Original Publication Date: 3-25-10

What makes this player NASTY? (Strengths)

He is a rare athlete for his size. Combines plus foot speed with a decent competitiveness to finish blocks. Requisite initial quickness to get into position on one and three-step passes, where he can engage a defender quickly while maintaining his balance. He can also execute on plays away when asked to cut off defenders on the backside in the run game. Excels and uses length to frustrate DEs on turn-out blocks. He has the range to get to 2nd level assignments and will connect down the field in space.

Weaknesses

His initial kick step gets him into problems vs. ends with elite first step quickness. He wants to rush to get into position to slide-and-mirror, and this leaves him susceptible to ends climbing his upfield shoulder. His doesn’t show 'pop' off the ball and will get jolted back versus ends with strength & heavy hands. One of the biggest things we noticed in our film study of Veldheer was a tendency for his hand placement to venture to the outside shoulder pads of opponents, which could lead to holding penalties at the next level. This can be worked on, but his ordinary strength to sit and anchor could pose a much bigger problem moving forward.

Other Notes

Veldheer, who we felt had a solid full week at the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star practices, put up numbers that were in the area of what we expected at the 2010 NFL Combine. He did do some things athletically that continued to push his draft stock up even more. We really like to look at the vertical jump when evaluating the offensive line, it can often be an indicator on characteristics like 'Pop off the Ball'. Jared, who needs consistent work on his initial kick step depth, posted an impressive vertical jump of 33.5" at 6'8, 312 pounds. This was one of the most athletic feats of the weekend by any player at any position. When you combine that with the fact that he ranked ninth in the bench press (32 reps), fourth in the forty-yard dash (5.09) and registered a 9'1" broad jump, he certainly helped himself. Not a bad day athletically for a 300-plus pound offensive tackle.

Time to get NASTY (Our Summary)...

We feel very strongly that Veldheer is an eventual starter at the NFL level. Whether that is in year one or year three is the big question. With his natural athleticism, Veldheer has a chance to stay on the left side of an offensive line. He has good foot speed, above average balance and the footwork necessary to slide and mirror versus ends with wiggle or speed. He is an upright player that plays with OK knee bend for his size and looks to finish his blocking assignments.  Jared seems to be very competitive and he is a good enough athlete to contribute on the Kickoff Return team (in the back portion of the unit, if necessary) early in his career. With that being said, he is raw in terms of play strength and although he put up quality numbers in the Bench Press at the combine, he sometimes doesn’t show the same amount of "play strength" on tape.

Prediction for NFL Draft

3rd Round