While there are still a few final items on the agenda left, the 2025 NFL Combine is mainly in the books.
Several prospects have seen their draft stock rise and fall rapidly over the last few days, and the offensive linemen took their shot on Sunday. The best part about this day was that every healthy player participated in the drills, giving scouts plenty of chances to compare every option. In the three hours of drills, some emerged ahead of their peers, while others have some work to do from now and the draft in April.
Here are the prospects who set themselves apart, for better and for worse:
Winner: Armand Membou, OT, Missouri
If NFL scouts were still debating whether or not to discuss Membou as a tackle or guard, Sunday was the day they got their emphatic answer.
Alongside impressive measurables for a tackle, Membou blasted off with a 4.91 second 40-yard dash, as well as paced the offensive line group with a 34-inch vertical jump and nine-foot-seven broad jump. There are only three other tackles who hit 30 inches on the vertical and ran less than 5 seconds in the 40, and two of them are some of the best offensive tackles in the NFL right now in the San Francisco 49ers’ Trent Williams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tristan Wirfs. The other is fellow 2025 draftee Will Campbell, but the LSU tackle’s less desirable arm length gives Membou an edge on him come April.
Membou made a great case for himself to not only be a top-10 pick, but the first offensive lineman to be selected in April.
Winner: Jalen Travis, OT, Iowa State
Travis looked like an absolute monster at the combine, but very few were expecting him to put on the performance that he did.
The big day for the former Cyclone started with measurements, coming in at 6-foot-8 and weighing 339 pounds. That was impressive enough, but Travis then proceeded to hit a 35-inch vertical jump and nine-foot-four broad jump. The size and arm length suggest a traditional mauling offensive tackle, but seeing that level of explosion could make teams that operate a zone running scheme pay more attention.
Travis is officially locked in as a Day Three developmental tackle, especially now that he has shown the traits to justify his selection.
Loser: Wyatt Milum, G, West Virginia
While Membou is a certified tackle, Milum firmly ended up on the opposite end of the tackle-or-guard debate.
His 32-inch arms are well below what NFL teams look for in offensive tackles, and the day only proceeded to get worse. Milum’s 40-yard dash time of 5.28 seconds was surprisingly slow, and his jumps were nothing to write home about, either. The combine just continued what has been a rough pre-draft process for the former Mountaineer, and whatever first-round hype he attracted after the college football season is all but gone now.
Milum was hoping to win scouts over with the possibility of him as a tackle, but his rough combine performance guarantees he will be kicked inside at the NFL level.
Winner: Grey Zabel, G, North Dakota State
A prospect who attracted attention from the beginning due to his versatility, Zabel put on arguably the best performance of any small-school participant this year.
While coming in with 32-inch arms like Milum, many scouts already figured Zabel would kick inside to guard or even center anyway, so those measurements were less concerning. Unlike his counterpart, however, Zabel put together an impressive performance, headlined by a 36.5-inch vertical jump that was the third-best mark by any offensive lineman in the last 20 years. He already looked quick on tape, but the combine proved that the film was not just impressive because of the lower level of competition.
Zabel was knocking on the door of the first round after a good Senior Bowl showing, and his combine might have kicked the door down.
Loser: Tyler Booker, G, Alabama
Another major part of Zabel’s nice combine was due to how the incumbent top guard in the class struggled.
From a pure measurement standpoint, Booker’s six-foot-five, 321-pound frame was quite impressive. Athletically, however, Booker struggled mightily with a 5.38 second mark in the 40-yard dash, as well as being the only offensive lineman to not clear eight feet in the broad jump. It can certainly be argued that Booker’s frame and play style indicate that his athletic struggles are no problem, but the problem he now faces is that he lacks scheme versatility, and teams that do not run a style that suits him have now taken him off their boards.
Booker has the tape of a first-round pick, but the combine has lead to questions that could push him down to Day Two.
Winner: Jared Wilson, C, Georgia
Fellow Bulldog Tate Ratledge also had a nice day overall, but Wilson emerged as the de facto top center in a position group dominated by transplants.
Wilson’s six-foot-three, 310-pound measurements were impressive, but then he put together the best time of the day in the 40-yard dash at 4.84 seconds. His nine-foot-four broad jump and 32-inch vertical jump were also close to the top of the position group, as well. While Wilson is somewhat raw at the position, the athletic traits match the impressive tape he put together in his one year as a starter.
Wilson is a locked-in Day Two selection with his impressive performance on Sunday.
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