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NFL Draft Film Breakdown: Is Armand Membou Ideal Fit in Cincinnati Bengals' Quest to Protect Joe Burrow?

The Bengals have the 17th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Mike Santagata

Mar 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; University of Missouri offensive lineman Armand Membou (OL28) answers questions at a press conference during the 2025 NFL Combine at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images
Mar 1, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; University of Missouri offensive lineman Armand Membou (OL28) answers questions at a press conference during the 2025 NFL Combine at Indiana Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images / Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images
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Armand Membou is a former four-star recruit from the state of Missouri with parents who immigrated from Cameroon. He was a two-year starter for the Missouri Tigers at right tackle and was listed as a member of Bruce Feldman’s freaks list. He’s always played right tackle but because of his height, some have pondered about a possible transition to guard on the inside.

Let's take a look at the film and see if he's an ideal first round target for the Bengals:

Where He Excels

  • Membou fires out of his stance very well especially in the run game. Makes difficult blocks seem easy because of this and it also gives him good range in pass protection.
  • Flexibility in his lower half helps him to be a fluid and bendy athlete that can change direction quickly or to swivel his hips to adjust to a rusher slanting inside against him.
  • Membou has the upper body strength to torque defenders out of their gap and move them against their will.
  • He plays with independent hands in pass protection and a varied but patient strike.
  • He uses his flexibility and athleticism to recover well when put into a bad spot in pass protection.

Areas of Concern

  • He can miss on his aiming points allowing him to get beat by quick movement and slants from defensive linemen.
  • Plays with a forward lean in the run game that leads to him falling down and falling off blocks at times.
  • Membou tends to give up his chest against speed to power and be slow to anchor.

Overall Thoughts

Membou is an explosive and fluid athlete at the tackle position.

In the run game, Membou has prototypical movement skills which he can use to make difficult blocks look easy. He’s at his best when getting out and moving on wide zone, especially on the front side.

He establishes the point of attack and torques defenders to turn them out, drives them, or hooks them back if they attempt to win back inside. His athletic ability also allows him to do good work at the second level of the defense.

He wasn't asked to pull much at Missouri, but he would probably excel at that as well with his skillset. He can drive defenders well but doesn’t always have the initial pop that could be expected on contact forcing him to hang on double teams just a hair longer than ideal. His forward lean leads to him falling off of blocks during his drive phase making it a little bit more difficult to sustain those blocks.

In pass protection, he has a smooth kick set and he maintains his weight along the midline throughout the kick and never loses his form. His explosive athletic ability and independent hand usage give him a wide range in pass protection even if he was not always tested against speedy wide 9 pass rushers.

He has an excellent ability to recover to win the war even when he loses the initial battle against pass rushers. He has patient hands almost to a fault because he can be a tad late getting them on the defender when they try to bull through him.

Despite having less than ideal height at the tackle position, his length is not a concern. His varied strike patterns allow for him to counter anything the defense throws at him while not tipping his hand for them. He processed stunts and twists well and worked with his adjacent guard to communicate and get those passed off.

Scheme Fit

Membou’s best block is making a front side reach block on wide zone and because of that, he would best fit in a system that asks him to make that block. He has a varied pass set and good range from the tackle position so he can play in an offense with plenty of true drop back passing sets as well. He has the skill set to kick inside if necessary too.

Grade

Late 1st

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

Mike Santagata is an offensive line and film expert. He's written and analyzed Bengals film for the past four years. He also hosts the Always Gameday in Cincinnati podcast and is a regular guest on the Locked On Bengals podcast.

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