• Kansas State’s Cooper Beebe brings high football acumen to the interior: The Kansas State product’s understanding of the position allowed him to earn the top marks in various grading facets, including PFF grade on true pass sets.
• Michigan producing quality on the interior: The Wolverines continue to churn out quality interior blockers, as guard Zak Zinter and center Drake Nugent feature on this list.
• Try PFF's Mock Draft Simulator: You can trade picks and players and draft for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Click here for more draft tools:
2024 Mock Draft Simulator | 2024 Big Board | 2024 Draft Guide
2024 Player Profiles | 2024 Mock Drafts | NCAA Premium Stats
The 2024 NFL Draft season is well underway, with the NFL scouting combine and individual pro days in the rearview.
Every player brings a unique skill set to the table. We’re breaking down the draft class’ best players in each and every facet for every position to get a more informed view of the NFL hopefuls.
Here are PFF’s highest-graded interior offensive linemen in each key grading facet.
Pass-blocking grade on true pass sets
Cooper Beebe, Kansas State: 88.7
While Beebe may not be a supreme athlete, he undoubtedly possesses the experience and football acumen to win in pass protection on the interior.
His understanding of leverage and angles allowed him to excel on true pass sets, where he allowed just three pressures on 130 snaps.
Pass-blocking grade on plays with no play action
Cooper Beebe, Kansas State: 91.4
The PFF All-American guard’s high football IQ and versatility — he played all three interior positions during his college career — have given Beebe the foundation to excel in pass protection.
The Kansas State product generated a 99.2 pass-block efficiency rating on passing plays without play action, allowing just five total pressures on 311 snaps.
Pass-blocking grade on plays with play action
Zak Zinter, Michigan: 89.9
The former Wolverine excelled in Michigan’s power-heavy scheme, which allowed him to play aggressively on passing downs and display the power and push to drive defenders on play-action pass sets.
Zinter was beaten just once across his 73 play-action dropbacks, yet he allowed no pressures, resulting in a perfect 100.0 pass-blocking efficiency.
Pass-blocking grade on five- and seven-step dropbacks
Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon: 89.8
Powers-Johnson, a top-25 player on the PFF big board, possesses the kind of build that anchors the middle in pass protection. On five- and seven-step concepts, the PFF All-American allowed just a single pressure on 305 pass sets, amounting to an incredible 0.3% pressure rate, the lowest by any interior prospect in the class.
Pass Blocking Grade on Three-Step Drops
Cooper Beebe, Kansas State: 85.3
Beebe displays sound technique and effective hand placement to anchor bull rushers, which provided stability for Kansas State’s short passing game.
On three-step drops, the former Wildcat was one of many interior blockers to allow no pressure, yet he was the only one to accomplish the feat while playing 100-plus snaps and 25 or fewer screen attempts.
Run Blocking Grade on zone runs
Mason McCormick, South Dakota State: 94.7
The FCS standout boasts terrific athleticism, which allowed him to dominate his level of competition, particularly on zone concepts. McCormick graded positively on 29.4% of his zone-run blocking snaps, the highest rate among interior blocking prospects in this year’s class.
Run Blocking Grade on man/gap runs
Mason McCormick, South Dakota State: 79.9
The former Jackrabbit also possesses the explosiveness and finisher’s mentality to impose his will on gap concepts. He logged 271 run-blocking snaps in man/gap concepts and graded positively on 19.6% of them to lead this year's class.
Overall grade in the red zone
Drake Nugent, Michigan: 82.9
The former Stanford and Michigan center paired an 84.8 pass-blocking grade with a 76.6 run-blocking grade in the red zone, resulting in the class' only 80.0-plus overall red-zone grade.
Overall grade on third and fourth downs
Zak Zinter, Michigan: 81.5
On third and fourth downs, the former Wolverine earned an incredible 88.3 run-blocking grade. He graded positively on 25.9% of his plays while grading negatively just 6.9% of the time.
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.