New York Giants Draft Prospect: OT Joe Alt

The Giants need offensive line help, but would it make sense to draft a college left tackle to play right tackle?

Joe Alt, OT

Height: 6’8
Weight: 322 lbs.
Class: Junior
School: Notre Dame

A former four-star recruit out of Totino-Grace High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was the second-ranked Minnesota prospect and the 20th offensive tackle during the 2021 recruiting cycle. His father, John Alt, was a two-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1980s and 1990s. He’s in the Chiefs Hall of Fame and was their first-round selection in 1984. Joe’s brother Mark plays in the NHL.

Joe Alt was a finalist for just about every offensive line award in college football. He was unanimously selected as an All-American, team captain, and First-Team All-Everything (basically); he is a revered prospect and is one of the top players in the 2024 NFL Draft.

He only allowed five pressures in 2023 and one sack. He has 1,105 pass-blocking snaps through three college football seasons with just 24 pressures and four sacks allowed; much of those statistics resulted in his true-freshman season (11 pressures, three sacks).

According to Pro Football Focus, Alt was the third highest-graded pass blocker in college football (of players that played at least 20% of their team’s snaps). He also received the highest offensive grade of any offensive lineman. Almost every one of his snaps came at LT in college.

Strengths

• Exceptional size and length
• Wide base and balance at the snap allow good range of motion
• Good overall athlete with excellent foot quickness
• Can open and close his hips well when adjusting
• Good agility and burst, with excellent change-of-direction skills
• Exceptional feet - is the definition of winning with footwork/angles
• Very controlled and effortless mover
• Patient in pass protection
• Solid flexibility in his lower half
• Light feet and frames blocks very well
• Good ability to quickly jump set and cut off any advantageous angle for defenders
• Maximizes length at contact - does well to readjust hands to optimize control
• Solid overall hand positioning and timing in pass protection
• Length allows him to ride EDGEs away from pocket against high-side rushes
• Sits back on his hips - has the ability to reestablish leverage when engaged
• Solid overall anchor
• Devastating down blocker in the run game
• Controlled and balanced mover when pulling and on screens
• Plays with good leverage despite naturally high center of gravity in the run game
• Consistently drives his feet through contact
• Very good feel for transitioning in combo blocks
• Passes off twists smoothly
• Will be successful in a zone scheme
• Finishes blocks like a maniac and lets defenders know about it
• Exceptional awareness of assignments and defensive intentions
• Young - he’ll be 21 through his rookie season

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Weaknesses

• Good enough athlete but isn’t an elite athlete like others in the class
• Doesn’t have the type of pop in his hands that one would imagine for a top-10 OT
• More places hands on target rather than dictates through authoritative punches
• Has solid anchor but did get pushed back when DL quickly engaged with bull-rush
• 2nd & 9 Q1 6:30 Ohio State
• 2nd & 10 Q3 14:48 USC
• Chest can get over his toes in pass protection - could be sustainable to push-pull, albeit wasn’t an issue in college
• Could protect his chest more as a pass blocker - hands could get wide at times
• Not necessarily a weakness, but he opened his hips early on more shallow pass sets that allowed him to effectively cut off the angle of high side rushers and did well when executing this technique
• Relies more on elite body positioning and framing than strength and power

Summary

Joe Alt has a bright future in the NFL. He relies on excellent footwork and framing of blocks that maximize angles and allow him to use his elite frame to control and win reps. He’s not the most aggressive or powerful tackle prospect, and his punch lacks elite pop on contact, but he’s a mean finisher in the run game who will drive defenders through the deck. 

Alt doesn’t have a true weakness, but there are areas of his game that can improve, like hand placement and the overall power in his punches. Still, he’ll be a technically sound starter on day one who is light on his feet and controlled as an athlete in space.

GRADE: 6.89

Nick Falato

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