STRENGTHS
Taliese is a big, strong, long-armed, extremely athletic offensive lineman who can play more than one position on the offensive line for the team that selects him. He is quick out of his stance with the foot quickness and speed to be used in any style of offensive line blocking scheme. Taliese has solid lateral agility and does have the overall “athletic talent” to go up against speed rushes. He is a physical blocking offensive lineman and handles the bull rush with natural strength. Taliese is excellent when used as a pulling lineman and gets out to the second level and screens with athletic ease. Taliese athleticism makes him a good fit to be used as a Guard or Tackle for the team that selects him.
CONCERNS
Taliese is a natural guard. As a tackle, he will have to learn much better hand techniques against those speed rushers to become a starter. He will also have to learn better pass protection angles because, despite his athletic talent, he lacks the true lateral agility to play the tackle position in the NFL. At guard, he’s a Pro Bowl player. At tackle he will need to few years of technique work and better mental stamina in pass protection, to be considered as a Pro Bowl player but he does have the talent.
BOTTOM LINE: 1.83
Selecting Taliese early in this draft seems like a no-brainer to me. He is a plug-and-play guard and a potential Pro Bowl offensive tackle. His athletic talent is rare in a player his size and his natural strength is impressive too. Taliese likes to get his hands on his opponent from the snap and as we all know that style when pass blocking, leads to a lot of holding penalties. There are times when I see Taliese come off the line of scrimmage, mirror his opponent when pass-blocking, and then engage. That is when you see his potential to become an excellent pass-blocking tackle. I would select him early, put him on the field as a guard, and continue to work with him on pass-blocking techniques that will eventually allow him to be moved to one of the tackle positions. If it doesn’t
