Film Room: Could Taliese Fuaga be the Raiders next starting right tackle?

Big man is projected to be a top pick and is a nasty run blocker

One of the Las Vegas Raiders’ top needs heading into the NFL Draft at the end of the month is finding a starting caliber right tackle. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Las Vegas has been a popular destination for Oregon State offensive lineman Taliese Fuaga to land in a handful of mock drafts.

At just under 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds, Fuaga is a typical right tackle who is a mauler in the running game. His 90.9 run-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus led all qualifying FBS offensive tackle by 4.4 points. For comparison, the difference between second and third place was only 0.3 points.

But the former Beaver is more than that as he also has a good track record in pass protection. On 734 pass-blocking snaps in college, he didn’t allow a single sack and only gave up 23 pressures with just five of those being quarterback hits, per PFF.

Those numbers are more than enough reason to flip on the tape, so let’s see what the big man brings to the table.

I like saving the best for last so we’ll start with a few clips in pass protection.

Here, Fuaga is going up against one of the best pass-rushers in this year’s draft class Laiatu Latu. On his pass set, the tackle does a good job of getting out of his stance to protect the edge without oversetting and giving up an inside lane. Still, Latu tries to use one of his staples, the inside stick move, but Fuaga has great hand placement and feet to neutralize it.

Notice how Fuaga gets his inside hand on the rusher’s chest and outside hand under the armpit. That allows him to gain control of the rusher and use the defender’s momentum against him to ride him inside.

I’ve watched a lot of Latu’s games this season and I am a big fan of his skillset. However, he really struggled to beat Fuaga and only had one pressure in this game which was tied for the fewest he had in a single outing all year, according to PFF. The other instance was when the Bruin logged just 14 snaps in a blowout win.

Gabriel Murphy — No. 11, UCLA’s left defensive end in the clip above — isn’t a big name in the draft class but is widely considered a solid mid-round pick, meaning Fuaga is going against some good competition here again.

Fuaga’s pass set is similar to the previous rep, only this time he shows off some veteran savviness by throwing a fake punch or flashing a hand. That disrupts the timing of Murphy’s pass-rush move as he flinches and starts to go for the hand swipe but the tackle’s hands aren’t there.

Now, to back up a bit, I would like to see Fuaga work for more depth initially so that he doesn’t lose control at the top of the rush. That’s one of his weaknesses and he doesn’t have the fastest feet on his vertical sets. That being said, the fake punch is a nuance that a lot of offensive tackles don’t add to their arsenal until they are in the league.

Here, we’ll get a nice stunt pickup from our subject.

Initially, Fuaga uses a post arm to help the guard in pass protection which ends up paying off as Oregon runs a T/E stunt. Once the tackle sees the outside linebacker work inside, he shifts his attention to the defensive tackle, and since he is already making contact with the interior defender, executing the switch with the guard is easier. In a way, helping out his teammate allows him to help himself.

From there, Fuaga moves his feet and uses his hands to ride the defensive tackle by the quarterback on the high side of the rush. Also, this is another quality rep against quality competition as that’s Brandon Dorlus, a projected Day 2 pick.

Moving onto the good stuff, run blocking!

The Beavers are running outside zone to Fuaga’s side and the first thing that stands out is his get-off. He has the initial quickness to get into Latu’s body which helps prevent Latu from being able to shoot his hands and set his base. Then, Fuaga’s strength takes over and he does a great job of moving his feet through contact to widen the edge defender and create a massive hole in the B-gap for the running back to run through.

In the clip above, Fuaga is on the front side of a mid-zone run and does get some help from the guard on the combo block. However, he doesn’t need much support.

At the point of contact, he uses his hands and strength well to stand up the defensive end and help get a leverage advantage. That also allows him to get a nice initial surge to start moving the defender backward.

Finally, when the end begins to work outside and across the tackle’s face, the tackle stays attached to the block and keeps his feet running to switch from vertical to horizontal displacement, creating another big hole for the running back. This is also where Fuaga’s size comes into play as there isn’t much the defender can do with 325 pounds leaning on him.

This time, the former Beaver is on the backside of mid-zone but is executing another combo block with the guard. Watch how his hands go from low to high at the point of contact to, once again, help stand up the defender and get a leverage advantage.

To end the rep, we see another good example of Fuaga keeping his feet moving through contact and the entire rep. Also, he shows a finishing mentality to put the defensive tackle in the ground after getting about five yards of vertical displacement. This is a dominant play from a nasty block.

So, to answer the question posed in the title; yes, absolutely!