NFL Draft Profile: OT Josh Conerly Jr.

Breaking down Oregon OT Josh Conerly Jr.

The Washington Commanders hosted a bunch of prospects for a visit on Tuesday, repeating the controversial Top Golf visit from last year. Reportedly as many as 20 prospects were in attendance, with the Commanders feeling like they got a lot out of the same method last offseason, when they had all the top quarterback prospects in attendance at the same time. One of the names that the Commanders brought in was Oregon tackle prospect Josh Conerly Jr.

The Commanders don’t have a significant need at tackle after the Laremy Tunsil trade, but Conerly could be one of the top prospects available at pick 29, so could well be in play. Drafting an offensive lineman high would enable the Commanders to put together a strong unit across the line with a good mix of youth and experience, so while it might not be the biggest need, it wouldn’t be the worst move to fortify that offensive line and protect Jayden Daniels for a number of years.

So what would Conerly bring to Washington if the Commanders were to draft him? He’s a big, athletic lineman measuring in at 6-foot-5, 311 pounds with 33½-inch arms. Some believe he’ll convert to guard in the NFL but I personally don’t agree with that idea. I think he has the foot quickness and length to play outside and his weaknesses would just be more exposed at guard. His athleticism and foot quickness do stand out when watching him, he’s an easy, fluid mover which enables him to react to speed and redirect when needed.

On this play, Conerly matches up against Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter, a projected top five pick in this draft. Carter is known for his speed and quickness, meaning he can challenge both sides of a tackle with his burst off the edge and quickness to dive inside. He does the latter here, bursting up the field before suddenly cutting back inside of Conerly at left tackle. Conerly shows the speed and foot quickness with his drop to match Carter’s speed off the edge, but then also has the ability to redirect back inside as Carter dives inside. He gets his footwork right as he makes the necessary adjustment and cuts off Carter’s inside move, washing him down the line in the process.

His footwork impressed me the more I watched him. He showed a variety of different sets, from a vertical set like we just saw, to quick sets and even more.

Here we see one of those variety sets. At the snap, Conerly takes his first kick step backwards as normal. However, this is just to disguise his true intention. After that first step backwards, Conerly suddenly drives forward towards the defender. It’s a surprise quick set. Typically a quick set sees the tackle step forward towards the defender straight off the snap, but Conerly shows a more advanced version here. The step back makes the defender believe it’s a normal set before suddenly surprising him with it. It’s a very nice set to have as a change up to mess with the timing of pass rushers. You can see the impact it has on this play too. He locks up the rusher quickly, who wasn’t expecting Conerly to suddenly jump towards him. The rusher tries to disengage and work inside, but Conerly stays locked on and ends up driving the defender to the ground with a strong finish.

So the feet are a big plus for Conerly, which to me says he can live at tackle at the next level. The two reasons why college tackles often have to transition to guard in the NFL is because they lack foot quickness or arm length. Conerly has the feet, so that’s not an issue. His arms are half an inch under the 34-inch threshold that most NFL teams look for, per his combine measurement, but the combine arm length measurements seem to have been consistently off this year. At his pro day, his arms reportedly measured in at 34¼ inches, above that threshold. It’s all very marginal stuff and when you watch Conerly, the length doesn’t show up as a huge issue. In fact, his hand fighting looks pretty good overall.