Published Thursday, Feb 21, 2013 at 6:29 pm EST Last updated 4 hours and 27 minutes ago
INDIANAPOLIS??With the first pick in the NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs select ? Luke Joeckel, left tackle, from Texas A&M.?
Joeckel might hear that sentence in April. He is everything coaches look for in a left tackle?strong, agile, physical, and sometimes a little nasty. Even in workout gear at Thursday?s media session, Joeckel looked imposing at 6-foot-6, 306 pounds. And he looks more imposing on film.
Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak made nine Pro Bowls as an offensive lineman. Munchak knows left tackles. He loves Joeckel.
?He?s going to be a very, very good football player,? Munchak said Thursday. ?He?s going to be a guy who can come into the NFL and play immediately. You watch him on tape, you watch him on TV, he?s a special guy. He played against a lot of good defensive ends in college. He?s up to the challenge.?
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Joeckel was up to the challenge at Thursday?s media session. He smiled often, coming across as confident, yet engaging. Joeckel was funny talking about his twin brother, Matt, who is much smaller than Luke.
?I grew up probably fighting multiple times a day with my twin brother,? Joeckel said. ?When we were little, we were closer in size, only about five or 10 pounds apart. Now we?re about 70, 80 pounds, so he doesn?t really mess with me much anymore.?
Joeckel can take his twin brother. Whether Joeckel can win over the Chiefs remains to be seen.
They can go many different directions at No. 1, even if they decide they want an offensive lineman. Some scouts believe left tackle Eric Fisher of Central Michigan could be as good as Joeckel, maybe better. Two guards are rated so highly that they have to be considered as No. 1 picks?Jonathan Cooper of North Carolina and Chance Warmack of Alabama.
Interviews and workouts this week at the Scouting Combine will have a bearing on which offensive lineman comes first off the board. Joeckel is not shying away from the challenge.
?Coming into this thing, I wanted to be the first tackle taken in the draft,? he said. ?I?m trying to do every little thing right to make sure that happens. It?s a good type of competition between all of us. That?s one of the fun parts about the Combine?the competition aspect.?
Scouts are not worried about Joeckel?s ability to handle the NFL level, or to block for different styles of quarterbacks. Two seasons ago, Joeckel protected Ryan Tannehill?s blind side before he was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. Last season, Joeckel protected Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel, a scrambling, improvisational quarterback.
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?I definitely think it made me better,? Joeckel said. ?You got to learn pretty quickly to hold your block longer. I think that definitely made me a better pass blocker. It made me a better-conditioned offensive lineman, which I think is huge. Everyone thinks of offensive linemen as big guys who can?t move for very long, aren?t well-conditioned. But at A&M, we had a very well-conditioned line.?
No matter how much Joeckel impresses the Chiefs between now and the draft, some of his fate is out of his hands. The Chiefs need a quarterback, and Joeckel does not play quarterback. If Geno Smith convinces the Chiefs he can develop into a winning quarterback in the NFL, new Chiefs coach Andy Reid might feel compelled to take Smith.
As you would expect, Reid was not giving away his plans Thursday.
?You don?t want to force yourself into a position,? Reid said. ?Most of the questions have been asked about the quarterback position, but it?s important that we go through and evaluate everybody. You don?t go for need, you go for who the best player is, who you perceive the best player to be.
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?If the best player?s the guard, you go with the guard. I think it?s important that you look at it that way. If you don?t, that?s where the mistakes take place.?
From talking with Tannehill, Joeckel has knowledge of what to expect at the Combine?how to handle interview questions, how to relax before workouts.
?I went and had lunch with him and asked about the whole agent process and the draft, the Combine and all that kind of stuff and he helped me, gave me a lot of tips,? Joeckel said.
Now Joeckel has a chance to realize a dream?being the No. 1 pick in the draft. A quarterback has gone No. 1 the past four years: Matthew Stafford (2009), Sam Bradford (2010), Cam Newton (2011), and Andrew Luck (2012). Joeckel believes it?s time for a change.
?Starting football in the second grade, you don?t really think about that kind of stuff,? Joeckel said. ?It would be really cool, a dream come true. I am definitely striving to be the No. 1 pick.?
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