Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas (Junior)
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 :
- Good overall power
- Good anchor
- Good punch
- Really good hand placement
- Footwork
- Big potential as a run blocker
- Good play recognition
Weaknesses :
- Speed and distance on pass protection
- A lot of technical work to be done in a Pass situation
- Forward imbalance
OT Kelvin Banks Jr.
— Rayane M (@RayaneScout) February 17, 2025
Probably the best OL of this draft class.
His impressive athletic ability coupled with a dominant attitude on running plays, undeniable qualities in Pro Pass situations and his young age make him, as far as I'm concerned, a 1st round lock prospect
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Although the closer the draft gets, the more the consensus seems to be that Kelvin Banks Jr. will go down in the draft, personally I'm still convinced of the potential and level shown this season by the Longhorns' Left Tackle. So let's delve into his strengths and weaknesses.
To begin with, Kelvin has good overall power, but above all a great deal of lower-body strength which he needs to take advantage of even more than he has up to now, because while he is sometimes able to take advantage of a good power angle in order to optimize his Leverage capacity to the maximum, there are still too many actions where his Leverage is mainly obtained thanks to his relatively small size rather than by lowering his center of gravity to take advantage of this optimal power angle. This is a pity, as it is precisely his strength that enables him to really explode when developing this angle of power. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
That said, Kelvin's footing is mostly solid, especially in passing situations and when he's already engaged the block. His footing is wide and stable, so he's well anchored when he decides to use this technique. Be careful, however, not to spread his base too far, or you risk finding yourself completely off-balance.
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Banks also packs a good punch, and although it's not an extremely explosive punch that's going to shock the defender, it's still quite fast, and behind Kelvin's good strength he can then control the block well.
Moreover, when Kelvin does manage to get his hands on the defender, whether it's a Defensive Tackle or an EDGE, it's rare to see him succeed in breaking the block.
While we're on the subject of his punch, I might as well mention his hand placement, which, personally, I find rather good, if not very good. The hands are often in search of the defender's control point, sometimes in the center of the shoulder pad, sometimes on the outside of the pec to control the defender's shoulder and outside hip, sometimes one hand on each side of the inside of the shoulder pad to be able to turn the defender.
While we're on the subject of his punch, I might as well mention his hand placement, which, personally, I find rather good, if not very good. The hands are often in search of the defender's control point, sometimes in the center of the shoulder pad, sometimes on the outside of the pec to control the defender's shoulder and outside hip, sometimes one hand on each side of the inside of the shoulder pad to be able to turn the defender.
It's very solid, and even more so when you couple it with his good strength mentioned earlier. My only regret about his handwork is that he doesn't try often enough to reposition his hands when the defender has gained the inside of his shoulder pad, but that's something he can still work on.
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Another of Banks' strong points is his Footwork. Although I wouldn't classify him as a ballerina, he's not far off.
On the whole, it's well controlled and he makes few mistakes in this area. If I had to be a little fussy, I'd criticise him for two things in particular, the first being that his feet are often too flat in Kick and Slide situations, and the second being that he loses a little too much time before activating his legs once the block is engaged in a running situation. Apart from that, we're on to something solid.
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Kelvin has a lot of potential as a run blocker, thanks to his strength and explosive ability to get up to the second curtain. Banks can become a real danger if no one stops him from getting up to that famous second curtain, as he can really get there in a flash.
What's more, his mobility allows him to play in any type of offense, as he'll be completely capable of moving with ease on Outside Zone-type plays or even in an offense that relies quite heavily on Screen pass-type plays.
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The last interesting point to conclude this part of Banks' game is his ability to play while keeping his head and torso upright, which enables him to read the game correctly and therefore pick up any blitzes or stunts that may come his way, all the while ensuring that he accompanies his opposite number into the arms of another blocker. Solid stuff.
If the weak points section will be smaller in today's card, it's because I've chosen to talk about a few points to work on in the strong points section, so as to be able to concentrate here on the most important point, i.e. real technical work to be done, particularly in passing situations, especially if Banks is kept at the Tackle position.
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The speed and distance of his moves on the Pro Pass already need to be reviewed if he wants to remain a Tackle once in the pros. For the moment, he's fine, but I have my doubts about his ability to remain as dominant once facing NFL-calibre threats on the Edge, who are far more explosive, fast and agile. A small point to keep under review.
Always in Pass Protection situations, and especially when he has to kick and slide, Kelvin has to be more careful not to turn his shoulders and hips too quickly to the outside.
This is directly related to the first point, but if he turns his upper body so much, it's because he's overwhelmed, and by doing so Kelvin puts himself in difficulty, as he becomes even more vulnerable to an attack on his inside. So I'm repeating myself, but he'll need to work on this if he's to be used as a Tackle.
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Still in the passing situation - I told you we had a lot to see on this point, didn't I - and still on his Kick and Slide, another purely technical point isn't quite mastered by Kelvin. His movement on Kick and Slide is far too vertical.
Let me explain, if being able to go deep and far on Kick and Slide is a skill that is really sought after in Tackles coming out of College in order to be able to compete with the explosiveness and speed of the Edge rusher in the NFL, the problem comes mainly from the fact that when Kelvin moves on Kick and Slide he goes completely to the back, in doing so he doesn't give the maximum and optimal opening of the pocket for his QB to move and if necessary escape in the pocket.
In fact, when we coach this technique, we generally ask the Tackle to start slightly diagonally (away from the QB, of course) on the Kick and Slide in order to enlarge the pocket for the QB, while reducing the distance to the Rusher and increasing the distance the Rusher has to cover to reach the QB, which automatically gives him more time to throw.
It's a technical point that may not seem very important to some, but it can make all the difference between a good Tackle and an Elite Tackle.
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Another point to watch out for with Kelvin is the recurring forward imbalances to which he can be susceptible. I've noted two fairly classic situations for an OL in which Banks can be regularly thrown into difficulty.
The first is when Kelvin arrives at the block's point of impact, both in running and passing situations. When he engages his torso, Kelvin seeks to make an impact to dominate his opposite number, and in this small interval, if the defender plays the move well, he can succeed in using Kelvin's slight imbalance, who will go completely forward and be totally unable to recover the defender before he has passed.
The second situation is when the block has already been underway for a few seconds and Kelvin is “resting”, thinking he's done the hard part. In this situation, I've seen him caught off guard several times this season by a defender's sudden, sharp and explosive movement.
For example, typically an abrupt change of direction or rhythm, or a well-executed push/pull, when this happens, Kelvin goes completely forward.
The only big difference with the first situation is that, so far, I haven't seen any impact on his attacking play, because unlike the first situation, in this case he's often already got his base well set up, which means he can still prevent the defender from passing thanks to this good, wide base that leaves very little space between him and his Guard or between him and his Tight-End.
In either case, Kelvin will have to work on these unbalanced situations if he is to become a better player.
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He should logically be a 1st round talent, but the fact is that I still have trouble seeing him succeed in dominating in the NFL, or rather I have trouble seeing him dominate quickly in the NFL if he stays at the Offensive Tackle position. Of course, with such a high selection, he's bound to be tested in this position and could do wonders with a bit of work, but with his size and skillset, I think a move to guard could be extremely beneficial.
Between his good footwork, good handwork, good power, a solid foundation in pro passing situations and impressive potential as a run blocker, Kelvin could clearly see his potential explode. What's more, he'd be in a situation where he'd no longer have to manage the outside of the pocket against the best athletes in the world, so we could see the emergence of a huge talent. Of course, he'd also need to work on his blocking technique in a running situation to create good openings against DTs of a different level, but I think his athletic ability and strength would enable him to do just that.
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On the other hand, as I reread this sheet, I realized that you might think I'm completely devaluing Kelvin at the Tackle position. That's not entirely true, as I consider him to be one of the best choices in this draft for a team looking to strengthen its OL, even if that team is looking for a Tackle.
As I said, Kelvin could well become a very good Tackle, but it's a bit like my assessment of Panthers Tackle Ikem Ekwonu. Kelvin will need more work to become a solid Tackle than he will to become an excellent Guard, but that doesn't mean he'll necessarily be a bad choice for the Tackle position, especially as many of the prospects in this draft class will need work before they can express their full potential.
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So, as you can see, Kelvin Banks is a good or very good deal for me, depending on the position he'll be used in, and while it's true that personally I'm more inclined to go for my inside Linemen in the 2nd round, given the value of the position, I know that the hype of the draft and the fear of having your player snatched away from you will surely see to it that Kelvin goes in the 1st round, like Brandon Scherff, who played left tackle in Iowa at the time.
So for me it's a Tier 1 as well as a 1st round for Kelvin Banks Jr.
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