Miami Dolphins Scout’s Take: OT Greg Robinson

Auburn LT Greg Robinson bends well at the hips and moves like a gazelle. He’ll face a fierce FSU pass rush Monday night in College Football’s BCS National Championship Game. Photo by Derick E. Hingle – USA Today Sports

In this week’s second edition of “Scout’s Take” we will be taking a look at another offensive tackle that the Miami Dolphins should be taking a look at this year sitting at 19 in the first round of the upcoming 2014 NFL Draft.

The Auburn Tigers will be taking on the Florida State Seminoles this Monday night in the BCS National Championship game, and LT Greg Robinson will be on center stage.

Robinson will be facing some very quick, strong, and aggressive Florida State rushers, therefore we will get a great chance to gauge his ability, but I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you about this kid.

I’ve looked at some tape on the kid in recent weeks, and his play against Missouri really jumped off the page facing two top pass rushers in Kony Ealy and Michael Sam. Robinson played phenomenal.

Here’s the gist:

Auburn LT Greg Robinson is one of the top tackle’s in the 2014 draft class, but will he declare eligible? Photo taken by: Todd J. Van Emst/Auburn University

Name: Greg Robinson

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 320 lbs.

School: Auburn Tigers

Class: Redshirt Sophomore

Draft Stock: Rising by the second

Draft Projection: Mid-first round (currently)

Strengths:

Robinson’s biggest trait, or rather strength, is his athleticism. The kid runs like a running back, yet has the power of, well, an offensive tackle. He’s a terror in open space as a blocker and could be the blue-print for a pulling tackle on screens.

My favorite trait about this kid, being an offensive lineman myself (formerly at least), is his ability to get to the second level. He uses his athleticism to get to the second level to wash out linebackers and even safeties on occasions.

Coming from a run dominant scheme, he’s almost perfected his run blocking to a tee. He is a very, very, very powerful run blocker and bends extremely well. The kid is as strong as an ox and rarely gets pushed backward off the line of scrimmage, which is a trait that offensive minded coaches really covet.

Weaknesses:

His first weakness is not his fault, you can fault his genetics. He’s a bit on the short side for an offensive tackle – typically teams like tackles to be 6’6”+ – but that hasn’t stopped Kansas City Chief LT Branden Albert from being a dominant force.

I have concerns about the kid due to his youth. Is he ready to make the leap to the NFL? Is his mind in it? Is he ready to enter a man’s world as a redshirt sophomore? How will he react to guys like Ndamukong Suh trash talking during games? He’ll have a lot of questions to answer during meetings with teams and during the entire season if he decides to declare.

He struggles with speed while pass blocking. He tries to over-compensate for his assignment’s speed off-the-edge which leads to Robinson over-pursuing or under-pursuing. Nick Marshall was really able to mask this deficiency in Robinson’s game this season, but like I’ve been saying, he’s still young. He might need to stay a season longer to craft his pass pro skills…

The last real concern about Robinson’s game is through no fault of his own….he’s coming from a run dominant school, meaning he was rarely asked to pass block consistently week in and week out. Although this may concern some, I can still see a team falling in love with his upside if they have solid coaches to mold him a bit and deal with the rookie pains.

If you were to ask me a month ago who Greg Robinson was, I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Ever since then, I’ve been all over this kid hoping and praying that he would 1. declare for the draft and 2. fall to Miami at 19.

In the end I think Robinson declares for the draft, which will boost this draft class’ strength at the position, but I don’t think he falls to Miami at 19. If this kid comes out after a good performance against FSU Monday night, and then tests well, while also winning the interviews at the combine in February, he could easily go in the top-10 to a tackle-needy team.

Be sure to check back next week as we’ll be taking a look at Texas A&M OT Cedric Ogbuehi, Stanford OG David Yankey, and Notre Dame DE/DT Stephon Tuitt.