We are excited about our draft coverage here at FFSN this year, as we are adding something new to the fold. Between now and the NFL Draft, I will be writing individual player profiles on many of this year’s top prospects. Today, we continue the series with Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham.

Each of these breakdowns will include a brief background on the player, an in-depth scouting report, and a projection as to where he is likely to be selected in the NFL Draft. All of these articles can be found on our main FFSN NFL feed. Be sure to share these breakdowns with your fellow draft buddies on social media!

Bio and Profile

Height: 6’6″
Weight: 342 lbs

Universally considered the top offensive line prospect in the class of 2021, Latham came to Alabama as a five-star prospect with elite upside. He participated in 14 games as a freshman and became the full-time starter in 2022, maintaining that status through the remainder of his time with the Crimson Tide. He now heads into the draft with positive momentum, despite his final collegiate game (CFP Semifinals) being rather underwhelming.

Scouting Report

Latham is a former five-star prospect who was recruited heavily by many blue-blood college football programs after dominating his competition at the high-school level. At 6’6”, 340 pounds, Latham displays surprisingly nimble feet and good awareness, consistently recognizing stunts and delayed blitzes and reacting to them in perfect time. He is an absolute mauler in the run game, effectively using his long arms to win the battle for leverage and displaying dominant lower-body strength and leg drive to push defenders the opposite direction.

I like the suddenness he displays out of his stance, but at that size, his ability to change direction is going to be somewhat limited. While his solid first step has definitely allowed him to better mirror speed to the outside, he often overreacts to speed rushers and makes himself liable to the inside shoulder. When faced against pass rushers who can change direction quickly, Latham struggles to redirect his body, allowing the defender to beat him to the inside. If this issue continues in the NFL, he does have the build to move inside to guard effortlessly, where it would be much less of an issue. The CFP semifinal game against Michigan has been critiqued by scouts and pundits, and it definitely was not his best game, but for a good portion of the game, Latham played well. There were just a couple big plays in key moments that he did not live up to his billing, which ended up costing Alabama big time. If you throw that game out, however, it is difficult to find tape on him that has a significant amount of blatantly bad reps. Latham projects almost exclusively on the right side of the offensive line, but the upside is still tremendous.

Draft Projection

In a world where the Chargers stay at Pick 5, I could see them taking Latham as high as that. However, I believe the sweet spot for Latham is between Picks 10 and 20, as there are plenty of tackle-needy teams in that range. I would say the floor for Latham’s draft stock is Philadelphia at Pick 22, as they could potentially look to find the heir apparent to Lane Johnson.