Name: Doug Free School: Northern Illinois Height: 6'6" Weight: 324 lbs Strengths: A tall offensive tackle with adequate bulk and even more room on his frame to get bigger. He does a good job with his first step and blocking angles in the running game. He shows outstanding quickness and mobility for his size. Is an agile offensive lineman with the ability to consistently reach the second-level and hit the moving target in the running game. He gives a great effort on every play and will impress you with his motor. He shows good quickness in his set and rarely will get beat by speed off the edge. He also plays with good balance and body control, which allows him to shuffle laterally versus double moves. Displays good awareness in pass pro, as well. He has great experience and has been a durable player throughout his career. He also has dominated the mid-major DI-A level for the last two seasons. Weaknesses: Lacks ideal bulk and will struggle to anchor versus bigger, more powerful bull rushers. Base is somewhat narrow and he must learn to play with more consistent leverage. He has adequate-to-good overall strength but lacks explosive upper-body power. Has not played against top competition on a weekly basis at the collegiate level. Will have a little bit of a bigger transition to the NFL as a mid-major player than some of the other top OT prospects from powerhouse DI-A programs. Overall: Free made 12 starts as a true freshman in 2003 at left tackle (including two at tight end). In 2004, Free played in and started all 12 games for the Huskies at tackle. Free became an All-MAC First Team performer after the 2005 season when he once again started all 12 games, giving him 36 consecutive starts over the past three seasons. Free started all 13 games at left tackle in 2006, ending his career with 49 straight starts. Free suffered a stress fracture in his foot in the season opener (Ohio State) that lingered throughout most of his senior year. As a result, he did not look as agile as he did on film from the previous season. Even when at full strength, Free has never been an overpowering blocker and he will need to improve his strength in order to sustain blocks longer in the NFL. With all that said, Free is still worthy of first-day consideration because of his impressive combination of size and mobility. He draws many comparisons to former Northern Illinois OT Ryan Diem, who currently starts at right tackle for the Colts, but Free is a significantly better prospect now than Diem was in 2001. Doug Free as a junior was rated by ESPN.com analyst Bill Curry as one of three best non-skill position players in the country. He paved the way for Michael Turner and Garrett Wolfe. Both put up ridiculous numbers while at Northern Illinois. He is also the smart, high character, leader-type that Tangini love.
I'm turned off by the fact that he's not very big or strong. We need a big run blocking RT. This guy seems like a better fit in a zone blocking scheme.
The scouting report was done prior to the Combine when he was just over 300 lbs. At the Combine he weighed in at 324 lb; so he is plenty big now. However, he still needs to work on his strength. I don't remember the exact # but his bench press was no that impressive.
I think his size is adequate. Obviously needs to work on strength. The idea of having anoter atheletic OL is intriguing and might give our running game and passing game a lot of flexibility. Overall he sounds like he could contribute on the right side if given some time to get stronger. I have also heard that he might translate to OG in the NFL.
