Film room: JC Latham, sweet feet with a little nastiness

Massive Alabama tackle could fill need for Raiders with the 13th pick

Heading into the NFL Draft at the end of the month, the Las Vegas Raiders are expected to address the trenches. While drafting a quarterback with the 13th overall pick would be ideal, there’s a chance none of the top passers are available, and pivoting to select Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham would be a smart backup plan.

Las Vegas currently has Thayer Munford Jr. slated to start at right tackle and a big question mark at right guard. However, Munford has experience on the inside after playing guard during his last season at Ohio State. So, spending a first-round pick on Latham could help solve two problems at once as the rookie could start at right tackle while the former Buckeye holds down the right guard spot.

Also, the Alabama product is an elite talent who only gave up 14 pressures (two sacks) and earned a 98.1 pass-blocking efficiency rating from Pro Football Focus last season. The latter ranked tied for fifth among SEC offensive tackles, and his 79.6 grade as a run blocker was third best.

So, let’s flip on the tape and see what Latham can do.

Alabama runs power here with Latham on the playside where he and the tight end are going to double-team the defensive end and work up to the middle linebacker. However, he doesn’t need much help from the tight end.

At the point of contact, the tackle does a great job of bending his knees to get his pads down and gain a leverage advantage. That’s especially impressive for someone who stands at nearly 6-foot-6.

Now, the end has a nice counter by using a long arm to get extension on the block and push Latham’s shoulders back. However, that’s where the tackle’s grip strength and over 35-inch arms come into play as he never loses control of the block. Instead, he resets, stays attached and keeps his feet moving through contact to finish the rep with a pancake for an excellent recovery.

This clip is a similar play-call with Latham on the playside of a gap run, it’s just counter instead of power. This is a tough look for him too because the defensive end is lined up inside of him, meaning he’s responsible for the end based on the pre-snap alignment. However, Texas slants the end into the C-gap and blitzes the inside linebacker, so the tackle’s responsibility changes post-snap and he must adjust on the fly.

Latham makes sure that the defensive lineman is working wide and immediately gets his eyes inside once the lineman crosses his face. Now, this isn’t the cleanest block, but he gets just enough of the backer to create an inside rushing lane. Bama’s pullers just don’t hold up their end of the bargain as one gets stone-walled and the other misses his man which is why the play goes for a short gain.

On this play, Latham is on the backside of an inside zone run. He has a tough assignment since he’s trying to cut off a defensive end who is lined up inside of him. That being said, the tackle takes away the defender’s advantage immediately after the snap with a good first step that allows him to square up the defender.

From there, the Alabama product has good pad level at the point of attack again, and watch how his feet never stop moving throughout the rep. That allows him to essentially turn this into a drive block and get about five yards of vertical displacement to help create a cutback lane for the running back.

Even when moving onto pass protection, we still see some nastiness from Latham.

The Longhorns run a T/E stunt and as soon as Latham sees the end start to loop inside the defensive tackle, he gets his eyes inside and expects the tackle to come his way. That allows him to immediately pick up the line game and be the aggressor against the interior defender. To finish, he shows off some impressive strength by hip-tossing the defender into the ground, negating the stunt and adding a little flare at the end.

Something that stands out about our subject in pass protection is he has an impressive get-off. Here, he’s the first player out of his stance and that’s important against an edge rusher who is playing from a wide alignment like Auburn’s is on this rep.

That, combined with a good 45-degree set, allows Latham to reduce the area between him and the rusher. Also, he does a great job of not working too wide and oversetting which could create an inside lane.

From there, he flashes his outside hand to throw off the rusher’s timing and shows good foot speed to stay in front of and ride the rusher by. That helps create a nice pocket for the quarterback to step into and have enough time to throw.

Our next (and last) rep is similar to the previous one where the right tackle is going up against an edge rusher from a wide alignment. Again, he has a great get-off but this time he uses more of a vertical set to force the edge to have a longer path to win around him.

Also, he helps his teammate by giving a strong post arm against the defensive tackle to widen the tackle. What’s even more impressive is Latham does that while still staying in front of the edge defender and not getting beat on the high side of the rush. That speaks to how good his footwork and footspeed are.