Baltimore Ravens Draft Debate: Tunsil or Stanley

It is no secret that left tackle Eugene Monroe has not lived up to his potential since signing his five-year deal after the 2013 season. Monroe has only played 17 games in his two seasons after signing his contract which is about 53% of the games in two seasons.

Obviously injuries are an unfortunate part of the game and unpredictable. However, Monroe has only played one full season in his seven year career. As a person, I am a huge fan of Eugene Monroe. But even when healthy, he has not looked like the player we saw in 2013, and his contract is just too much for the Ravens when they have cheaper and possibly better options.

It is not very often the Baltimore Ravens find themselves with a chance at a top three or top five draft selection. The Ravens have not had a top selection since 2000 … not since they selected rookie sensation Jamal Lewis.

In their first selection as an infant franchise in 1996 with the fourth overall selection they picked Hall of Fame left tackle Jonathan Ogden. Obviously it is very tough to live up to the standard that Ogden set, but I believe there are two tackles that have top ten pick potential in the 2016 Draft Class.

Laremy Tunsil and Ronnie Stanley have been excellent at Ole Miss and Notre Dame respectively. One of the hottest debates of this year’s draft is choosing between Tunsil or Stanley. I thought I would throw my opinion relative to who I prefer for the Ravens to select if the opportunity is there for them to take one of them in May.

Run Blocking:

Ronnie Stanley

Stanley was overall a very solid as a run blocker. He is a very athletic tackle that really impresses in his ability to get down the field on draws and running back screen plays. A few negatives I saw on tape with Stanley’s run blocking ability is that he would get caught on tape trying to block too high, which left him to rely heavily on his arm strength rather than anchoring from his legs and then pushing with his arms. The other problem I saw with him on tape is he really lacked the mean streak that you want to see in the run game. He never went all out where he could have pancaked the opposing defensive lineman.

Laremy Tunsil

Tunsil was outstanding as a run blocker in all of the games I watched. The mean streak was very evident in Tunsil’s tape as he pancaked a multitude of defenders throughout his film. He also seals the edge well, which allows his running back to bounce outside for extra yards. Ole Miss even pulled Tunsil at times in the run game, which is usually done by a more athletic guard. As a NFL team it is very comforting to see that a college team has faith in their tackle to pull as a run blocker, which exemplifies how athletic of a player Tunsil is. An ability that Tunsil and Stanley share is the ability to get to the second level of defenders to help spring their running back free for a huge run. A big positive for Tunsil is his ability to make contact with his arms prior to his body, which allows him to get leverage to help the run develop early on in the play.

Advantage: Laremy Tunsil

Pass Blocking:

Ronnie Stanley

I was very impressed with Ronnie Stanley’s pass blocking technique and ability. His footwork was textbook and his lateral movement was very quick and fluid on his tape. His hand placement was also very solid, which aids him to hold his block to give his quarterback an extra few seconds to throw. He has very quick hips to help him if the defender changes the direction of his pass rush quickly. Along with his hand placement, his has very strong arms and forearms which rarely get batted down by swim moves.

The only weakness I saw on his pass blocking ability was his leverage. At times he starts too high, which allows a strong pass rusher to utilize his bull rush to push him back to get pressure on the quarterback. Stanley had an interesting match-up against potential first round pick Shaw Lawson in the middle of the season. Stanley showed solid footwork, but showed weaker arms that could not hold against Lawson, which may affect his draft stock some. Lawson definitely won the battle that day, but I still think Stanley rebounded and adjusted well after getting beat early by Lawson.

Laremy Tunsil

Tunsil also showed very solid pass blocking ability. His footwork was overall very solid, but Stanley edges him on the speed of lateral movement. Along with Stanley, he also showed very strong arms which gives him the ability to hold blocks. You can tell Tunsil is a smart player because he picks up who to block when the defense brings extra pressure and rarely if ever missed his guy.

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Tunsil had a very solid game against potential first round selections Jarran Reed, Jonathan Allen, and A’Shawn Robinson in 2014, before his knee injury. He has looked explosive coming out of his blocks after his knee injury, but I’m sure many NFL teams will have their medical teams go through it with a fined-tooth comb when the NFL Combine rolls around.

You can see on film a knock against Tunsil is at times he does not play loose and flexible. When pass blocking he crunches up, which is possibly due to some mental effect of his injury, but even prior to his injury you see it on his 2014 film.

Advantage: Ronnie Stanley

Overall:

I think they are both worthy of a top ten selection when those teams are on the clock. However, I do believe that the overall better prospect is Laremy Tunsil. The difference between Tunsil’s run blocking ability and Stanley’s run blocking ability is a much wider gap than their comparative pass blocking ability. That being said, in today’s pass happy league I would not be surprised to see Stanley taken first, because he just edges Tunsil as a pass blocker.

I really loved both tackles’ quick lateral movement; they both show tremendous footwork and quick feet which is essential and the first thing I look for on tape. Laremy Tunsil and Ronnie Stanley would be a cheaper and better upgrade from Eugene Monroe and it will be interesting to see how the Ravens address Monroe’s contract in the offseason.

Advantage: Laremy Tunsil

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