patchick

Solder has been consistently described as somewhat raw, but with a rare frame and rare athleticism. It got me wondering...how rare, exactly?

Here's his measurable line:
6'8.25" 319 4.96/2.87/1.72 21 32" 09'02" 4.34 7.44

I set out to find past OTs within at least shouting range of those numbers. I set some cutoffs:
height > 6'6"
40 < 5.15
10 < 1.78
VJ > 30"
BJ > 8'10"
SS < 4.55
3C < 7.70

Then I went back and looked through all OTs from the 2004 draft on. Here's the complete list of players making the cut:

Sebastian Vollmer
Jared Veldheer

IOW, Solder is indeed a VERY rare physical specimen (and in pretty nice company).

In case you're curious, other players coming pretty close:
Winston Justice
Eric Winston
Robert Gallery
Ryan Clady
William Beatty

Metaphors

I also believe Solder's arm length is a couple of inches longer than Vollmer or Veldheer. Not looking to resurrect the arm length discussions from other threads, but it is another asset for a LT to have in the utility belt. The only downer was his bench numbers...but moving 300 lbs horizontally is much more important than moving 225 lbs vertically.

I'm not a big Solder fan. If you are going to take a LT in the first round, they should be technically clean and dominant in at least one aspect of their game. I don't see that in Solder. I do see the skill set and recognize that he could put it all together with the right coaching. If he can turn his upside into production, he can move into the Ogden/Pace neighborhood (likely not the same cul-de-sac though).

If the Pats are right on Solder, they have bookend tackles that don't need help with their assignments, freeing up the TEs to attack downfield and the RBs (paging Mr. Vereen) to slip out of the backfield. Brady may never throw another incomplete pass. If Solder struggles, there is a good chance the Pats offense will underachieve and Brady will enter the playoffs once again feeling like a crash test dummy. Gutsy call and probably not one that I would have made. Hopefully Solder will have some preseason games to work out the rough spots before the games count.

jsull87

very interested to watch him progress... i think he'll be getting alot of help from crump and Gronk when we play the colts though.

TealSox

Nate Solder's size and athleticism are intriguing to me, but he was one of the many prospects I didn't want the New England Patriots. From the tape I was able to see of him, he didn't appear to be dominate. From his size alone, I expected to see a tackle that embarrassed college defensive ends or being embarrassed by speed rushers. Surprisingly, he seemed to deal with speed rushers well enough, but again, he wasn't dominate again college opponents.

I find it ironic that Belichick will buy on upside when it comes to a offensive tackle, but generally avoid an outside linebacker with comparable upside and measureables. Not that I have an issue with it, because bust-ability seems to be lower with offensive linemen than defensive linemen/3-4 OLBs.

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ctpatsfan77

This isn't meant facetiously, but clearly the Patriots (especially Scar) really liked something about Solder. So what was it?

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borg

He's not a players rep for the NFLPA

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patsfaninpa

For those who don't get it, he's talking about Matt Light. Has he talked his way out of town a la Mike Vrabel? I think the fact that Mankins returned despite the acrimonious contract talks proves this team is above that. Matt Light will be a football decision. Does he want too much for what he brings to the table? Especially if we have an option..Solder

I've seen the tapes of Solder. I think when he struggled it was a technique issue. Fortunately, we have one of the top 2-3 ol coaches in the league. His mistakes will be corrected. I'm not comparing the two from a performance angle. There is none yet. But, physically Solder reminds me of Tony Boselli.

Shelterdog

I have no idea what Teal Sox thinks but the fact that he's really fast and has really long arms means it's going to be a lot tougher for players (including blitzing defensive backs) to get around him. This was always the worst part of Light's game; the Suggs sack early in the 09 playoff game comes to mind and if I remember correctly one of the Jets dbacks got around a slowfooted light in the playoff game as well.

Snake Eyes

While I’m not a Solder fan yet I’m actually not going to hold the bench press numbers against him, when getting into that rep range it starts to become more about endurance than short term explosiveness, which is what players need (5 seconds of mixing it up with a D-lineman and then a relatively long rest). That being said, only an idiot would be trying to move a D-lineman primarily using arm/upper body strength, the lion’s share of the work will be done with the lower body, having the grace and coordination of a dancer is going to do a lot more to prevent sacks than having the strength of a World’s strongest man contestant.

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patchick

It's definitely intriguing, isn't it? I wonder whether they put high-round OL choices largely in Dante's hands: "he's yours to mold, you pick him and be responsible for the outcome." Along the same lines, Solder & Vollmer (and Cannon, for that matter) were reported to be intelligent guys and posted high Wonderlic scores. That seems to be another key point in trusting that a prospect can rise through L'Accademia Dante.

Now turning around and looking at OLB prospects: who are the Solder-like über-rare bodies they've actually passed on? Let me try a set of target measurables based on DeMarcus Ware similar to my Solder cutoffs:

height > 6'3"
weight > 245
40 > 4.70
10 < 1.68
VJ > 36"
SS <4.20
3C < 7.00

And I'll add the requirement "the Pats had a realistic shot to get him, even if it took a moderate trade up." (E.g. Von Miller makes the cutoff, but we clearly can't accuse the Patriots of passing on him.)

It turns out there's only been ONE player since Ware who fills the bill. Which leads me to 2 conclusions:

1. We can't really say that the Pats keep passing on the OLB equivalents of Solder and Vollmer;
2. There's a reason so many of us obsessed over Connor Barwin.