Joshua Gray, IOL, Oregon State (Junior)
Rayane M
La Draft NFL 2025 approche à grand pas et malgré une cuvée qui de prime abord semblait manquer de talent, l’équipe de The Trick Play s’est à nouveau plongé dans les tapes afin de pouvoir vous proposer les scouting reports des joueurs qui porteront bientôt le maillot de vos Franchises préférées.
From Quarterback to Safety, including the trenches where Offensive Linemen and Defensive Linemen engage in a relentless battle, Rayane et Valentin vous accompagnent donc à la rencontre des nouveaux visages de cette cuvée 2025 alors qu’on avance tous impatiemment vers la Draft NFL !
Strengths :
- Nice mobility
- Good run blocker
- Plays with good pad level
- Good punch
- Solid on combo blocks
- Good angles on blocks
- Hands placement
- Excellent play recognition
Weaknesses :
- Size
- Footwork
- Hand technique could be improved
- Forward imbalance
While many people hold OT Joshua Gray in very high regard for the level of play he displays, I'm once again less excited, at least about seeing him develop as an OT at the next level.
— Rayane M (@RayaneScout) August 4, 2023
On the other hand, I really think he could shine at OG with his tools.
LT #67 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/MVcMVYUEWn
TTProfil
To conclude, while Joshua Gray is clearly not a name to check off for the beginning of the draft, he remains a player to watch for a team looking to bolster its rotation. With a highly productive CFB career and significant experience, Joshua is a project that could develop very nicely in the right system and with the right coaching staff. Furthermore, both he and his coaches seem to have finally realized that his greatest potential lies on the interior of the line.
These Guard qualities and predisposition to play at this position were already present last season when he was playing opposite Taliese Fuaga. Joshua could therefore become, with some work, a solid Guard for a team playing in a Spread / West Coast system that relies on Zone Run type running plays. In my opinion, it is in this type of environment that Gray could be a very interesting project and one to keep an eye on.
I was really worried as the season approached that he would insist on playing Tackle, because unless there was a huge step-up, I definitely didn’t see him as a Tackle at the next level. In my opinion, he would never have been more than an average Tackle, which would have been okay, but he would never have truly been able to reach the top tier.
In the end, by choosing to transition to Guard this season, I was pleasantly surprised by what he showed, not because I didn’t expect to see significantly more interesting things, but because Joshua clearly rose to the occasion. While he hasn’t made much progress on certain points, we must remember that he had to almost relearn everything while being a starter and captain. This brought with it a certain pressure and performance obligation, which didn't really allow him to start from scratch.
Logically, we did see some mistakes here and there, but if we look at it from the positive side, we can say that the mistakes made this year weren't made during his rookie season in the NFL. That being said, let's not kid ourselves—there is still a lot of work to be done if he hopes to secure a long-term place in this league.
Personally, I really like Joshua Gray's profile, but I think it may have been a mistake not to join the NFL last season. By changing positions, he wasn’t able to dominate as much and also lost a year in the process, which could cost him. That said, his mobility, mindset, versatility, resume, and potential could really attract the attention of specific offenses, especially since his value clearly seems to align with a Day 3 draft pick. This could be seen as a low-risk selection with a high potential return on investment.
If I had been clearly ready to spend a 4th-round pick on him last season, given that his value has slightly dropped, I think teams might not rush and could go after him calmly in the 5th round. But despite this lower value, I assure you that Joshua is a player who could have a very nice potential if placed in the right environment.
To me, it will be a Tier 5 and a middle of day 3 value for Joshua Gray
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Just like Taliese Fuaga in 2024, Joshua Gray is a player who has been on my radar for quite some time, but unlike Fuaga—who was rightfully selected in the first round of the last draft—Joshua clearly isn’t getting the same hype. That was already the case last season, and it’s even more true this year, despite the fact that he possesses qualities that could very well allow him to have a great career now that he’s finally made the move inside along the offensive line.
Joshua's first quality, which is likely to interest more than one pro coach, is probably his great mobility.
He’s a player who moves well, and that’s clearly one of his biggest strengths. He has great explosiveness off the snap and can get to the second level very quickly. On top of that, he also shows solid agility and equally good lateral mobility. That’s a really interesting trait that could make him particularly valuable to teams that favor zone-run schemes and ask their offensive linemen to be highly mobile.
This is particularly evident when he climbs to the second level. Josh often prefers to take a bit more time to secure his block by taking a good angle, rather than rushing vertically in an attempt to make a big play and completely missing, which could lead to a tackle for loss.
While he could indeed benefit from his relatively short height (6’4) when he was still playing at the Tackle position, that was much less the case this season after making the transition to Guard — but even so, Joshua once again showed that he possessed very good leverage throughout the season.
If Gray is able to continue working on this after he turns pro, he could well become a real thorn in the side of some defenders.
As you'll have guessed from the above, Joshua is a real run-blocker.
Thanks to this mix of speed, explosiveness, leverage, and good blocking angles, Joshua makes up quite well for the slight lack of power and technique he may have with big hits and a very good ability to quickly get to the second level to open up new rushing lanes for his ball carriers.
If he manages to eliminate a forward lean that sometimes disrupts his game, Joshua could even become an excellent run blocker over time, especially in an offense that knows how to use him properly and place him in the right environment.
As for his abilities in pass protection, beyond playing with a low pad level, Joshua has shown that he possesses a good punch as well as solid hand placement most of the time, even delivering a few high-level reps on occasion.
That being said, Joshua is still prone to some really rough reps where his hands tend to reach outside the defender’s shoulder pads. It’s an issue he hasn’t been able to correct in college, as I’ve seen him repeat this poor hand placement several times again this season. However, the move to guard has helped him quite a bit, as it somewhat hides this flaw in the traffic.
Finally, an important point for any offensive lineman, especially on the interior, is Joshua's excellent field awareness. It's actually quite rare to see him miss a blitz. He always tries to react accordingly and often makes the right decision in his actions.
I was actually saying last year that it was a great point for a potential move to Guard, so I'm not surprised that this repositioning has taken place.
Indeed, Joshua remains relatively "small" for a tackle and is also not helped by an arm length that seems average (I say his arm length seems average because I have no confirmation, as Joshua's arm length has not been officially measured up to this point).
On his climbs to the second level in RPO or Screen pass situations, it's not uncommon to see him completely forget his OL footwork and simply start running. The problem this creates is that Joshua loses all agility, and with any sudden and quick movement from a defender, he can easily end up off-balance.
In fact, when Joshua is put in difficult situations, it directly impacts his footwork, which can really go all over the place. From his feet occasionally crossing, to his base becoming too narrow, or even his legs stopping altogether, these are all things you might see even at the professional level.
This issue will need to be addressed if Gray wants a chance to make it in the NFL. That being said, the fact that he was moved to Guard this season allowed him to gain a full season of experience at the IOL position, benefiting from coaching on footwork and specific movements required for the position. While Joshua will obviously still need work to improve in this area, he at least showed encouraging progress this season.
While he has a good initial punch, I find that Joshua is still a bit raw with his hand techniques. Indeed, he sometimes struggles to reset his hands when he loses leverage against defenders, especially in pass protection. Gray seems unable to use his punch to shock the defender and slow him down just enough to properly engage the block afterward.
Additionally, an important point regarding his shift to the guard position is that the reps which were previously unrefined in pass protection, and could have led to flags, are now much less frequent. This is because he can now hide these small hand placement errors amidst the traffic in the trenches.