In the absence of performance stats, can you use athleticism and RAS (and tape) to evaluate IOL guys?
Similar to my last article which focused on offensive tackles, this one will look at IOL players. There were 352 guys for whom I was able to find an athleticism score and an All-time RAS. All them ran with the centers or the guards at the combine. Also similar to OTs, many of the top guys did not get RAS values recently because they decided to skip parts of the combine. Athleticism is on a 50-100 scale; RAS is 0-10.
As with any stat there are guys near the bottom left (bad zone) in the graph above who had good NFL careers and there are guys in the top right who were busts. Rodney Hudson was a three time Pro Bowl selection after being taken in the second round by the Chiefs. He made second team All-Pro in 2019 with the Raiders.
Maurkice Pouncey will be in the Hall of Fame soon. He was 9x Pro Bowl and 2x All-Pro. He made the Pro-Bowl in every season he played more than one game. Travis Frederick was a 5x Pro-Bowler and 1x All-Pro in his short career. However these are the exceptions most of the guys in the zoomed in view were bad or below average.
Focusing on the upper right quadrant (the elite IOL athletes by both metrics) you find some well known names from the Pro Bowl and All-Pro lists for IOL.
There are two Bronco draftees on this zoomed in view (both in red) – Connor McGovern and Quinn Meinerz. Zion Johnson is called out in green since he played at my alma mater, Davidson College before he transferred to BC. There are even some very good guys on this view who I failed to call out, both of whom were drafted by Sean Payton, Carl Nicks and Erik McCoy (both near the Y axis). Mitch Morse, Joel Bitonio and Elgton Jenkins has also had very nice careers each making the Pro Bowl at least once, with Bitonio making multiple first team All-Pro teams. Will Montgomery played briefly with the Broncos.
It’s crazy to think that the Chiefs for both Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith (upper left in the chart above) in the same draft.
Current Bronco Luke Wattenberg had a really high RAS, but a middling athleticism score of 73. His Athleticism score is the second lowest of any of the IOL guys with a RAS above 9.49. Only Drew Dalman got a lower score (68). Dalman has been the starting center for the Falcons for the last three seasons.
There are plenty of other names up there that were long-term starters with many making the Pro Bowl including: Brandon Scherff, Ryan Kalil, Richie Incognito, (the other) Connor McGovern, Garett Bradbury, and more. It’s almost easier to pick out the guys who weren’t NFL long-term starters or rookies last season. Ben Cleveland has only started 7 games for the Ravens in four seasons after the massive (360 lb) human was taken in the 3rd round in 2021. Ricky Stromberg was a 3rd round pick in 2023 and has never started a game (so far). Jarvis Harrison never appeared in an NFL game after being a 5th round pick of the Jets in 2015. Ben Sobieski appeared in one NFL game. Braeden Daniels was a 4th round pick of the Commanders in 2023. He has yet to make an NFL roster. The rest of the guys on the list below were either rookies in 2024 or became multi-year starters in the NFL. There are 50 on the list (IOL guys with all-time RAS of 9.50 or better).
| Player | Athleticism | All-Time RAS |
| Graham Barton | 99.00 | 10.00 |
| Evan Mathis | 99.00 | 9.99 |
| Creed Humphrey | 82.00 | 9.97 |
| Mason McCormick | 91.00 | 9.96 |
| David Baas | 95.00 | 9.95 |
| Eric Steinbach | 96.00 | 9.94 |
| Cole Strange | 93.00 | 9.94 |
| Chris Chester | 91.00 | 9.94 |
| Quinn Meinerz | 92.00 | 9.92 |
| Will Montgomery | 91.00 | 9.92 |
| Jarrett Kingston | 95.00 | 9.92 |
| Ali Marpet | 94.00 | 9.91 |
| Garrett Bradbury | 89.00 | 9.90 |
| Trey Smith | 81.00 | 9.90 |
| Drew Dalman | 68.00 | 9.89 |
| Scott Young | 93.00 | 9.89 |
| Frank Ragnow | 89.00 | 9.87 |
| Joe Thuney | 89.00 | 9.87 |
| C.J. Hanson | 75.00 | 9.84 |
| Kyle Long | 92.00 | 9.82 |
| Beaux Limmer | 79.00 | 9.79 |
| Chris Lindstrom | 84.00 | 9.79 |
| Tanor Bortolini | 98.00 | 9.77 |
| Dylan McMahon | 83.00 | 9.76 |
| Anthony Bradford | 82.00 | 9.76 |
| Connor McGovern | 84.00 | 9.74 |
| Connor McGovern | 81.00 | 9.74 |
| Brandon Scherff | 89.00 | 9.74 |
| Alijah Vera-Tucker | 80.00 | 9.73 |
| Zion Johnson | 87.00 | 9.71 |
| Sidy Sow | 85.00 | 9.69 |
| Jacob Monk | 86.00 | 9.68 |
| Dawson Deaton | 84.00 | 9.66 |
| J.R. Sweezy | 87.00 | 9.66 |
| Christian Mahogany | 89.00 | 9.64 |
| Quenton Nelson | 81.00 | 9.63 |
| Joel Bitonio | 83.00 | 9.61 |
| Luke Wattenberg | 73.00 | 9.60 |
| Tyler Smith | 85.00 | 9.60 |
| Ben Cleveland | 80.00 | 9.59 |
| Ryan Kelly | 86.00 | 9.57 |
| Hugh Thornton | 87.00 | 9.57 |
| Ricky Stromberg | 76.00 | 9.55 |
| J.C. Tretter | 83.00 | 9.55 |
| Louis Vasquez | 77.00 | 9.54 |
| Mitch Morse | 81.00 | 9.52 |
| Jarvis Harrison | 84.00 | 9.52 |
| Ben Sobieski | 87.00 | 9.52 |
| Braeden Daniels | 86.00 | 9.51 |
| Connor Williams | 77.00 | 9.50 |
Zooming way in on the elite of the elite (below) we find the Belly along with some other guys whose names are familiar to me, but might not be be to you. Evan Matthis was briefly a Bronco (and helped the Broncos win SB 50). Ali Marpet and Kyle Long were both high draft picks, who had short but good NFL careers. Kyle is the son of HoFer, Howie. He made the Pro Bowl three times. Marpet only made the Pro Bowl in his seventh and final NFL season. Graham Barton, Mason McCormick, Tanor Bartolini and Jarrett Kingston were all rookies last season. Barton and McCormick were full-time starters.
Scott Young is really the only guy who never made it in the NFL as a starter. He never started a single game in the NFL. Montgomery was a 7th round pick who worked himself into a starting center, finishing his career with 75 starts.
So the odds of getting a starter in this region are really good, but 15 out of 337 means that there are very few IOL guys who are this athletic (both both metrics).
The Future of the Broncos IOL
The Denver Broncos have Ben Powers with large cap hit for next season and for 2026 (17.4 and 18.4MM) and Meinerz with a large cap hit in 2026 (20.2MM). QM has a relatively low cap number for 2025. LW is in the final year of his rookie deal and Alex Forsyth is in under contract through 2026. Both are really cheap since they were both day three picks. Does it make sense for the Broncos to draft IOL in this draft? The Broncos have Frank Crum (who could move to guard), Nick Gargiulo (who played some guard in college) and Will Sherman (who is probably better suiter to play guard than tackle) as backups for the IOL along with journeyman Calvin Throckmorton.
All three of the IOL from UGA are highly athletic and in this draft. The only other obscenely athletic IOL guy in this draft (according to DRAFTIQ) is Caleb Rogers, a guard, from Texas Tech. RAS shows that there are more uber athletic guys in this draft. See below
With seven guys in the upper right, there could be one who will be available on day three. Connor Colby has a draft grade of 46 according to ESPN. Jackson Slater has a draft grade of 69. Tate Ratledge has a draft grade of 70. Jared Wilson and Drew Kendall are the first and third ranked centers, Eli Cox is the 7th (or 8) ranked centers. He could be a steal on day three if he has any clue how to play center or guard. Cox made second team All-SEC in 2023 and 3rd team All-SEC in 2024. He started 47 games at both center and guard while at Kentucky and faced some of the best defensive lineman in college football while there. Lance Zeirlein has this to say about him:
Overview
Sixth-year senior and two-time team captain with average size but positional flexibility. Cox plays with measured steps to track his block in space and does a nice job of running his feet through contact as a helper. He strains through the block but has trouble keeping a heads-up nose tackle from playing past him or shedding him off his base. Cox’s shorter arms and inconsistent instincts against rush games will make it difficult for him to keep his A-gaps protected and will be concerning for offensive line coaches.
Strengths
• Flexibility to play guard or center.
• Gets into his action with inside hands and strong grip.
• Runs feet through contact to stay connected with his block.
• Gathers into second-level blocks, unlocking hips into strikes.
• Throws punch with good posture and weight distribution.
• Hand placement and anchor are adequate to face bull rush.Weaknesses
• Leans into blocks, allowing workaround opportunities for the defense.
• Inconsistent readiness and timing with his hands.
• Has trouble keeping stronger challengers in front of him.
• Wide base limits slide quickness to mirror edge attacks.
• Lacks length to forcibly redirect rushers off their track.
Cox sounds like good day three draft and develop guy who could benefit from working with Zach Streif. Cox’ 4.58 short shuttle is good but not all-time great. Jason Kelce’s 4.14 was the best ever for IOL, with Evan Mathis 4.16 a close second. Current 49er, Jake Brendal’s 4.27 was also elite. Tanor Batrolini’s 4.28 last year was the best of the 2024 IOL guys. Other IOL guys who showed elite change of direction and quickness were Ryan Kalil, Nick Mangold, Robert Gallery, Will Montgomery and Joseph Noteboom.
Adding the 3C and SS times and looking at the lowest ever, you find that future Hall of Famer, Kelce’s 11.36 is the best ever with Bartolini’s 11.44 a close second and Mathis’ 11.53 in third place. Many of the elite IOL guys skipped the agility drills, but the best of those that did this at the 2025 combine was Caleb Rogers’ 11.92. Followed by Drew Kendall’s 12.07 and Eli Cox’ 12.21.