Cleveland Browns draft profile: Notre Dame’s Mike McGlinchey

Mike McGlinchey is a dominant player as a left tackle prospect. But like any prospect, he has his flaws. The good thing for McGlinchey and anyone who drafts him, those flaws are fixable.

Run Blocking

As a run blocker, McGlinchey is very much like Nelson. They are both strong dominating run blockers who can stifle a defender. Coincidentally, McGlinchey has the same issues as Nelson, as they both sometimes overextend and lose their balance.

McGlinchey has great technique when it comes to the blocking process. He plays with good leverage from a three-point stance. This should not be overlooked, as this is a major learning curve for tackles in the NFL. He has good explosion out of his stance which leads to “heavy hands,” or a great punch that neutralizes defenders.

He is excellent at down blocks and double teams. These types of blocks are staples in the power run game. Nelson and McGlinchey did an excellent job prying open holes in the power run game last season. In the zone run game, McGlinchey did an adequate job of capturing his defender, but defenders often widened him from the rest of the line.

He has room to improve in terms of balance. He will bend at the waist at times. (Who can blame him at 6-foot-7?) When that happens, defenders then get under McGlinchey’s pads and move him out of the way. This can be fixed in the NFL; he simply needs to be more consistent bending at the knees once he is engaged with the defender.

Pass Blocking

But left tackles make their money with pass blocking.

Notre Dame used a cup pocket as their primary form of pass protection. A cup protection is when the offensive line tries to keep defenders at the line of scrimmage. For tackles, it means they do not have to drop back four or five yards into the backfield.

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Using this scheme helped McGlinchey, who is excellent once he gets his hands on a defender. It also shortened the space a defender had to travel before the initial contact. This means the defender would have to go through the offensive tackle and using this protection played to McGlinchey’s strengths.

There were a few times where McGlinchey did drop into pass protection, and his drops still need refinement. A tackle dropping is designed to force the defender to run around the offensive tackle to get to the quarterback. McGlinchey dropped to get into the defender’s lane and engage. It is a small thing, but engaging during half of the drop gives a defender an advantage in a speed rush.

Getting beat by speed rushes is what plagued McGlinchey at Notre Dame. He is most comfortable engaging defenders and stopping them, he does this well. But speed rushers are looking to get around him. He needs to learn to use the speed rusher’s momentum to push them past the quarterback.

Also, just as with his pass blocking, he will sometimes bend at the waist, lose his balance and give up big hits.