Steve Avila

Avila started at center in 2020 and 2021 before moving to left guard for his final college season. He was a team captain and an iron man in the trenches for a TCU team that made it to the national title game. He didn’t surrender a sack the entire 2022 season.

Boasting a thick lower half, Avila’s movements in pass protection are synchronized. He mirrors pass rushers well and excels against counters, playing with a strong base throughout. His awareness and peripheral vision to pick up stunts is advanced. That carries over in his worker bee mindset to help out teammates in protection as much as he can.

In the run game, Avila isn’t as polished. He has the mass and strength to relocate targets, but struggles to sustain his blocks on the move. He needs to play with better pad level and generate the same leverage he executes in pass protection. When asked to pull, he often loses his balance and has a habit of lunging at his targets.

Multiple sources have raved about his character to me and believe he will take extremely well to NFL coaching, leaving room to grow as a run blocker.

Overall, Avila is one of the best pass protecting offensive lineman in this draft. He has the raw power and build to move people off the ball as a run blocker, but needs some technical refinement to sustain blocks longer. He has a starter’s floor with upside due to his intangibles.