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The first thing that struck me about Tyler's taps, even before his power, was his reading of the game and his Football IQ. It's a good thing, too, because these two points are essential to becoming a top-level Guard, no matter what level he's playing at.
Play recognition allows guards to see what's happening in front of them during a play and react accordingly—and in that area, there's nothing to complain about: Tyler is excellent. He consistently keeps his head up and scans the field in front of him. It's not uncommon to see him engage with two different defenders on a passing play, and I’ve even seen him take on three in a single rep. He’s impressive, and players like that usually transition well to the next level.
Now, while having the ability to read the play is useful, it only truly matters when a player understands what he's looking at—and once again, Tyler seems completely in his element. He can spot blitzes and stunts from a mile away, and when I say he can engage two or even three defenders, it’s not just a game of tag where he barely makes contact. Quite the opposite. Booker redirects the initial threat toward his center or tackle who’s in position to help, and once he’s made sure it’s safe to release that first assignment, he shifts to secure the next threat. And as I mentioned earlier, he’s even capable of giving extra help to another lineman—all within a matter of seconds.
What I’m describing isn’t just a lucky play—it shows up on tape over and over again. There’s one rep against Georgia or LSU where, after locking down two blocks, Tyler intentionally lets a blitzing linebacker through so he can fully secure his assignment, knowing the running back is there behind him in pass protection. You might think that sounds obvious or basic, but I promise you, recognizing that situation and not playing hero ball—just doing your job and trusting your teammate—shows that Tyler has a very high football IQ.
This reading of the game and this Football IQ are felt a little less on his ascents to the second curtain during running situations, but that's simply because Tyler is limited by his athletic abilities, as we'll see later.
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The second thing that stood out to me about Booker—even before I got a look at his power—was his excellent hand placement. I hesitated for a while to call it elite, because in my opinion, he seemed to lack just a bit of explosiveness and quickness in his punch to truly reach that “elite” level—a word I try not to throw around lightly. But by the time I watched his second game, I realized I’d fallen into the same trap as his opponents.
His hands technique is elite.
If Tyler doesn’t always punch with explosive force, it’s mostly because he likes to keep defensive linemen guessing and avoid getting his hands swatted away. Sometimes he throws a heavy but slow punch, other times it’s a quick tap followed by a different rhythm with the other hand. It’s an impressive skill—but not more impressive than his hand placement, which is incredibly strong. His hands are almost always exactly where they need to be—sometimes to lock down a block, sometimes just to keep a defender at bay, other times to get tight and prevent any movement, or to set up his hips and open up a running lane, or even to redirect a defender toward a teammate before peeling off to block someone else, or to help out his center after securing his own assignment with the other hand.
As a former defensive lineman myself, it’s absolutely terrifying—and as someone who loves offensive line play and has even filled in at the position, it’s downright beautiful. You can also see flashes of football IQ in the way he uses his hands, with each movement showing a clear sense of purpose and awareness.
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That brings us to the most obvious trait in Tyler’s game—his power. It’s easy to see because it’s so visual that anyone can understand it. Booker is big and massive—6’5", 320 pounds—a grown man, and when you watch him grab and completely overpower some of the SEC monsters lined up across from him, it’s clear we’re not talking about the average joe.
When you see guys like Georgia’s DT Nazir Stackhouse—who’s a 6'4", 327-pound load—get tossed around, or LSU’s 6'3", 305-pound DT Gio Paez get violently pancaked, like I said, it’s all visual—and it quickly becomes obvious.
Beyond his ability to pancake defenders consistently or shake them like ragdolls, another aspect that highlights his strength is his anchoring ability, which, as you might’ve guessed, is exceptional. Booker is massive, heavy, and has the power to lock down his man and prevent him from moving once he’s secured the block. With these three traits, it’s not uncommon to see defenders struggle to get past Tyler’s anchoring, and I’ve even seen lighter defenders literally get stuck on him, as if he were a stone statue.
Beyond the comical aspect of seeing a player arrive at full speed and literally take a wall in the mouth, it leaves you dreaming.
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Tyler also has great leverage, thanks to a wide, solid base. He's a big guy when he keeps his footing wide and stable, and let's not forget that at 6'5 Tyler is close to the size of an Offensive Tackle in a generally “smaller” position. It's not uncommon to see Guards at 6'4 or 6'5, but this requires them to work even harder on their leverage to compete with NFL-level DTs, and on this point Tyler is once again pretty good.
Beware, however, of gaining this leverage by lowering your torso and head rather than by lowering your center of gravity and thus accentuating your power angle, because as we'll see later, this can sometimes lead to situations of forward imbalance.
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His age will also be a key factor for NFL teams, as at the time of writing, Tyler Booker is only 20 years old and will turn 21 just before the draft. This makes him a true 21-year-old player for his entire rookie season, but it also means he’s dominated the trenches in a conference known for having some of the most physically imposing players in college football—at just 20 years old. If that’s already an achievement in itself, there’s also the added promise of future development, making him a highly valuable prospect.
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Finally, there's one point in particular I'd like to stress, and that's that Tyler is a much more technical player than you'd think when you look at his profile.
As you’ve probably gathered from all the points mentioned, there are even small technical details that are impressive, especially for his age. The way he engages his blocks, the timing of his punch, his hand placement when defenders change direction, how he positions his hips to secure blocks, and even how he uses his opponent’s shoulder pads to finish his blocks and sometimes go for a pancake.Â
There are a lot of little details like that, so yes, Tyler is overpowered, but I think that overshadows what a good technician he is.Â
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Now that we've covered all the good things about Tyler Booker, it's time to look at the not-so-good, and how can we not mention his truly poor athletic ability?
Without even waiting to see any combine or pro day performance, all you had to do was watch an Alabama game to quickly realize this. Tyler seems heavy and not particularly agile, he doesn’t appear explosive at all, and that’s quite noticeable. Booker is very clearly stamped as a product of the Nick Saban era at Alabama, and that’s something to keep in mind when selecting him. The system has to align with his style of play for him to succeed.
Tyler does carry quite a bit of weight, and that’s especially noticeable on plays where he’s asked to pull out to the edge, which can sometimes extend or on certain outside zone runs. As we’ve seen multiple times this season, it’s not uncommon for the ball carrier to already be ahead of Booker before he’s even started moving forward on plays where he’s pulling to the edge.
A perfect example of this would be the rep on Alabama’s first touchdown against Georgia this season, at 10:18 in the first quarter. On a QB power with Tyler Booker pulling perfectly, where he has no one to block on the first level, Jalen Milroe quickly catches up to Booker to the point where Booker becomes irrelevant, as the ball carrier (Milroe, in this case) is already ahead of him before he’s even gained a yard. This doesn’t mean Booker is a bad blocker; it simply shows that, once again, a Bama offensive lineman needs to be selected for a specific type of offense and might not perform as well as he could if he’s not placed in the right system.
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This ties directly into the previous point, but his footwork, which is generally solid—sometimes even quite good—on certain reps, is impacted by Booker’s style of play on others. Indeed, with his power and significant weight, Tyler relies heavily on his anchoring ability, and as a result, it’s not uncommon to see him use that in running situations, even when he’s clearly won the physical battle at the line of scrimmage.
It’s not uncommon to see him drive his opponent back two steps before deciding to plant his feet and stop moving, even though he could have kept his legs active and driven the defender all the way downfield, thus disrupting the linebackers' traffic in the second level.
In passing situations, again, on rare occasions, I’ve seen him get into trouble for the same reasons. Tyler stops his feet and anchors himself to absorb the impact with his weight and power, and while 90% of the time this works, he sometimes faces players who are powerful, explosive, and mobile enough to break that anchor, and when that happens, it results in immediate pressure.
In those situations, Tyler simply needs to keep his feet active until he’s placed his hands or engaged the defender, then anchor himself afterward to avoid any issues. However, because he has complete confidence in his anchoring ability, it impacts his footwork at times, causing him to lose a few reps here and there.
I may be nitpicking on these small details, but the truth is, at the moment, these are the areas where Tyler seems to need improvement. Everywhere else, he clearly dominates, so it will take significant effort to fix these small issues that are holding his game back. And believe it or not, in a league like the NFL, more than ever, the devil is in the details.
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Once again, this is a point I hesitated to mention, but since it’s relevant, let’s address it. I’ve noticed some weaknesses in Tyler’s balance. I was actually surprised to see a player with his profile and skillset be so rarely off-balance, which is why I was torn between categorizing this as a strength or a weakness.
On one hand, it could be seen as a strength to highlight the fact that, despite a few instances of imbalance, Tyler is a player who is usually very much in control and rarely threatened in this regard. On the other hand, it could be viewed as a weakness because, despite giving off the false impression of security by rarely being caught off guard, there were times when he would lean too far forward and get completely beaten by his opponent, which often results in pressure or even a sack, sometimes for a loss.
After careful consideration, I’ve decided, as you can see, to categorize this as a weakness simply because I had plenty of strengths to discuss. On the flip side, it's these kinds of details that Tyler will need to focus on in order to improve.
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