Alex Michael NFL Draft Scouting Report

Agility: Michael is a good athlete and can gain leverage quickly with great balance. He has quick feet and above average agility that allows him to keep his feet under him and maintain his balance while sliding side to side. His agility helps him to get out of his stance very quickly. He has the flexibility to bend knees and block with leverage.

Movement: He is a coordinated athlete and stays on his feet. He has the foot quickness to slide side to side. His athleticism allows him to get out of his stance quickly while maintaining his balance. Moves body well to adjust to quick pass rushers attacking the inside. A little slow at re-directing and changing direction when switching off with the OT on DL stunts.

Pass blocking: He gets hands up fairly quick. Uses a good hand punch to keep defender at bay most of the time, but is an area that needs improvement. Has good leverage and base to withstand initial push from the defender who is bull rushing. Michael sets up quickly with balance and leverage. He is very good at setting up quickly and uses his quick feet to get out of stance and slide side to side to neutralize defender. Sometimes he gets to high in pass protection causing him to lose leverage.

Quickness: He gets out of his stance fairly quickly. He has good flexibility that allow him to bend knees to give him good explosion coming out of his stance. Michael is a smart football player and can handle complex defensive schemes and diagnoses the play quickly. He is very instinctive and reacts to defender movement on the line of scrimmage.

Run blocking: Michael does a decent job on positional and angle blocks. He needs to work on pushing defensive lineman straight back and finishing the block thru the whistle. He gets out of his stance quickly and jolts the defender with his hands. He does not have foot quickness and agility to pull and lead block well out in space.

Strength: Michael has good playing strength but lacks power to move the defensive lineman straight ahead on running plays. He does however has the body type to handle the massive nose tackles at the pro level. He needs to work at exploding into the defender more in the running game. Has the strength to handle bull rushers when he keeps his feet under him and uses leverage.

Technique: Needs to show more aggression in the run game and drive defenders into the ground. His overall production is great in key situations and is very good when he uses proper techniques. He is adequate in pass protection using good hand placement. Struggles with quicker defensive lineman while pass protecting. Maintains very good concentration especially on key downs and gives good effort.

Final Word: Michael has the size, footwork, and balance to be a good pro. He needs some coaching with his techniques and hand placement, but has the abilities to someday be a productive starter. He does not have the foot speed to pull and block out in space. Michael’s best position would be the right guard position where he is an adequate drive blocker and can withstand the bull rush from interior defensive lineman. I see him as a 6th round prospect and a team that drafts him should give him time to develop and learn the game hopefully from a solid veteran. He would be a good quality backup at this time adding depth on some NFL teams depth chart.