Brandon Shell, OT, South Carolina

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Shell technically ranks 2nd among all 2016 tackle prospects in SPARQ (or 3rd, if you count Germain Ifedi as a tackle). His feet seem slooooooooow for a guy with such a high SPARQ rating, but it's hard not to immediately think of past Tom Cable picks when looking at what Shell has to offer, particularly James Carpenter, Terry Poole, and Alvin Bailey.

He's 6'6" 324 pounds. 35" arms. Art Shell is one of his relatives. He's a projected day three pick.

Not saying I'm hyped on the guy but he seems like a very obvious player to keep on eye on during day 3.

My thoughts from another thread . . . When I watch Shell I immediately think of Carpenter. Getting James Carpenter type player in the 4th to 6th round is a very good thing.
Strengths: Excellent drive blocker who knows how to use his length to push people around. May be the best pure one on one run blocker I've seen from this class. In pass protection he uses his long wingspan to protect the edges, and does a good job locking on to his man. Plays with apparent passion. Plays with strength

Weaknesses: Really open to pure speed rushers. If they get a first step on him around the edge, its really hard for him to recover. And his chop blocks are comical. Makes JR Sweezy's "falling at air" blocks looks technically sound.

Team Fit: If you were to draw up the ideal left guard for Seattle, Shell might be it. At tackle his lack of quickness is exposed, but inside his length, strength, and power would be a thing to behold. Looks a lot like James Carpenter, except we might be able to get him in the 5th round instead of the 1st.

I hear a lot of misconceptions about cut blocking on the board lately. The point of a cut block isn't to get a guy on the ground. It's to get him to delay for a moment, and also to get in his head. Additionally, Sweezy's athleticism allowed him to make cut blocks and 'almost' cut blocks that average OL would not even come close to pulling off.

Few OL coaches call for more cut blocks than Tom Cable. And yet Cable could not have been any more effusive in his praise of Sweezy, callng him the best guard in football. Exaggeration or not, it's pretty clear that Cable LOVES Sweezy. If Sweezy's cut blocking was as bad as some people seem to think, it would be hard to reconcile that with Cable's extremely high opinion of him.

Anyway regarding Shell. I think he's got such a wide base and such long arms that he could probably survive at right tackle given that only a few teams put elite edge rushers on the defensive left side. As a run blocker I really like his raw power. I'd draft him over L'Raven Clark without hesitation.