2024 Offensive line preview: More of the same on the way … The 2023 draft was pretty typical for the offensive line. a total of 5 OTs, for example, were selected in the opening round (and we are counting Northwestern’s Peter Skoronksi as an OT, although he was technically listed as an OG when he was selected 11th overall by Tennessee.) And that’s about average for the position over the past decade. That total included two OTs, Ohio State’s Paris Johnson and Tennessee’s Darnell Wright, who were taken among the first ten picks. That made it the 5th time in the past 6 years that at least one OT was selected with a top 10 pick, and in the one exception the first tackle selected was with the 11th pick. If there was a surprise among the OTs taken in this year’s opening round, it may have been that Wright, who was selected with the 10th pick by Chicago, came off the board somewhat earlier than expected, although he was also a player for whom there was considerable pre-draft buzz. In the end, 10 OTs were taken within the first two days of the draft, and 20 were selected overall, both figures were roughly average for the position.
On the other hand, the interior offensive line positions were shut out of this year’s opening round. And that probably was a disappointment at OG as Florida’s O’Cyrus Torrence was thought to have legit first-round potential; however, he slid deep into the second round and wasn’t even the first OG taken as Steve Avila of TCU was taken earlier in the second round. Those two, though, were the only players selected at the position through the first two days. In contrast, three OGs had been taking in the first round the previous year when 8 were selected through the first two days. At the same time, nobody really expected any Cs to be taken in the this year’s opening round and none were, but three came off the board in the second round making it a pretty good draft for players at that position.
And looking at the early returns on the offensive line prospects for 2024, one should probably expect something pretty similar from the big uglies next April. Penn State OT Olu Fashuna, for example, very likely would have been the first OT off this board this past April had he not made the somewhat surprising decision to return to school for another season in college. Meanwhile, John Alt of Notre Dame, who wasn’t draft eligible this year, isn’t all that far behind Fashuna and will have his own supporters who feel he should be the #1 OT this year. In fact, there are a number of really promising 3rd year OTs who likely will push for 1st round grades this fall including Kingsley Saumaala of BYU, Alabama’s JC Latham, Blake Fisher of Notre Dame and Connor Colby of Iowa. At the same time, there is also a number of solid veteran OTs around the country including Zion Nelson of Miami, Jordan Morgan of Arizona and Wisconsin’s Jack Nelson. For now, here are the top-rated OTs for 2024 on the preliminary GBN board for the position.
There’s also probably a decent chance that the interior offensive line could get some interest early next April, especially in the latter part of the opening round. That’s in large part because a number of solid veteran OGs and Cs opted to return to fall this fall including OGs Cooper Beebe of Kansas State, Texas A&M’s Layden Robinson, Zak Zinter of Michigan and Clark Barrington of BYU and Cs Sedrick Van Pran of Georgia and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier. Pro scouts will also be keeping a close eye on Boston College OG Christian Mahogany, who many thought was going to be the top IOL in college last fall, but he ultimately didn’t play a down after suffering a torn ACL working out prior to the start of camp last fall. At the same time, no one should be totally surprised if a young 3rd year lineman like Ohio State OG Donovan Jackson or Texas A&M C Bryce Foster is ultimately the top-rated interior offensive linemen. Again, for now, here are the preliminary GBN boards for both the OG and C positions for next April.
