Prospect Profile: Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas

Protecting the Passer

Not the most athletically gifted Offensive Tackle and his feet are by no means quick, but they are efficient and he gets out of his stance quickly with good anticipation. He isn’t going to race around his kickslide but whether it’s a vertical, jump or 45 set, he’s going to maintain the half-man and he’s going to do it with his feet connected to the floor at all times to preserve his power. He’s an excellent bender and intersects the rusher at the right moment consistently. Those most explosive pass rushers with good hand usage can threaten the outside against him due to his less than stellar foot speed but it’s rare that this happens. Where he really excels is with his hand usage which is expert level. His timing, placement and power are all excellent, and it doesn’t matter whether he is working with independent hands or with a two-handed strike. Edge-rushers can disengage from him but they will rarely beat him because he is such a good hand-fighter. He is always in position to recover quickly, even the best DL with excellent hand usage will struggle to win in a hand-fight with him. He has excellent play strength, always maintaining a position of leverage and drops an easy anchor against all types of power move. He is a high-level processor as a pass protector – he sees inside moves coming a mile away and has enough hip fluidity to open up to it and make an effective power step. He also diagnoses stunts and games very quickly and is adept at picking up the looping pass-rusher. He won’t over-react to any kind of eye-candy from his opponent’s footwork. His processing allows him to make things look easy and means he plays within himself and is rarely in trouble when protecting the QB. His expert hand technique will stretch to an effective ghost hand. He is incredibly patient as a pass protector and seems to catch Defensive Linemen with his punch, ending the rep quickly, even when facing athletic rushers aligning in a wide 9 technique, where you think he might struggle.

Run Blocking

On the move: A deficiency in his game. When he has a good angle on a second level defender he can block them into oblivion, his competitive toughness showing up in these instances with some nasty finishes on tape. When he has to move off a path to the defender, and play with reactive athleticism, he struggles mightily to position on more nimble defenders. He does well on backside cut-off blocks against any defenders lined up outside him or over him but will struggle to reach block anyone lined up inside of him. On double teams, he won’t land his blows effectively at the line of scrimmage, has good release timing to the second level but then has a similar problem to the one already mentioned when he gets there.
Run blocking the big dude across from you: He has explosive power at the line of scrimmage as a Gap blocker, can uncoil his leverage and roll his hips on contact. As a Drive blocker he has impressive position, fit and finish, exploding into the defender. As a Down blocker he’s going to annihilate anyone lined up on his inside shoulder or further inside. He shows off his play strength as a Gap blocker and he’s hard to line up against down in and down out when running these types of blocks

DRAFTED RAVEN COMP
Difficult comp., not sure the Ravens have ever drafted a guy like Kelvin Banks, who is limited athletically but has plenty of power and is a technician with his hands. He is a more compact Orlando Brown Jr., is better athletically and wins more often with technique than the former Raven, but doesn’t quite rise to having Brown’s power, who won in different ways

PRODUCTION
JR: 934 snaps at LT
SO: 983 snaps at LT
FR: 857 snaps at LT
INJURY: Sr: Left Ankle Injury – Missed 1 game

RAVENS FIT
Expl. Athleticism 2
Ftbl Intelligence 5
Vrsatility 3
Grit 5
Scheme 3