2024 NFL Draft prospect profile: Tyler Guyton, OT, Oklahoma

Can Guyton be a tackle for the future?

Pretty much every team in the NFL needs offensive linemen. Consistent blocking is a problem for a lot of teams, and even teams who have good, established starters are often interested in contingency plans for the future.

That leads teams to place high value on players who have the physical traits to become starters, particularly if they show the ability to realize that potential on the field.

Oklahoma tackle Tyler Guyton might not be reckoned as one of the very best tackles in the 2024 NFL draft class. However, he has all the traits that teams want to see in a potential starting offensive tackle, and that makes him valuable.

The New York Giants hope to have their offensive tackle spots filled for the time being, but could they wind up looking for answers down the road at the position?

Prospect: Tyler Guyton (60)
Games Watched: vs. Utah (2023), vs. Iowa State (2023), vs. Texas (2023), vs. Oklahoma State (2023)

Measurables

Kent Lee Platte (@mathbomb) | RAS.football

Strengths

• Size
• Length
• Athleticism
• Play strength
• Man blocking

Guyton is a big, long, athletic, powerful tackle prospect.

Guyton has great length for the position at 6-foot 7 ½ inches, with 34-inch arms. His length allows him to carry his 322 pounds extremely well with little “sloppy” mass while retaining solid movement skills. Guyton looks like an athlete and moves like one too.

He has solid knee bend, allowing him to play with good hip and pad level, helping to compensate for his above-average height. Likewise, Guyton has quick feet and fluid hips that easily open to change direction or pivot. He has surprising short-area quickness and is an agile blocker as well. He’s able to mirror pass rushers in a short area, as well as redirect to the B or C-gaps to pick up delayed pressure.

Guyton is a powerful blocker as well. He’s able to create movement when blocking downhill in man-gap runs, particularly when playing with good leverage. He also plays with a good, wide base, allowing him to absorb bullrushes as well as sustain his blocks for as long as possible.

Weaknesses

• Angle flexibility
• Technique consistency
• Blocking on the move
• Height

Guyton flashes the ability to be a dominant blocker, however he has some significant struggles with consistency.

Starting from the ground up, Guyton shows some ankle stiffness which can impact his footwork. He can have a tendency to play on his toes if he has to move too far, too fast. Likewise, he can see his knees straighten, forcing his hips up and his chest out over his toes. Those lunges not only compromise his play strength, but can also make it relatively easy for defenders to slip past him.

As a tall tackle, he has to work extra hard to ensure he is the low man, and it’s difficult for him to recover or compensate when he loses his leverage.

Guyton can also be very inconsistent with his hands. He has a tendency to carry them low and wide, with his punches landing outside of defenders’ frameworks. Not only does that mitigate his length advantage, it opens his chest up to defenders and could make him prone to holding calls at the NFL level.

Guyton should be classified as “quicker than fast”. He has very good short-area quickness, but his play speed drops significantly when he has to get out in space. He can struggle to get ahead of the play as a pulling blocker, and is often outrun by other players when blocking for screens.

Game Tape

(Guyton is the Oklahoma RT number 60)

Projection

Guyton projects as a developmental tackle who has the potential to start early in his career – perhaps even as a rookie. His path to the field would likely be best

Guyton has all of the tools to be a solid starting offensive tackle at the NFL level with adequate scheme diversity. He has the length, movement skills, and play strength that teams look for, as well as the competitiveness to mix it up in the trenches at the NFL level.

That said, he will need to work on his hands at overall consistency as a professional. As it stands now, NFL pass rushers will likely find it easy to access his chest plate and control him. Likewise, good technicians should be able to slip his blocks relatively quickly and disrupt in the backfield. Guyton’s ankle stiffness may also limit him to teams that primarily use man-gap or inside zone blocking schemes, as he might not fit well in zone schemes with speedier linemen at the NFL level.

However, the upside with Guyton is tantalizing. He flashes the ability to be a dominant blocker when he uses his length, lands his punches, and blocks from a sturdy base. Teams will likely look at that and want to be the one to unlock that potential.

Does he fit the Giants?
Potentially, as a developmental prospect

Final Word: A high second- or fringe first-round value