Bernhard
Raimann.
Bernhard
Raimann.
Central Michigan· 6'6"· 303 lb· 5.05s 40
Raimann plays left tackle like the tight end he used to be. He sets with short, quick steps, stays square to the rush and mirrors edge speed without over-setting, and his best reps come against pure athletes who expect a converted lineman to panic on the arc.
The second trait is movement in the run game. He reaches the second level easily on zone and screens, finds work in space and finishes with an attitude that did not exist on his receiving tape. Power is the swing skill: at around 6-6 and 303 pounds he can be walked back by bull rushers when his pad level climbs. The separator is how little bad habit he carries after only 18 college starts on the line.
Indianapolis Colts typically run a diverse offensive scheme, blending elements of a traditional West Coast offense with modern shotgun-based spread concepts and a strong commitment to establishing a physical run game.
Raimann projects as a Year 1 swing tackle with the potential to develop into a starting left tackle; his technique and physical traits make him a strong candidate to anchor the blind side.
He would struggle in a purely power-gap blocking scheme that frequently asks tackles to down-block or pull in tight spaces, as his strength is in his movement and pass protection.
Raimann's athletic profile and ability to consistently improve make him a strong fit for a zone-heavy or pass-oriented blocking scheme which prioritizes agility and fluidity in pass protection.
Bernhard Raimann highlights Central Michigan OT (Austria)
Left tackle cutup from his final Central Michigan season, the tape that carried his Day 2 grade.
Central Michigan OL/Offense vs Western Michigan Defense (2020)
Full-game offensive line tape from his first year at the position, useful for judging how raw the technique still was.
Bernhard Raimann SHOWS OUT at the NFL Combine
Combine workout footage covering the explosive testing numbers that separated him from the rest of the tackle class.
Raimann grew up in Vienna, played club football in Austria, came to Michigan as an exchange student and signed with Central Michigan as a two-star tight end. He caught 20 passes across 2018 and 2019 before the staff asked him to move to left tackle in 2020, which is the entire evaluation in one sentence: extraordinary athlete, almost no positional experience.
What he did with 18 starts was the argument for him. He started all six games of the COVID-shortened 2020 season and all 12 in 2021, earned first-team All-MAC, and allowed one sack in two years while posting what PFF graded as the best season by a MAC offensive player since 2016. He tested like a former skill player, with a 1.70-second 10-yard split and 30 bench reps, and the Senior Bowl exposed the other side: speed rushers got him lunging, his hands drifted wide and his feet occasionally stuck.
The board split. Some had him in the second round as a high-ceiling developmental left tackle; others flagged the age, the short arms and the raw technique and wanted him at guard. Taking him here was a bet on trajectory rather than current product, which is exactly how you should spend a third-round pick on a tackle.
- 01
Mirror skills
Quick, controlled kick slide that keeps him square against speed off the edge, the single trait that convinced teams he could stay at left tackle.
- 02
Movement in space
Reaches the second level and hits moving targets on screens with an ease that traces directly back to his tight end background.
- 03
Explosive testing
A 1.70-second 10-yard split plus elite jump numbers, athletic markers that put him in rare company for a 300-pound lineman.
- 04
Upper-body strength
Thirty bench press reps on a leaner frame, and it shows up as forceful initial hands that stun defenders at the point of attack.
- 05
Improvement curve
Allowed one sack over two seasons and graded as the best MAC offensive player since 2016 despite having played the position for two years.
- 01
Anchor
Pad level climbs against bull rushers and he lacks the hip sink to reset, so power rushers can walk him back into the pocket.
- 02
Length
Roughly 33-inch arms, below average for the position, which lets long rushers get into his frame before his hands land.
- 03
Experience
Eighteen career starts on the offensive line meant the technical floor was low and the mental processing of stunts was unproven.
- 04
Age
Turned 25 during his rookie season, which compresses the development window teams normally grant a project tackle.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.05sp50
- Vertical
- 30.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 117inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.46sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.49sp50
- Bench
- 30repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Central Michigan | 12 | 10 | 88 | 0 |
| 2019 | Central Michigan | 14 | 10 | 76 | 0 |
| 2020 | Central Michigan | 6 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | Central Michigan | 12 | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 44 | 20 | 164 | 0 |
Games and receiving totals from Sports-Reference; the 44 games and 20 catches for 164 yards sum exactly to the career line. He played tight end in 2018-19 and left tackle in 2020-21, for 18 career starts on the offensive line. Offensive line play is not a box-score position, so no blocking statistics are recorded here.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A smart, athletic tackle without elite length who holds down a starting job for a decade by winning with footwork and angles.
The blueprint for the bet: an athlete with no football background who becomes a top-tier starting left tackle once the technique arrives.
Athletic swing tackle whose anchor never catches up, leaving him as a spot starter and interior emergency option.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Bernhard Raimann has played two seasons for the Indianapolis Colts, establishing himself as their starting left tackle. He has shown steady improvement in his role.
Indianapolis put him in the lineup immediately and lived with the growing pains. He struggled through the early part of his rookie season in 2022, took over the blind side, and improved on a clean line every year afterward: a 73.3 PFF grade as a rookie, 82.7 in 2023, then 85.1 in 2024, eighth among all NFL tackles. Across 2023 and 2024 he combined an 85.2 pass-block grade and an 82.1 run-block grade, one of only four tackles in the league with a top-10 mark in both. He started 40 games over those three seasons, and in July 2025 the Colts signed him to a four-year, $100 million extension that made him one of the five highest-paid left tackles in football.
This is the best pick of the round and one of the best of the draft. The concerns were real, the age was real, the technique was raw, and none of it mattered because the traits and the work ethic were exactly what the optimistic reports described. It is also a reminder of what a third-round tackle is supposed to be: not a plug-and-play starter but a body with rare movement skills and a short track record, bought cheap on the chance the development curve keeps climbing. His did.
Data note: from Minnesota