Brandon Thomas OG/OT Clemson

Brandon Thomas is shorter but has long arms and played LT in college but scouts suggest a move inside to OG would be best for Thomas. Thomas is 6'3 with 34 3/8 inch long arms which is perfect for a swing OG/OT. Thomas height would normally be a issue but for Seattle i think it is a positive, having a smaller QB. Thomas is strong and athletic was able to handle speed rushers at the senior bowl as a tackle. I like Thomas to replace Carpenter at LG as a fourth round pick.

Thomas Combine #'s
40 yd dash- 5.09
V-jump- 29'
B-jump- 08'02
20 yd shuttle- 4.83
3-cone- 8.13
Bench- 35 (34' arms)

those types of players (solid college tackles that shift to guard) usually turn out to be excellent guards.

Jahri Evans was LT in college. Logan Mankins also played LT, Marshal Yanda was also a T in college.

so Yes, I agree. very good combine numbers as well

I like Thomas. Although his agility scores turn me off. By comparison (pro day embellished) here is James Carpenter's

Shuttle: 4.75
3 Cone: 7.56
10 yd: 1.81

Thomas is right around those numbers too. Slightly better in the 10 yd (combine official 1.78). Barely off in the shuttle. 3 cone significantly off.

I like Thomas more than Carpenter although as prospects, they were very similar. Thomas moves significantly more smoothly. Carpenter labors to move.

Overall, Thomas' testing was pretty bottom of the pack. Three cone at 15th of 19 recorded tests. 13th out 19 at the shuttle. On the shuttle, the difference between his score and the worst recorded was only .17 off. Grouped in a small handful in the 4.8 range. The top 10 scores were all below 4.7.

On the 3 cone, he is in a tight grouping (mostly the same guys) between 8.13 and 8.15. The next slowest score before Thomas was 7.93. The top 10 prospects all ran under 7.8.

His scores really were underwhelming for me. For example, Jack Mehwort -- considered a rather unathletic/cumbersome OT from OSU -- scored significantly better -- over .20 on both metrics.

I expected better from Thomas in this regard. These metrics actually are more indicative for ZBS prospects than they would be for other schemes. It'll be worth watching his pro day scores as he could have just run/prepared poorly. In terms of testing he is definitely in the bottom of the group -- really smack in the middle of the day 3 'who the heck is that' group of prospects. Greg Robinson being the clear exception. His agility scores were not good.

I'd put a 4th round grade on him at the very highest. And that's only because I liked most of his tape. If we're talking about a moldable/development prospect Thomas really killed that notion this weekend.

Personally I don't see the Hawks looking to add another interior OL prospect in this draft unless someone they really like is still on the board late. I think that they believe that Michael Bowie can be their guy long-term at LG if he can beat out Carpenter in camp this year (unless Carp can hold him off and take a big step forward in his own development...and Carp had a promising performance in the Super Bowl). They seem happy with where Sweezy's development at RG is heading, and Alvin Bailey is a natural OG who just happens to have demonstrated that he has the feet to get by at OT as well. And Caylin Hauptmann is another guy they seem to really like, and he's that same type of college-OT-to-pro-OG prospect (though he's repped a lot at LT in practices). What the Hawks really need is a legitimate OT prospect with OT length and skills to compete at RT (assuming Breno isn't back). Someone like NDSU's Billy Turner would make a lot of sense with our 4th round pick (if he gets there), much more so than another OG type IMO.

This could be 100% correct. I don't have any insight to how much of a need they regard the OL. Clearly we will need one or two new faces depending on if Giacomini gets a third contract. I've not heard his name uttered once when discussing priority resigns. We'll know well before the draft anyway.

If we do let both McQuistan and Giacomini walk, then I think the need is more pronounced. We'd be looking at one of B&B starting at right tackle. The other probably depth at tackle and competition for the OG spots. But we'd be very thin on depth. If that were to come to pass, then it's a strong likelihood that whomever we draft ends up with significant snaps and probably several starts. I'm not sure we would be comfortable plugging in a late round development project for that kind of duty again. It's not at all likely that lightning strikes a third time and we get stud OL additions late in day three/UDFA.