Over and over again Raiders GM Dave Ziegler and head coach Josh McDaniels have preached versatility among their offensive linemen. That point was driven home with their selection of Dylan Parham in the third round. But the tone was a bit different when they nabbed Thayer Munford in the seventh round.
“The offensive tackle position in itself is a position that, the supply and demand at that position is tough,” Ziegler said when describing Munford. “You look at it in free agency. It’s a tough position to play and there’s not a lot of human beings that size, length, athletic skill set to play tackle and to have a tackle like Thayer that was there that played in the BigTen for Ohio State and played against a lot of talent and did a solid job in those matchups. To have a tackle with that resume was an attractive thing. Obviously he’ll have to come in and show what he can do at the professional level. His college career is over. Again to see a tackle that we both evaluated and thought was obviously a good player was good to see.”
Not once in that statement did Ziegler refer to Munford as anything but a tackle.
Why does that matter? Well, the 6-5, 328-pounder played guard all of last season for the Buckeyes. And all the draft projections I saw of him, he was listed as a guard. Usually when that happens it’s either because he played better at guard or doesn’t have physical traits that translate to the NFL. That’s not the case with Munford.
“My strengths are definitely having longer arms and I’m very quick on my feet,” Munford said following his selection. Those are not typically seen as guard strengths, those are tackle strengths.
As it happens, the Raiders spent a first round pick in last year’s draft on Alex Leatherwood – another former college tackle who projected as a guard in the draft process. But in Leatherwood’s case, there was good reason. It was because his strength was in run blocking, not pass blocking. And after four games, that became obvious to the Raiders too, so they moved him to guard.
Since then the team has not brought in anyone to fill the need at right tackle. But is it crazy to think they may have just found their guy in the seventh round?
Even while Munford was seen as a guard, he was viewed as a mid-round pick in this draft. So, his availability in the seventh round is not necessarily indicative of his talent. It could just be he slipped through because of the fact that he was a fifth-year senior who made the rare decision to move inside after several years at tackle. The reason why he did that is important, however.
“I played three years at left tackle and I always saw myself as a versatile type player and I’m going to play guard too,” Munford added. “I played guard this year and I think I did pretty well at guard. This year was basically on me. I brought it up to the coaches. The coaches never forced me to play guard. I said, yeah, I’m a team player, I pledge to do this. Let’s do what’s best for the team.”
Munford was a first-team All BigTen left tackle. Then last season he was a First Team All BigTen left guard. And by all accounts, he was better as a tackle than he was as a guard. Could it be most teams just overlooked him because of his move inside?
Whatever the reason for his fall, all signs point to Munford having a viable shot at competing for at least the swing tackle job and potentially in the mix for the wide open right tackle job.