The godfather of NFL Draft analysts Mel Kiper recently sent Central Michigan offensive tackle Luke Goedeke to the Las Vegas Raiders in a mock draft. Goedeke could be a solution to the Raiders’ right tackle problem, and he certainly has the run blocking skills to thrive at the next level.

OT | Central Michigan | 6’5” and 312 lbs | Whitelaw, WI

Overview:

Luke Goedeke took an interesting path to Central Michigan. After suffering an injury as a senior in high school, he decided to stop playing football and enrolled at Wisconsin Stevens Point. However, he got the itch to play again during the summer heading into his freshman season and was offered a spot as a tight end on Stevens Point’s team. After that season, CMU offered him a full scholarship and he made the leap from Division III to I.

Goedeke then switched to right tackle, where he made 24 starts as a sophomore and senior while losing his junior year to an injury. The Whitelaw, Wisconsin native allowed just 34 total pressures and three sacks in college and earned PFF run-blocking grades of 81.0 and 94.3.

Strengths:

• Efficient footwork when using 45-degree pass sets, he can cover ground laterally to split the pass rusher’s crotch with his first step and adjusts to the EDGE’s alignment to avoid oversetting
• Maintains a wide base when working laterally on 45-degree sets
• Patient in pass protection to avoid getting depth when he’s not threatened vertically
• Recognizes line games quickly and has no problems passing off T/E stunts or stunts when the pass rusher lined up in front of him goes second
• Mixes up the timing of his punch and flashes hands to keep the defensive lineman off-balance
• Solid at keeping his shoulders back when punching, he does lean forward a bit but not too far where he’s consistently off-balance
• Waits until the rusher is even or slightly behind him to open the gate and has the strength to ride EDGEs past the quarterback
• He has a strong inside shoulder to help combat inside countermoves
• Blocks with a wide base that helps him anchor and keep his feet underneath him/stay on balance against bull rushers
• Once he does recover at the point of attack, he has the strength to dig his heels in and anchor
• Buries pass rushers who stumble or lose balance
• The wide base carries over as a run blocker, where he has solid knee bend, pad level and outstanding leg drive to push defensive ends around on base blocks when he can get a leverage advantage
• Takes short powerful steps when run blocking to help survive initial contact when using a read step on zone runs
• Protects his area when zone blocking by adjusting to and picking up stunts, meaning he doesn’t lock onto a man and recognizes post-snap movement
• He has solid initial quickness to get at least to square when trying to reach or cutoff three-techniques
• Good at turning a reach block into a drive block by shifting his hands to the defender’s side and using that leg drive to ride their momentum out of the play
• On combo blocks and double teams, he gets hip to hip with the guard to avoid creating creases for the defensive lineman to exploit, and he can get a push against defensive tackles when blocking with guards
• Quick to come off combo blocks and pick up blitzing linebackers
• Takes efficient angles with solid speed when working to the second level and anticipates linebacker’s movement well to help beat them to the spot
• Maintains his base while climbing and has decent change of direction skills to stay in front of backers when they try to work around his block, and they have little to no chance at holding ground if they can’t get extension with his leg drive and strength
• Impressive grip strength to help stay engaged and blocks with a finishing mentality to put defensive ends on the ground

Areas of Improvement:

• Long injury history
• In pass protection, he lacks foot quickness and will get beat around the edge against rushers with good speed and/or bend. He’s very reliant on opening the gate and riding them by instead of winning the footrace.
• Lacks some core strength to avoid getting folded at the waist against push-pull moves
• A little wide with his punch in pass protection, which exposes his chest and will cause him to lose at the point of attack against defensive ends with good stab moves or who can turn speed to power. He was solid at recovering in college but this could be a bigger issue in the NFL.
• He has pretty short arms — 32 1/4” — which contributes to his issues against stab or long arm moves and will often leave him grasping at air against long-limbed EDGEs. Also, he struggles to knock the defender’s arms down to get their hands off his chest.
• Against E/T stunts, he gets too involved with the end and needs to pass off the rusher sooner, good loopers will beat him around the edge and have a short path to the quarterback
• His reactive athleticism could use some fine-tuning to hold up against counters at the next level
• On reach blocks and when taking over combo blocks, he lacks some agility and hip mobility to seal the edge
• Takes too steep of an initial angle on down blocks, causing his head to be on the wrong side and opening up inside lanes for penetrating defensive tackles to exploit
• The wide hand placement and core strength issues also show up as a run blocker, making it difficult to stay engaged against defensive linemen who are violent block shedders
• When working up to the second level, he needs to dip his shoulder to avoid contact with the defensive line

Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Injuries:

• 2020: Torn ACL (missed entire season)
• 2021: Undisclosed injury (missed 2 games)
• 2021: Hamstring (suffered at Senior Bowl, missed almost entire week)

Projection:

NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board rank: 109th overall, 4th round

Goedeke’s projection is an interesting one because it depends on what position people/teams view him at. A lot of what’s written above suggests that he’d be better at guard — short arms and a lack of foot speed most notably — but he is an accomplished tackle and has managed to work within his skill set to get to this point. Personally, I’d give the former Chippewa a shot to hold down the edge at least initially and see him as a late Day 3 pick or fringe top-100 player.

Schematically, Goedeke is pretty flexible as a run blocker and could fit into either a zone or gap scheme. He’d just have to improve his reach blocking in the former and down blocks in the latter. The passing game is a little bit of a different story though, as he’ll likely need to play in an offense that uses a lot of quick game and play-action passes.

What do we need to know?

How good of an athlete is he? Goedeke didn’t participate in any of the athletic testing drills at the combine nor his pro day and, as mentioned above, footspeed is one of his biggest question marks on the field. He did show some solid athletic ability on film, but that was against low-level competition so it’s hard to know for certain if he has enough athleticism to get by in the NFL.

Fit with the Raiders:

I feel a little cheap for parroting Kiper but I do like Goedeke’s fit in Las Vegas. He might be a little bit of a reach in the third round, but he would be a great pickup if still available in the fourth. That would give the Raiders another starting right tackle option who fits Josh McDaniel’s scheme well.

My only hesitation with the Central Michigan product heading to the desert is the Raiders already have a couple of right tackles who are solid to good run blockers but struggle to hold down the edge in pass protection. I’d like to see them draft someone else who brings something different to the table, but regardless, Goedeke would at least be a potential upgrade overall and could compete for a first-string role.

Film Clips: