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
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