2021 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: OT Dillon Radunz, North Dakota State
OT DILLON RADUNZ
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 304 lbs.
Class: Senior (red shirt)
School: North Dakota State
Former two-star recruit out of Becker Senior High School in Becker, Minnesota. He was the 3,828th ranked recruit in the 2016 cycle and is now being discussed as a top-32 selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. Radunz was a two-year starter for his high school, and they won back-to-back state championships with him on both the offensive and defensive line.
He was named to the 2018 All FCS Sophomore Team and just continued to dominate from there; he was the 2019 FCS Offensive Lineman of the Year, a 2019 ATHLON SPORTS FCS All-American, and was also a 2019 First Team All-American, according to the AP. There were several other team and FCS awards that Radunz earned. His skill-set landed him in Mobile for the Reese’s Senior Bowl, even though North Dakota State only played one 2020 game. The NFL is interested in Radunz, and it’s not difficult to see why.
Notables
He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the 2017 season.
Traits
Good height, weight (his frame isn’t completely filled out), and solid 33 ¼” arms with good overall athletic ability. He has enough flexibility in his lower half to dip and latch his hands onto targets - he can bend. Foot speed is solid, movement skills in space are above average, and he plays with very good control and balance.
Quick off the snap. He stays square after the snap into the blocking point and does a solid job fitting his hands inside with a wide base while keeping his legs churning. When he does get his hands inside, he can control defenders and steer them in the desired direction--he is more of a turning pivot mover than a brawler in the run game. Excellent sealing the edge and does a good job of reach blocking on zone runs.
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He showed impressive football intelligence. Sets up defenders with subtle movements after the snap, which takes them out of the play. He did this in 2019 against Delaware with an inside jab step that forced the 4-technique to crash inside on an outside pull play into space. He does an excellent job in combo block situations to transition and locate second-level defenders smoothly. He doesn’t lunge too much, stays square and balanced, and uses good angles to cut defenders off from the ball carrier.
He does a really good job on the back-side of plays as a cut blocker. He gets down low and attacks the lower half of defenders to eliminate them from plays. He plays with very good competitive toughness and loves to finish blocks with defenders on the ground. Play strength is solid, but it’s not his best trait - although he does do a good job driving down on defenders when down blocking as a pin player.
He does a good job on jump sets in pass protection and always tries to stay in front--he mirrors well. May struggle a bit with elite speed at the next level, and he could stand to get a bit more depth in some of his sets against wider rushers. Pad level gets a bit high when pass blocking as well, and his hands lack elite pop. He has very good core strength, but his functional play strength is only a solid part of his game as a pass protector--his anchor is solid.
Honestly, I hoped to see him be a bit more dominant in college. Prospects from smaller schools typically stand out above everyone else, and Radunz didn’t exactly do that; you can tell he’s a skilled player, but he wasn’t just overpowering smaller-level players. He struggled on day one of the Senior Bowl but put it all together by the end of the week.
Overall, Radunz is being talked about in the first round. He’s a good football player, but this first-round talk is a bit rich for me at the moment.
I love his intelligence, his ability to play in space/athleticism, and his ability to execute several different blocking schemes well, but he didn’t have elite strength at a smaller level of competition, and he could be a bit more consistent with his hands. Nevertheless, he’s still a starting-caliber tackle in the NFL.
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