• Louisiana's Nathan Thomas takes the No. 1 spot: While Thomas projects more as a guard at the NFL level, he brings some tackle upside, especially in the run game. He showed the necessary skills to work on single blocks on the backside of gap schemes, using his incredible physicality and solid base.
• Taliese Fuaga is a well-rounded run blocker: The Oregon State tackle ranked first in our zone run concepts deep dive, and now he comes in at No. 2 in these rankings.
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With the 2024 NFL Draft quickly approaching, teams are evaluating the top offensive lineman prospects to bolster their rosters. Based on season-long grades and performance, here is a breakdown of the top-ranked offensive tackles on gap-scheme run concepts in this year's draft class.
Gap-scheme concepts include man, counter, power, pull lead and trap.
1. Nathan Thomas, Louisiana (83.8 run-blocking grade)
Thomas is an incredibly physical run blocker. He is the only offensive tackle on the PFF big board to have earned an 80.0-plus run-blocking grade on gap-scheme runs. His dominance showed most on simple man play calls. Thomas earned an 88.3 run-blocking grade on these runs, often being able to get tons of vertical movement while working in a phone booth against three-techniques, successfully clearing massive lanes for his running backs.
While Thomas projects more as a guard at the NFL level, he does have some tackle upside, especially in the run game. He showed the necessary skills to work on single blocks on the backside of gap schemes, again using his incredible physicality and solid base. He was rarely beaten on these single blocks, losing the rep a minuscule 7.1% of the time.
2. Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State (77.9 run-blocking grade)
Fuaga is the top run-blocking tackle in the 2024 NFL Draft class and possibly the top run-blocking offensive lineman overall. Against FBS-level competition, Fuaga earned an 80.4 overall grade on gap-scheme runs, including 80.0-plus run-blocking marks. Lousiana's Nathan Thomas and Fuaga were the only two offensive tackles to earn 80.0-plus run-blocking grades on gap-scheme runs against FBS foes.
Fuaga earned an 85.3 run-blocking grade on man runs, using his unrivaled power to get defenders off their spot again, resulting in a lot of pancakes. He was rarely beaten physically, losing only 7.5% of his blocks on gap-scheme runs last season.
3. Matt Goncalves, Pittsburgh (79.3 run-blocking grade)
Goncalves is a difficult evaluation due to his injury-shortened 2023 season. He participated in only three games this past season, but he earned a 79.3 gap-scheme run-blocking grade and an excellent 85.8 power run-blocking grade, albeit on only 39 gap-scheme runs.
Goncalves is a physical run blocker, using his excellent size and power to root out defenders and open up lanes for the puller and running back to come around the edge. That shows in his grades when Pittsburgh ran power to the left. The left tackle's job is to crash down on the interior defensive lineman for the power to run off that down block. Goncalves earned a 90.0 run-blocking grade on such plays.
4. Julian Pearl, Illinois (76.6 run-blocking grade)
Pearl is the first in this ranking to provide a complete profile of the five run concepts that encapsulate the gap scheme (man, power, counter, trap and pull lead). He posted grades of 80.9 on power, 73.6 on man, 73.0 on counter and 60.8 on pull lead. (Illinois did not run any trap plays last season.)
Pearl thrived most when he was the play-side tackle on power calls, earning an 83.4 run-blocking grade on powers to the left. He proved capable of crashing down the interior defensive lineman and cutting off the linebacker flowing over the top, opening up massive lanes for both the pulling lineman and running back.
5. Joe Alt, Notre Dame (76.5 run-blocking grade)
Alt, like Pearl, boasts a complete profile across the five run concepts that encapsulate the gap scheme. He earned grades of 76.8 on power, 75.3 on man, 71.7 on counter, 63.4 on pull lead and 60.1 on trap. (Notre Dame ran only two trap plays in 2023).
Alt, unlike the players listed above, lacks a high-end grade in one area but was beaten on blocks at the lowest rate outside of Goncalves (a much smaller sample size — 174 plays for Alt, 39 for Goncalves).
The expected top-15 draft pick is the first tackle on this list to execute pull blocks at a high level. On tape, Alt showed the ability to be the pulling tackle on the front side of the pull lead and the ability to pull on the backside to cut off either a defensive tackle or pull around and use his athleticism to get to the linebacker.
6. Dominick Puni, Kansas (70.5 run-blocking grade)
Puni has a solid profile of grades on gap-scheme runs, including 71.0 on counter, 70.7 on pull lead, 64.6 on man and 60.2 on power. Puni does project more as a guard in the NFL, which could lead to higher grades for him on gap schemes, where he can execute some of the best pull blocks of any tackle in this class.
7. Amarius Mims, Georgia (70.4 run-blocking grade)
Mims could be much higher in these rankings if he had a full season from which to evaluate him. He played only 40 snaps on gap-scheme runs this past season and was negatively graded on just one rep. Mims posted a 72.4 run-blocking grade on counters, a 68.7 run-blocking grade on man and a 58.8 run-blocking grade on pull leads in 2023.
FCS Standout: Kiran Amegadjie, Yale (76.1 run-blocking grade)
Amegadjie is ranked 57th on the PFF big board, making him the top FCS prospect. He has ideal NFL size at 6-foot-5 and 323 pounds, and his grades and tape are stellar. He played only four games in 2023, but his grades on gap-scheme runs were 75.0 for man and 67.2 for counter.
Games against FBS competition: N/A
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