Nicholas
Petit-Frere.
Nicholas
Petit-Frere.
Ohio State· 6'5"· 316 lb· 5.14s 40
"One of the smoothest movers in the class at 316 pounds: a tackle whose feet are already NFL-ready and whose anchor has to catch up before the traits mean anything."Pre-draft read
Petit-Frere is a light-footed, athletic tackle who wins with movement rather than mass. Ohio State used him at right tackle in 2020 and moved him to Ryan Day's left side in 2021, and in both spots his game is built on a quick, clean jump set: he gets depth fast, meets speed rushers at the top of the arc, and mirrors with connected feet instead of lunging.
The secondary trait is range in the run game, where he covers ground on reach blocks and looks natural climbing to linebackers on zone. He is a better pass protector than a displacer — power is not his calling card and he can get walked back by long-armed bull rushers. The signature is how easily he redirects: for a 316-pound tackle, he changes direction without losing his frame.
Outside-zone / wide-zone offense that asks tackles to reach, climb and pass-set on the move
Year 1: starting right tackle in a zone scheme with chip help against power rushers; ceiling is a long-term starter on the right side who protects with feet and quickness.
A gap-and-power run scheme that asks him to down-block on 340-pound nose tackles and win vertically at the point of attack.
Best protected by an offense with quick game and play-action, which limits the long-developing reps where his anchor gets tested.
Nicholas Petit Frere Right/Left Tackle Highlights
College cut-up showing his jump sets and movement at both tackle spots for Ohio State.
Nicholas Petit-Frere | Genuine Titan
Team feature on his rookie-year transition into the Titans' starting right tackle job.
What's the DIFFERENCE in Nicholas Petit-Frere now?
Film-based look at how his technique changed between his rookie and later Tennessee seasons.
Petit-Frere came out of Tampa as a five-star recruit and left Columbus as a two-year starter and 2021 second-team All-American, a tackle whose evaluation was about athletic traits and positional flexibility rather than a finished product. He started at right tackle in 2020, earned second-team All-Big Ten there, then slid to the left side in 2021 to protect C.J. Stroud's blindside.
The tape sold a pass protector first. He tested as a smooth mover with a 5.14 forty at 316 pounds, and the pass sets matched: quick out of his stance, comfortable jump-setting speed, capable of recovering when beaten inside. The flags were about play strength and anchor — he gave ground against power, his hands landed wide at times, and against elite bull rushers his base collapsed. Evaluators also noted that his best football likely came at right tackle, where the athleticism mattered more than raw length.
Behind the top three tackles in the class, the board treated him as a Day 2 developmental starter, generally slotted in the second-to-third-round range with a swing-tackle floor. Tennessee taking him at 69 was an attempt to solve a right tackle spot that had churned for years, and the plan was to start him immediately opposite Taylor Lewan.
- 01
Jump-set quickness
Gets depth off the snap and meets speed rushers at the top of the arc, a trait that let him start in the Big Ten at both tackle spots.
- 02
Change of direction
Redirects and resets against counters without losing his frame, unusual body control for a lineman at 316 pounds.
- 03
Range on the move
Covers ground on reach blocks and climbs comfortably to second-level defenders in Ohio State's zone concepts.
- 04
Positional flexibility
Started at right tackle in 2020 and left tackle in 2021, giving a team a swing option on either edge from day one.
- 05
Pedigree and production
Five-star recruit who developed into a 2021 second-team All-American and second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2020.
- 01
Anchor against power
Gives ground when long-armed bull rushers get into his chest, the single flaw most likely to be exposed by NFL edge strength.
- 02
Hand placement
Punches wide and late at times, letting defenders into his frame instead of controlling them at the first contact point.
- 03
Limited displacement in the run game
More of a positional blocker than a mover of bodies; rarely creates vertical push on down blocks.
- 04
Play strength still developing
Frame carried weight well, but the functional power did not yet match the movement skills at the point of attack.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.14sp50
- Vertical
- 24.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 103inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ohio State | 4 |
| 2019 | Ohio State | 11 |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 5 |
| 2021 | Ohio State | 11 |
| Career | — | 31 |
Game counts from Tankathon's season table (2018-2021, 31 total). Verified season start totals were not available from a primary source, so starts are left null rather than estimated. Offensive linemen do not accumulate box-score statistics.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Athletic, movement-based tackle who starts but never fully solves power or availability.
Zone-scheme right tackle who becomes a decade-long starter once the technique and strength catch up.
Quick-footed tackle whose anchor keeps him bouncing between rosters as a swing option.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Nicholas Petit-Frere has played two seasons for the Tennessee Titans, starting at tackle in his rookie year. He faced a suspension in his second season but returned to the lineup.
Tennessee started him from Week 1. Petit-Frere played 16 games with 16 starts at right tackle as a rookie and logged 97 percent of the offensive snaps, but the results were uneven — five sacks allowed and eight penalties on a struggling line. Then the 2023 season came apart before it began: the NFL suspended him six games for violating the gambling policy, he was reinstated after Week 6, played three games and landed on injured reserve in November. He opened 2024 back at right tackle, lost the job in Week 6 after allowing too many pressures, and only returned in Week 11 when both replacements got hurt, finishing with 15 games and ten starts. The Titans waived him in April 2025. San Francisco signed him that May and cut him in June; Washington signed him in August 2026 and waived him at final cuts.
In hindsight this is a miss, and the reasons are the ones scouts wrote down. The anchor never caught up to the feet, the suspension cost him a developmental year at the exact moment he needed reps, and by the time he was healthy the Titans had moved on. Athletic Day 2 tackles usually get a second organization to bet on the traits — he has, twice, without sticking.
Data note: from NY Jets