STRENGTHS
Darnell has the potential to be an outstanding offensive tackle for the team that selects him. He is big and athletic enough to play on either side of the line. He has good feet and solid lateral agility and when he uses the correct techniques he can be dominating when run blocking and pass blocking. Darnell looks to be a good teammate and shows leadership skills with his play on the field. If your team is in a 4th down and short yardage situation, Darnell is the offensive lineman that will make the block and change the line of scrimmage in his favor. When Darnell is pass-blocking and using the correct techniques he is very hard to defeat. He has excellent potential to be a franchise offensive tackle for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
Darnell struggles with his mental and physical stamina and gets lazy and sloppy and inconsistent when pass-blocking or run-blocking. He will drop his head when run blocking and miss blocks especially going out to the second level. He uses his body instead of getting his hands when pass blocking allowing defenders to slip by him disrupting the rhythm of the offense. He lacks maturity in his overall play trying to make the big hit instead of the right block. Darnell was a starting Left Tackle in his Junior year who was moved to Right Tackle for his Senior year. That in itself, tells a story. How many Left Tackles get switched to the right side after starting on the left side with a right-handed athletic quarterback? In spite of these issues, he has shown during Senior Bowl workouts that when he uses the correct techniques and stays on balance he has the talent to dominate.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.06
There are not many pure offensive tackles with Darnell’s size and talent in this draft. Offensive Tackles have become THE value pick right behind quarterbacks because teams are going to spread offenses with TE’s that can’t block and no fullbacks. If you don’t have a quality Left and Right tackle bad things will happen to your team. Two of those bad things are, you will not get into the playoffs and your quarterback will get hurt and miss games during the season. In spite of Darnell’s lack of maturity and mental stamina, sometimes you have to trust your gut and hope that he will step up to the responsibilities needed to be a franchise left or right tackle. It’s all up to Darnell. He has been coached well and he has the talent. He has shown that at the Senior Bowl practices. So, the big question for a GM and Head Coach is, are you willing to select him in the first round and put your career on the line for this kid? Will the value of the position, his size, athletic talent, and need for the position, make you override the information? That’s the $64 million-dollar question.
