Antonio Garcia   OL   Troy

TALENT
ROUND
1

STRENGTHS
Antonio has the mentality of a pro bowl Left Tackle. He moves so smoothly that when pass blocking on the snap of the ball you never see his shoulders move up and down no matter how quickly he slides his feet. He has excellent over all athletic talent with good upper body strength and the arm span that makes it very difficult for those speed rushes to get around him. Antonio has the needed “pride of protecting his quarterback” and the pride in using the correct techniques to accomplish this. He’s VERY underrated right now in this draft and when I watch him at the Senior Bowl practices, he never made the same mistake twice and improved every day. Antonio has the potential to be as good as former Ravens Left Tackle Jonathan Ogden… (Look it up, I can’t do everything for you)

CONCERNS
Antonio will have to step up his quickness off the snap and when sliding his feet but that should not be a problem to improve because he improved in that area during the Senior Bowl practices. He’s not a great run blocker because of his height and the fact when going forward he doesn’t bend his knees enough to gain leverage because of his 6’6” height but you’re not paying a Left tackle to run block, you’re paying them to pass block.

BOTTOM LINE
Antonio has the mentality, work ethic and pride to improve in any area of concern a team might have in evaluating him for the draft. He takes nothing for granted and his pride alone feeds the chip on his shoulder and that along with his overall athletic talent and excellent pass blocking techniques will make him an excellent Left Tackle, for the team that selects him. About the only issue I see with Antonio is getting use to the speed at the next level and learning all the new tricks his opponents will use against him but give him time and he should be an excellent Left Tackle. This Draft is void of much offensive Tackle talent to play at the next level but Antonio is not one of those players. He has first round talent but that doesn’t mean he will be selected in the first round. In any other draft you might wait to select a player like Antonio who in my opinion would be a late 1st round pick or an early second round pick, but in this draft I think anything from the 15th pick on Antonio should be in the thoughts of any team that needs a left tackle. At least that’s what I think! But I’ve been wrong before so we shall see.

Drew Boylhart  MAR.2017