Arguably the best offensive lineman in the NFL Draft, LSU’s Will Campbell has drawn the attention of the NFL’s elite as they determine if he’ll be a tackle or guard at the next level. While the Rams are likely out of range to select him, Sean McVay spoke about the talented tackle on Tuesday.
Q: Question about the offensive lineman in this class, especially at tackle. A lot of shorter-armed guys compared to other years. Do you have a threshold you look at when it comes to arm length? At what point do you look at a guy and say, well, he’s gonna have to compensate by doing some other things really well?
McVay: “I think everybody has these measurements. I do get a kick out of that, especially like when you talk about a player like Will Campbell, because he plays long. You have some guys that might measure with length, but they don’t play long. You know, Aaron Cromer, our old offensive line coach, who’s in Buffalo, does a great job, he used to say, yeah, it’s one thing to measure long, but do you play long? Are you playing with extension? Are you using that length? I don’t see it inhibit.”
“You know, especially I know Will’s been a guy that’s been talked about. He sure doesn’t look like it’s going to be an issue to me. There are certain things where you have an idea of, all right, what are the comps around the league, in terms of the arm length and some of those different things that allow you to be successful, just based on the nature of what you’re asked to do, snap in and snap out, and who you’re going against.”
“We had a guy that was pretty good, too, that I think said didn’t measure well on the defensive line, that changed the whole game. So I think those are, I think those are parts of the evaluation process, but the tape always speaks to you, and if you, if you might, might not, measure a certain way, but if you are able to overcome it, or you show that you’re playing the way that you need to be able to play within the framework of your size or whatever it is that’s most important for us.”
Jaguars GM James Gladstone, who is Les Snead’s protégé, also made similar comments regarding arm length. Like the saying goes, sure it matters who’s got the biggest bat, and it matters a lot more who’s swinging it.
