Mike Martz thinks Joe Alt lacks the ‘big ass’ to be a top-10 pick

Former Rams coach Mike Martz sees J.C. Latham as a better tackle prospect than Joe Alt

As offensive coordinator and then head coach of the St. Louis Rams, Mike Martz worked with one of the all-time best tackles in NFL history, Orlando Pace. No NFL draft analyst believes there is an offensive line prospect near the acclaim of Pace—which we could see almost any year—but Notre Dame’s Joe Alt is the consensus number one at the tackle position.

Well, almost consensus.

In a recent video for his job at The 33rd Team, Martz compared three of the top draft tackles in Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, and J.C. Latham. As Blaine Grisak recently orchestrated in the SB Nation Mock Draft, he had the Rams trading up for Joe Alt in the top-10, which could be a monumental move for L.A.’s offensive line. Martz sees the polish and skill that Alt has learned at Notre Dame, but that he lacks the big ‘ass’ and hips for a true top-tier left tackle in the NFL.

Instead, Martz sees that potential in Olu Fashanu to be a top-tier tackle but that neither of them compare to Alabama’s J.C. Latham.

Should the Rams target J.C. Latham at pick 19 if he makes it there? The opinions on Latham have been mixed but Martz thinks that good coaching can clean up his technical issues but that his unique frame and athleticism gives him a higher ceiling at tackle than Alt or Fashanu. The Rams could slot Latham at left tackle as soon as 2024, although I’m sure not without growing pains. Alt may be more ready for Week 1, but could he be surpassed by Latham in two or three years?

At least one former Super Bowl-winning coach thinks so.