2021 NFL Draft: James Hudson III is an exciting, but raw project

Strengths

As with any position in football, there are certain athletic benchmarks that must be met in order for a player to have any sort of potential success at the professional level. This can be especially crucial for offensive linemen, who are tasked with pulling or blocking up to the second level. Athleticism is also an important component in pass protection for obvious reasons.

Hudson is one of those tackles who displays that benchmark in athleticism and then some. The first thing you notice is how quickly he comes out of his stance. He shoots out and up like a sprinter, he then shows good upper level movement skills, and pulling on screens and the like seems to be effortless for him.

Previously, I touched briefly on how athleticism is very helpful for success in pass protection. In Hudson’s case, it allows him to quickly adjust to oncoming rushers as well as unlock his hips  and set his feet to anchor down.

Along with athleticism, offensive tackles are meant to have a certain amount of physicality and dare we nastiness to their game. This writer can count a few times, both during games and during Senior Bowl practice, where Hudson’s physicality really managed to shine.

But one cannot simply rely on athletic traits to get the job done, and at some point technical know-how and instincts must come into play. While he’s still working out some of the finer elements to his game (more on that later), Hudson does a good job at getting his hands in the right place to make successful blocks. Admittedly, he’s better at forming to reach blocks and hitting the corners of the chest in pass protection, but overall for a player with his lack of starting experience shows fairly solid stuff. He also does a solid job at finding blitzes and stunts but obviously has more room to grow in that regard with more experience.