OT, Alabama
Height: 6’6″
Weight: 310 lbs
Class: Senior
Penei Sewell won’t be challenged as OT1 entering the 2021 NFL Draft, but right now Alex Leatherwood looks like he is potentially the best of the rest in this class. He has been really effective since moving to tackle last season and his athleticism and build will translate well to the NFL.
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Strengths
Leatherwood is a really solid pass-protector at left tackle with an 83.6 PFF grade on true pass sets last season. Having previously played along the interior, he kicked outside in 2019 and allowed just nine total pressures on his 440 pass-blocking snaps. He has continued that this season too, with two pressures allowed on 63 snaps.
One of his biggest plus points is his athleticism. He moves well, with really smooth pass sets and gets great depth out of his stance. He has the prototypical tackle build in terms of his length and powerful hands and consistently locks out against edge rushers. When he gets his hands up first the reps tend to be over quickly and pass-rushers struggle to get off the block. He is adept at reading and reacting to stunts as you can see in the clip below.
Leatherwood isn’t the greatest run-blocker but he certainly isn’t bad at it. He has all of the tools to be really proficient in the running game and he has improved year-on-year, with a career high PFF run-blocking grade of 72.3 in 2019.
Weaknesses
One of the main areas he will need to improve is his hand placement. He is pretty lazy with it at times and tends to leave them low and fire upwards. This can see him get exposed against better pass-rushers. His angles in pass protection could improve too as he looked a little shaky when faced with quicker, more bendy edge rushers last year and allowed them to beat him to the edge.
He can be a little bit over-aggressive at times, whether as a pass-protector or as a blocker moving up to the second level. This can lead to him missing assignments and he would benefit from a more measured approach.
He has the power and size to be a mauler in the running game but that hasn’t been a major strength of his game. If can show some improvement in this regard in 2020 it will solidify his place as the OT2 in this class.
Bottom Line
Leatherwood is a top prospect who has all of the tools to be a good tackle in the NFL. His game needs more refinement and he is still a little raw at times, but he has just one year of playing the position. If he can put in a similar calibre of performance in 2020 then he should silence any doubters.
Big Board Rank: #21
Positional Rank: #3
