2021 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: OT Liam Eichenberg
OT LIAM EICHENBERG
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 305 lbs.
Class: Graduate Student
School: Notre Dame
A former four-star recruit out of Cleveland, Ohio, who attended St. Ignatius High School. Eichenberg was the fourth overall prospect out of Ohio in the 2016 recruiting class and the 80th national recruit. He earned a spot on the CBS All American team and the Athletic All American team.
Eichenberg was incredibly productive at Notre Dame. He was an Outland Trophy finalist, won the ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy, and was First-Team All-ACC. Played 845 snaps in 2019 and did not allow a sack. Eichenberg will be one of the top prospects at the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl at the end of January.
Notables
He was poked in the eye in a game against Florida State but didn't miss a beat. He was named to The Athletic All-America First Team, CBS Sports All-America First Team, All-ACC First Team, and Associated Press First-Team All-ACC. ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner and Outland Trophy Finalist.
He was named to the Outland Trophy Watch List and Pro Football Focus Preseason All-ACC First Team. Also, a Reese’s Senior Bowl Top 250 mention.
Traits
Tall, well-balanced tackle whose arms seem a bit short for a prototype NFL tackle (will have to see Senior Bowl measurements). Eichenberg is a solid athlete at the position; he is controlled, has smooth pass sets, and solid hips to flip in dire situations. He isn’t the quickest with handling speed up the pass-rushing arc, especially from wider angles when he can’t utilize his excellent punch.
He plays with excellent angles and does a very good job framing his blocks and attacking with a strong punch. The timing and placement of his punches are well executed.
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Generates power from his lower half and hips, gets his hands inside, punches, and can reset with ease. He does a solid job handling counter moves and plays with good reactive quickness. He has very good grip strength and plays with great overall play strength as well.
He has a very good anchor against bull-rushers and shows excellent mental processing with stunts and exotic blitzes. He struggles with speed rushers at the top of the arc; he can get caught lunging at the waist, and he leaves himself susceptible to push/pulls or swim when he’s beat with speed.
He doesn’t do the best job handling speed to power rushers. If the defender's speed is winning early in the rep, Eichenberg can get caught out of position, and his usually excellent mechanics suffer in these scenarios.
He struggled a bit in the Rose Bowl game against Alabama. He didn’t surrender a sack, but five-star freshman William Anderson beat Eichenberg cleanly on a few snaps. Eichenberg is not a liability in pass protection, but he can struggle with top speed rushers who can convert speed to power. He’ll be an acceptable pass protector in the NFL, but it may take some polishing and time for him to be excellent in this area.
Very good run blocker. Generates power through his hips, rolls them upon contact, and moves defenders out of gaps. Best when blocking down on pin-pull concepts. Eichenberg is also solid at locating second-level defenders by using good angles and solid athletic ability.
Excels on outside runs when he can pin the end man on the line of scrimmage. Overall, he’s more than likely a first-round tackle who would fit in excellently on the right side of the Giants' offensive line.
He would excel in Jason Garrett’s power/gap system, and he’d likely be a ready starter over Matt Peart if the Giants aren’t comfortable with Peart's development.
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