The 2018 XFL Mock Draft - Offensive Guards

In anticipation of Vince McMahon bringing the fun back to football (more concussions, woohoo!), Lukewarm Jonah and I went back and forth to do an XFL Draft. Instead of breaking this down round by round, we are going to go by position groups. Today, we continue with the offensive line with our guards.

Offensive Guard

Jonah: Andrew Tiller, Tim Lelito, Mike Harris, Orlando Franklin

Joe: Tre Jackson, Cyril Richardson, Danny Watkins, Jordan Walsh, Eddie Hall

Joe: At guard, I started off with established guys who I knew could get the job done. Tre Jackson was a unanimous All-American at Florida State while winning a national title with them. He then joined the Patriots and won a Super Bowl last year. Now he just needs an XFL Championship to complete the championship trifecta.

Cyril Richardson is another former unanimous All-American during his time at Baylor, with the added benefit of being 6’5”, 330 pounds which means we can bounce him out to tackle if necessary since my depth is lacking on the outside.

Danny Watkins also went to Baylor and was a first round pick because of his dominant work in college. Of course, he was doing this at 26 years old. It turns out being five years more mature than the competition helps quite a bit, and when he didn’t have that advantage, he wasn’t all that good. Don’t care. He can now play in the XFL and fight fires in his spare time.

After that, I took another obligatory Iowa selection in Jordan Walsh. He was very good in college but never found a fit in the NFL. In the XFL, he could become an All-Pro.

Last but actually most, I went with another wildcard pick. Eddie Hall is 6’2”, over 400 pounds, and is the current World’s Strongest Man. He retired from the sport after winning the title, and he seems destined to find his next career in the XFL. Vince McMahon is going to take one look at this guy and name him the MVP of the league.

Jonah: There weren’t a lot of exciting free agent guards out there as I didn’t want to take a World’s Strongest Man competitor.  Andrew Tiller is a guy who’s 28 years old and has started 14 games in the NFL.  He’s a safe boring pick to solidify my line.

Mike Harris played for the Vikings for 3 years so I got to see him a decent amount.  He’s nothing special, but also wasn’t TJ Clemmings levels of bad.  He started 33 games, and like I said, played at an acceptable level in the NFL, which is plenty good enough to play on my team in the XFL.

Orlando Franklin is a seven year NFL vet who can also play tackle, so more versatility on the offensive line.  He was a second round pick and has started 89 games.  He’s a wily veteran, but he’s only 30 and not completely beat up so he can pave the way for the rest of my team

Joe: Orlando Franklin seems like a solid pick. I have not heard of anyone else, and since even you said they were boring, I don’t plan on looking them up, but I can safely assume that they don’t know what it’s like to drag an airplane or launch kegs in the air.

Jonah: Offensive lineman are supposed to be boring, you don’t want to notice them, that means they’re doing their job.  Your guards are solid as well.  Being standouts in college with NFL experience means they should be able to play at a pretty high level in the XFL.  I’m sure Eddie Hall is insanely strong, but I’m sure he’ll get blown up after two or three plays which isn’t ideal in a football situation.  Remember when Mariusz Pudzianowski tried MMA and was bright purple after taking a step?  That’s what I’m picturing.

Joe: Oh, are you referring to the same Pudzianowski that headlines every KSW show in Poland and has amassed a 12-5 record as the greatest fighter to ever compete in World’s Strongest Man? Do not blaspheme the name of Mariusz. And football is way easier than MMA. Pudzianowski got stuck attempting a takedown for a minute straight. In football, you only have to try for four seconds, which is perfect for my 400 pound strongman, Eddie Hall.

I’m still upset about your comments about Pudzianowski. Let’s use a video to cleanse our pallet.

Next time, we finish up the offensive line with the center position.

In case you missed it:

Quarterbacks
Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Tackles

Kutztown's Finest - Jordan Morgan

The Bears final pick of the 2017 NFL Draft was their third small school prospect. This time, going out to Kutztown, which I'm just going to assume is in rural Pennsylvania and drafting offensive lineman, Jordan Morgan. I took a look at his game against East Stroudsburg which is definitely not a made up school and instead one of Kutztown's world famous opponents from this last season.

The first thing you should know about Jordan is that despite that name, this is actually not a hot chick. Jordan Morgan definitely sounds like a hot girl's name, and, no offense Mr. Morgan, but a hot chick you are not.

So there isn't a ton to analyze here. Morgan was big strong and moved well on his feet. Sometimes he seemed to lunge into his blocks and kind of bury his head instead of keeping his eyes up. But overall, he was very aggressive and looked to dominate his competition instead of just doing enough to get the job done. There were times where he was blocking a guy 10 yards away from the play, so I really liked the aggression.

He straight up ate the right defensive end's lunch all day long; there's not a whole lot more you can ask for out of a prospect. He definitely seems worth the cost of a fifth round pick.

The Bears must really trust their scouting, because there wasn't anything conventional about their entire draft. Yes, a lot of words have been expressed about Mitch Trubisky, but outside of the trade, that was probably their most conventional pick. All that said was that they took the best quarterback in the draft really high. After that they took a giant small school prospect, then a safety recovering from injuries, then a tiny small school prospect, and finally Jordan Morgan, a normal sized prospect (for his position) from yet another tiny school. The Bears clearly trust their scouting department. Right now, the world is laughing at the Bears. Only time will tell whether the Bears will get the last laugh.

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Second Round Pick: Kansas State OG - Cody Whitehair

This was one of the most well-received picks by the Bears as many saw Whitehair as a first round talent, and they were able to get him near the end of the second round. I checked out his games against Baylor, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to see what all the hype was about, well, as much hype as a guard can get at least.

Well, the first thing that should probably be mentioned is that although he is projected as a Guard, he played Left Tackle in college. This is something I love to see, especially as an Iowa fan who has seen left tackles like Brandon Scherff and Marshall Yanda make a seamless transition to becoming dominant guards in the NFL. But you put your best offensive lineman at left tackle most of the time, and Whitehair proved to be just that for Kansas State.

If there is one word that I would want to describe my offensive lineman (outside of obvious ones like excellent, All-Pro, or Hall of Famer), I would go with nasty. I like a guy with a little bit of a mean streak, and I saw that Whitehair plays through the whistle and takes his shots when he's tangled with someone. None of it was dirty, but it was hard-nosed, which is essential as grit is necessary as his skin color means that he was not blessed with athleticism.

Well, except for the fact that he is kind of a physical freak when it comes to his combine numbers. He put up elite numbers in the 40, the short shuttle, the ten yard dash, the broad jump, and the three cone drill. The only thing to really worry about is his short arm length which is not as important for a guy on the inside as it is for somebody out at tackle. I know I'm not allowed to say this about a white guy, but this dude is a hell of an athlete.

Kansas State pulled their tackles a little bit which gave an idea how Whitehair would move in space. I wasn't overly impressed in how he generated momentum in his blocks. His feet moved well, but I still didn't see much explosiveness when making contact with the defender. This was a little odd, but as a tackle, there weren't a ton of opportunities to make any long-term conclusions.

It was clear that once Whitehair got his hands on somebody, he locked onto them and they weren't getting away.

The only real negative that I saw is that he occasionally got high up during his blocks and would get bent backwards. He was still able to use his strength and flexibility to keep his guy off the quarterback, but it's especially important that he stays low when he moves to the inside.

Whitehair's most interesting performance was probably his game against Baylor as they have a lot of very talented linemen. One of those linemen was Shawn Oakman who likely would have been a day two pick had he not been accused of domestic abuse. At one point, it looked like Whitehair knew of the allegation, as he absolutely abused Oakman on this play.

And just a couple plays later, what Whitehair did to Oakman should definitely not be legal.

In fact, it isn't legal, as Whitehair did get called for the penalty, but that is still phenomenal work of completely punking somebody out. Obviously, the snapdown is great, getting on top of him after is wonderful, but I most loved that he lifted the left leg to put extra weight on Oakman to dole out the maximum punishment.

Here's the thing with Whitehair. Outside of him being on a mission to punish Oakman, there weren't a lot of plays where he popped off the screen. But on the other side of that coin, he rarely seemed to lose his one-on-one battles. He just finds a way to hang in there no matter what in the passing game, and he simply does his job when it comes to the running game. Here's the thing about interior offensive linemen. You can find some great ones late in the draft, but at the same time, the guys who are highly thought of almost always work out for the team that drafted them. Whitehair is probably a top-25 talent at a position that is very undervalued, but as long as you focus on the former, there is no way to be anything but happy about what the Bears did with this pick.