How does hip bend and arm length affect 2025 NFL Draft offensive line prospects?

How do we address the guys that just don’t really fit positional norms in this year’s draft?

Every year when draft season rolls around, we see a few guys that most people know are incredibly talented, but due to physical limitations they’re viewed as positional outliers.

Tennessee Titans’ guard Peter Skoronski entered the NFL Draft as a tackle, but due to sub-33-inch arms he was moved inside to guard, where he’s had a pretty good career so far. Houston Texans’ WR Tank Dell is 5’8 and maybe 165 pounds soaking wet, but when he’s healthy he can be one of the most dynamic receivers in the NFL. Due to the ever-changing landscape of college football, more and more of these guys who are outliers into NFL Draft evaluation.

But, what do these benchmarks mean? Why do any of these matter? Well, let’s dig in and figure it out.

What’s the deal with arm length?

With some of the top prospects this year, you’re going to hear a lot about arm length. The two most prominent guys when we discuss this are LSU OT Will Campbell and Texas OT Kelvin Banks, who both might come in with sub-34 inch arms. For offensive linemen, an arm length of 34 inches is the baseline to play offensive tackle in the NFL, largely because of how many guys they’ll face with length out on the edge. Having longer arms would nullify some instances of pass rushers being able to get into your chest with speed to power.

We can see some instances of Campbell getting caught with power from guys with longer arms like potential 2025 first-round pick Shemar Stewart. On this rep, you can see that Stewart overwhelms Campbell with speed to power, and it gets Campbell’s heels on the toes of QB Garrett Nussmeier and he forces an incompletion. Stewart is a behemoth of an EDGE rusher with near 35-inch arms, but these are the type of players Campbell is going to face if he has to play on the edge consistently in the NFL.

Where Campbell wins, however, is through his technical prowess and incredible core strength and flexibility. He’s shown the ability to win using jump sets as well as 45-degree sets to throw off pass rushers, and his ability to anchor with a strong core helps to offset some of the length issues. Above anything else, Campbell knows what he’s really good at and he can win in those areas as a pass blocker.

He also shows some nice torque in the run game, using some impressive grip strength to forcefully move defenders out the way. He’s such a great down blocker and a guy you can use on short pulls like how LSU used him in his final year.

So what do we do with a guy who’s as technically refined as Campbell, but a little bit athletically limited? From my perspective, I see it like this: I think Campbell would be a fine tackle, but he’s got the potential to be an All-Pro guard. Something that kind of caught my eye when watching Campbell was some swings and misses when it comes to playing out in space. It could just be because the defensive back was moving much quicker, but at some point it does become a trend. I’m curious to see how he tests at the NFL Combine, especially in the agility drills, because it might lead him to more of a spot at guard than at tackle.

With Banks, I think there’s more of a future at tackle for him, but I also think he should probably move inside to guard. Let’s start with the good for the Texas tackle, which is his knockout power in his hands. He plays with a wide base (which we’ll get to later) and that gives him the ability to generate so much force with his hands and completely blow guys out of gaps. His ability to drive with his legs on contact is also really nice, an incredibly forceful player.

He also can do this on screens:

This is a dramatic finish worthy of a Super Smash Bros announcement. Banks has a nasty disposition and strong hands, but with sub-34 inch arms it’s going to make it really hard for him to live on the edge as a tackle. Texas didn’t really ask their tackles to use a variety of pass sets, and something that stood out with Banks on tape was that he’s a little bit of a hip bender. For tackles, you’d rather want them to bend at the knees than the hips, because you’re able to keep your balance and head up better than if you bend at the waist. Think about it this way: you’re able to squat a whole lot more with proper knee bend than you are if you try and bend at the hips. This is because with proper knee bend and flexion, you recruit more muscles. For offensive linemen, bending at the knee shows more natural athleticism and ability to anchor against power and move your feet. If your head goes down as a tackle, it’s game over, because the head is at the top of the string connected to the body. The hips bend over, so will the head.

I thought in games where Texas had to use true passing sets he showed more hip bend than I would like as a tackle, and he lost a few reps such as this one to Georgia potential first rounder Mykel Williams. Look at how Banks’ feet get out of wack, and he doesn’t have the knee flexibility to recover.

Now there are a lot of guys who are like Campbell and Banks in this draft class, players that might fit more at guard than tackle due to arm length and other limiting athletic factors. There are also guys who might fit more at center than guard for those same reasons. None are more of an outlier than UNC’s Willie Lampkin. At only 5’10 and 270 pounds, Lampkin is an outlier in every sense of the word. If he’s drafted in April, he would be the shortest and smallest lineman picked in the NFL Draft in a very long time. Eagles’ legend Jason Kelce was considered undersized, but at 6’3 and 280 pounds he dwarfs Lampkin. However, if you watch UNC’s tape, you’ll see that Willie Lampkin is a freaking BALLER. He’s a former wrestling champ, and you can see that through his grip strength, ability to re-fit his hands and outstanding leverage. He just knows how to get under people and win as a blocker, whether it be at guard or center.

However, he’s quite literally the smallest lineman I’ve ever scouted. So how does the NFL view a guy like that? Would he have to transition to fullback, a la Patrick Ricard? If that’s the plan, do you draft a guy like that? Or, if you want him on your offensive line, how do you mitigate his lack of size? You could make him a center where he won’t be on an island all the time against behemoths at DT, but his play looks the best at guard. Just a fascinating player overall.

You’re going to hear a lot of buzzwords between now and April for the NFL Draft. Some that don’t really matter as much as the others. However, when it comes to offensive linemen, the arm length and foot quickness matter a lot, and it might move a couple of the top linemen inside to guard.