Our 2025 scouting reports

Articles

The Trick Play Podcast Team

Twitter Twitch Spotify Link
Search

Marcus M'Bow, OT, Purdue (Junior)

Picture of Rayane M

Rayane M

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching, and despite an initial impression that this year's class might lack talent, The Trick Play team has once again delved into the tapes to bring you scouting reports on the players who will soon wear the jerseys of your favorite franchises.

From Quarterback to Safety, including the trenches where Offensive Linemen and Defensive Linemen engage in a relentless battle, Rayane and Valentin will walk you through the new faces of this 2025 draft class while everyone is excited about the coming NFL Draft


Strengths :

  • Age
  • Interesting athletic abilities
  • Initial leverage
  • Active player
  • Never gives up
  • Impressive flashes
  • Potential
  • Good everywhere*
 


Weaknesses :

  • But not excellent anywhere
  • Stands up too fast
  • Hands placement
  • Hips placement
  • Footwork
  • Still a raw prospect
  • Size

TTProfil

 
Playing at the right tackle position, Marcus Mbow is a player who, although not making much noise as the draft approaches, could very well become a valuable asset for a team smart enough to pick him at the right time. To get a sense of who Marcus Mbow is and what he could become, as usual, we’ll look at a strengths section and a weaknesses section to dive into the details of his game. So let’s jump straight into the strengths.
 
To begin with, it's important to mention his age—Marcus is a young player. At 21 years old as of this writing, Marcus won't turn 22 until April, just before the draft. As we know, age is a key factor for many coaches and/or GMs when drafting a player. While a player’s current level of performance is often the primary point of interest, their development potential holds just as much weight for most decision-makers. The younger a player is, the more time he has to improve and develop.
This young age is a good thing for M'Bow, especially as he has a lot of work to do to polish his game, as we'll see later.
 
Another key point to highlight about Marcus is that he possesses interesting athletic traits, notably good explosiveness, which especially stands out at the snap. In run-blocking situations, his first step is often very aggressive, and thanks to his solid mobility, he’s able to quickly climb to the second level of the defense. In addition to his good explosiveness, Marcus also appears to have solid physical strength.
While, let's be clear, he's no titan, he does have the necessary strength not to get knocked down in pass-protection situations and to be able to block effectively in running situations.
 
M'Bow also possesses a solid base, which often allows him to stay low on impact when initiating his block. Thanks to this strong foundation, he appears stable on most of his blocking engagements, whether in run or pass situations.
That said, Marcus will need to be careful not to lean too far forward once the block is engaged in run situations, as I unfortunately saw him off balance a few times when climbing to the second level and initiating a block on a linebacker. That being said, while it’s something to keep an eye on, I didn’t see it happen frequently enough on tape to list it as a true weakness.
 
We now move on to two points that I really like about Marcus M'Bow and that I clearly don't always find in the prospects I scout.
His on-field activity is excellent—he’s constantly looking to do the right thing, figuring out how to help his team, looking for that extra block, climbing to the second level to support a ball carrier, or even getting in the way of a pursuing defender just to slow him down. These are the kinds of little details I really appreciate, because Marcus doesn’t just do the bare minimum and consider the job done. As long as there’s no whistle, he’s looking to help his offense, and that’s a big positive.
For the second point I mentioned earlier, it goes hand in hand with the previous one, but I absolutely love seeing a player who never gives up—and that’s completely the case with Marcus. I haven’t seen him give up on a block. Not once. Even when he gets beaten or stumbles for whatever reason, he still tries to do his job and protect his teammates.
I have one play that sums this up perfectly, from the game against Oregon this season. With 8:20 remaining in the second quarter, Marcus loses his balance, but still does everything in his power to protect his QB. That kind of play tells you everything you need to know about a player. It’s an excellent sign.
This action or even this point in no way says whether Marcus will have a great career in the pros or not, but it does give you real guarantees that this kid will give his all to protect your team and do his job.
 
To wrap up this strengths section, let’s talk about Marcus’s potential and floor. When it comes to his potential, it’s the flashes of talent that stand out — several very impressive reps show just how high his ceiling could be, especially considering his age. These kinds of plays clearly suggest a strong developmental upside if he ends up in the right hands.
As for his floor, what’s important to note is that Marcus is actually quite solid in most situations—pass, run, screen, RPO, play action. As a result, his floor is quite sturdy, and it’s easy to see why coaches looking to develop him in the NFL would be attracted to his potential.

Unfortunately, while Marcus is pretty good everywhere, he doesn't excel anywhere.
If he doesn’t excel in any one area, it’s mainly because he’s not quite refined yet technically, which prevents him from being truly excellent and extremely dominant, regardless of the situation—whether it’s pass protection or run blocking. Marcus will need to fine-tune his technique if he wants to dominate his matchups at the highest level.
 
Another area of concern for Mbow is his tendency to get up too quickly once the block is engaged. This is one of the major technical issues he will need to address. While he naturally has good balance and often plays low, it's not uncommon to see him lose that advantage once the block is fully engaged.
He has a bad habit of rising straight up, like a "I," after 1 or 2 seconds of engaging a block. This can be dangerous, especially on improvised plays or those that take time to develop. In these situations, Marcus puts himself in more vulnerable positions and can find himself in significant difficulty as a result.
 
Marcus will also need to improve his hand placement, and more importantly, his hip positioning. Too often, Marcus sets himself up to fail because he's not optimally positioned to secure his blocks. Most of the time, either his lower body is too far ahead or too far behind, creating an opportunity to be beaten due to improper hip placement—either the inside or outside hip—or it's his poor hand placement that lets him down.
The game against Oregon this season is yet another good example of this. As often happens in these situations, it's Marcus's good athletic abilities that prevent him from getting beaten. However, I raise the alarm because, as you know, in the NFL he will face a different caliber of athletes to handle. More technical work is definitely needed for Marcus moving forward.
Now let's talk about his footwork. While it's generally decent, I did notice that, quite often, the longer the game goes on, the more the quality of his footwork deteriorates. Whether it's in pass protection, where his kick-and-slide technique clearly needs work despite a very explosive first step, or in run-blocking situations, especially in zone plays where he tends to be too ahead of himself, Marcus's lower body positioning can sometimes be off, as I mentioned earlier. An improvement in this area will be expected. To succeed in the NFL, Mbow will need to be more consistent, and that consistency needs to last throughout the entire game; otherwise, he won't be able to earn a starting spot in the long term.
Although his footwork is therefore fairly decent, there's clearly room for improvement, and with better footwork comes better overall performance.
 
To wrap up this profile, there are two remaining points to discuss: Marcus's build and the work still to be done with him. As for the latter, it's clear that while Mbow has started to refine his game this season, he remains a raw prospect. He will definitely need to be developed before being thrown into the deep end. Especially since Purdue didn't make things easier for him by having him play tackle throughout the entire season.
I can easily understand why they trusted him to do the job at this position when looking at the tapes and Marcus's official measurements. However, I believe giving him a full season at guard would have better prepared him for the big league. 
 
Announced as being 6'5, I started watching the tapes thinking Marcus would be a Tackle, and therefore, seeing he weighed 300lbs didn’t bother me too much during his scouting because, after all, I was looking at a Tackle. Unfortunately, the truth is quite different. Mbow was measured at 6'4, 303lbs, but more importantly, with arms measuring 32 inches, which means he’s too short to play Tackle, too light to be a Guard, and his arm length disqualifies him entirely from playing Tackle.
Given this new reality, as intriguing as he is on tape, the evaluation changes drastically for the two positions. His footwork, which is acceptable for a Tackle, becomes just passable for a Guard. The same goes for his tendency to rise too quickly once the block is engaged, and his strength might end up being average when facing defensive tackles. Not to mention his relatively light weight or, on the flip side, his weight gain, which could impact his athletic abilities if not managed properly. There are a lot of questions still unanswered about Marcus, making him a much more complicated puzzle than originally expected.

In conclusion, it is clear that on paper, Marcus Mbow is a profile that has a lot to offer. If we consider his interesting athletic abilities and a solid floor, both in pass protection and in run blocking, which could allow him, depending on his landing spot, to quickly claim a starting role, he would already be quite appealing. But if we also take into account his young age and the fact that he still has room to improve on several technical aspects, we end up with a player who hasn't yet reached his ceiling, which adds even more value. This last point was confirmed by some flashes of talent during the games he played this season with Purdue.
If we also factor in his exemplary mentality (or at least what he shows on the field), which I personally really like, I would have no trouble seeing him go fairly high in the upcoming draft. 

But all of this was precisely without considering his official measurements, which have now been released and seem to position him as a Guard rather than a Tackle. In this context, it's clear that the evaluation changes directly, especially when considering the value of the position.
If I already thought he lacked a little dominance and still seemed a little too Raw to go out in the 1st round as Tackle it's not to imagine him in that position as Guard.

Just like a first-round pick is completely out of the question, a second-round pick would likely be a reach, even with his incredible mentality, which by the way reminds me of a certain Dominick Puni from last season. Depending on the rush for Offensive Linemen, a selection at the end of Day 2 could happen, but that might still be a bit too early. However, from Day 3 onwards, it's a green light from my side for Marcus Mbow.
If I had Marcus in my Tier 2 of Tackles, the revelation of his official measurements clearly changes the situation. He would now be placed in my Tier 3 or even 4 for the Tackle position, but moves into my Tier 2 for IOL (Interior Offensive Linemen).

Tagged

All Texts Rights Reserved © 2023

All content on this site is protected by copyright laws. It is prohibited to reproduce, distribute, or use these materials in any way without the express permission of their owners. 

en_USEnglish
en_USEnglish fr_FRFrançais