to make the subtle adjustments, as his guy tries to get away.

He doesn’t overreact to pass-rush moves and with his wide chest, he is still in front of defenders after spin moves. Moore may allow rushers to get around him momentarily, as they try to attack the gap, but when he gets another hit on them, he can absolutely send them flying.

When he puts defenders on the turf in pass-pro, he will jump on top of them right away. He has the surprising ability to redirect after “handing off” the first man on twists, to go with the strong upper body to support that, as he takes the steam off the second guy. When Moore isn’t tasked with anybody in protection but sees one of his teammates locked up with somebody, he can land some rib shots that are worth noting.

Nevertheless, Moore has to flatten the angle when blocking down at times, because he allows defenders to slip underneath because of it. There could still be some improvement with hand-placement in the run game overall, while his upper and lower body aren’t very well-coordinated all the time.

Moore is just a little slow-footed and limited in terms of space he can cover laterally. He allows defenders to get to his edges too much in general and his weight is out in front quite a bit, which more well-schooled pass-rush will take advantage of to a higher degree.

Something that was apparent early on at the Senior Bowl was that he can struggle with guys who are already lined up in the body and he can’t both hands on them. I could see those upfield penetrating style players give him some trouble because of that.

Down in Mobile, Moore had a very rough first day, just not moving his feet and holding guys, but he settled in more when they put him primarily at center, where you saw him really clamp guys off the snap and not let go. Like some reps were all over and he still had his hands full with jersey, to the dislike of plenty of defenders. There’s more fleet-footed players, but Moore can drive defenders around in the run game and snatch interior pass-rushers. I think center would be his best spot, in a gap-run oriented scheme.

The next names up:

Drake Jackson (Kentucky), Sadarius Hutcherson (South Carolina), Robert Hainsey & Tommy Kraemer (Notre Dame), Robert Jones (Middle Tennessee) & Jack Anderson (Texas Tech).

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