Player: Daniel Faalele

School: Minnesota

Height and Weight: 6’8”, 387

Combine/Pro Day Results:

• 40: 5.6(Pro Day)
• Bench: 24
• Vertical Jump: 29.5”(Pro Day)
• Broad Jump: 7’9”(Pro Day)
• 3 Cone: DNP
• Other Notes: Faalele’s testing was all over the place. He only benched at the combine and was right around the average. His pro day 40 and broad would’ve been the worst of the lineman at the combine, but his vert would’ve been closer to the top of the group.

Strengths: Balance of run and pass, ready to play now, technically sound

Weaknesses: Minimal athletic upside, second level run block 

Projected Draft Day: Day 1

Player Comparison: Trent Brown

Player Summary: Faalele definitely isn’t being talked about enough. He is very clearly a first rounder, yet I have not seen a single mock with him in the first. I get it, Faalele clearly doesn’t have the talent or athletic upside that some of the other tackles have in this class, but that doesn’t mean he should be overlooked. Honestly, athletic upside isn’t as important for me in lineman as it is in other positions. He is very ready to play, and can be a quality starter for years to come. Faalele shows a solid balance of run and pass blocking, and seems to be pretty technically sound from his arm extension to his footwork, especially for someone of his size.

My biggest issue with Faalele as I stated previously is that he has minimal athletic upside. His test numbers from the combine with the exception of his vertical jump were not impressive by any standard. At the end of the day if he can protect your QB why does it matter? The only other issue I had with Faalele is that I didn’t see him get to the second level much at all when run blocking. When the line of the scrimmage looks like a rugby scrum he was able to get off his block to hit a linebacker closer to the line but when they were off ball, and the tackle box wasn’t as close together you would rarely ever see Faalele in the second level.