Blake
Freeland.
Blake
Freeland.
BYU· 6'8"· 302 lb· 4.98s 40
"A former high school quarterback who grew into a 6-foot-8 tackle and tested like a top-ten athlete; everything about the pick came down to whether the anchor would ever catch up to the frame."Pre-draft read
A long, hyper-athletic tackle who wins with reach and movement before he wins with weight. Freeland is nearly 6-foot-8 with 33 7/8-inch arms, and in pass protection he uses that length as a fence: he kicks out fast, gets his hands on the rusher's frame early, and steers speed past the pocket. His sets are smooth and his recovery quickness is real.
His best run reps come on the move. He climbs to the second level and reaches linebackers most tackles his height cannot touch, and he finishes when his hands land inside. The problem is the one his frame creates: he plays tall, his anchor collapses against bull rushers, and power sits him back into the quarterback. The signature is rare movement skill on a very long frame.
Outside zone run scheme that puts his movement skill in space and gives him lateral help, with a quick passing game that keeps his anchor from being isolated.
Year 1: sixth lineman and swing tackle who spot-starts. Ceiling: full-time right tackle in a zone system that hides the anchor.
A gap-heavy power scheme that asks him to displace 340-pound defensive tackles on down blocks and to protect on seven-step drops without chip help.
The traits are only usable if a strength program adds functional weight without costing him the movement that made him a draft pick.
Film Analysis on BYU Offensive Tackle Blake Freeland
Frame-by-frame breakdown of his pass sets, length and anchor questions ahead of the 2023 draft.
BYU Football | NFL Pro Day 2023 | Blake Freeland | Raw
Full raw pro day workout showing the movement skill and testing profile that lifted his board grade.
Blake Freeland 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Profile
Pre-draft scouting profile with college cut-ups of his BYU tape at both tackle spots.
Freeland is a former high school quarterback who was pushed onto BYU's offensive line as a true freshman in 2019 because of injuries and never left the lineup. Four years later he walked out of Provo with 44 games and 41 starts, a 2022 team captaincy and Third Team AP All-America honors. That is an unusual development arc: a skill-position athlete who grew into a 6-foot-8, 302-pound tackle and learned the position in front of a crowd.
The athletic testing is what moved him. At the 2023 combine he ran 4.98 with a 1.68 ten-yard split, jumped 37 inches and 10 feet, and posted a 7.46 three-cone and a 4.71 shuttle at his size. Those are top-percentile numbers for the position across the board. The senior tape backed part of it: quick sets, easy movement to the second level, and clean production against real edge rushers as an independent. The flags were play strength and pad level. He is a tall protector whose anchor gives ground and whose hands need to land faster and tighter.
Boards had him in the third-to-fourth-round band as a developmental swing tackle whose ceiling depended entirely on adding functional strength. Indianapolis took him at 106 behind Bernhard Raimann and Braden Smith, buying two years of runway for the traits to catch up to the body.
- 01
Length
Nearly 6-foot-8 with 33 7/8-inch arms; he lands first contact on edge rushers and keeps their hands off his chest in pass protection.
- 02
Testing profile
4.98 forty with a 1.68 ten-yard split, 37-inch vertical and 7.46 three-cone at 302 pounds, top-percentile athleticism for an NFL tackle.
- 03
Pass sets
Kicks out cleanly and covers ground fast to the outside shoulder, which lets him handle speed rushers without opening the inside gate.
- 04
Second-level work
Climbs to linebackers and reaches defenders on zone runs; the movement skill shows up most clearly when he is asked to go get someone.
- 05
Experience
Four-year starter at BYU with 41 career starts across both tackle spots after being thrown into the lineup as a true freshman.
- 01
Anchor
Plays tall and gives ground against bull rushers; power sits him back into the quarterback's lap before he can reset his base.
- 02
Pad level
His height works against him at the point of attack, and he loses leverage battles he should win on down blocks.
- 03
Hand technique
Hands land late and outside the frame too often, which lets defenders swipe through and turns wins into holding risk.
- 04
Positional experience
Converted from quarterback in high school, so his technical floor lags his physical tools and he is still learning the craft.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.98sp50
- Vertical
- 37inp50
- Broad jump
- 120inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.46sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.71sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | BYU | 7 |
| 2020 | BYU | 11 |
| 2021 | BYU | 13 |
| 2022 | BYU | 13 |
| Career | — | 44 |
Offensive linemen have no box score, so starts are the measure. BYU's official bio credits Freeland with 44 games and 41 starts as a four-year starter from 2019 to 2022, and the per-season game counts (7, 11, 13, 13) sum exactly to that 44. The year-by-year start split is not published, so those cells are left unverified rather than zero-filled. He was thrust into the lineup at right tackle as a true freshman in 2019 after injuries, was named a team captain in 2022, and finished as a Third Team AP All-American and Outland Trophy watch-list selection.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
The realistic version: a long, athletic tackle who bounces between rosters as a swing option without ever locking down a job.
The version Indianapolis was betting on: a converted skill athlete whose technique catches up and turns him into a real starting tackle.
Only in shape of career: a career backup tackle whose value is availability and length rather than starting-caliber play.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He got real work immediately. As a rookie he played sixteen games with nine starts, splitting nearly 700 snaps between right and left tackle as Indianapolis cycled through injuries, and he held up well enough for the Colts to call him their swing tackle of the future. Then the runway closed. In 2024 he took just 23 offensive snaps all season, buried behind healthy starters and passed on the depth chart. In August 2025 he fractured his right leg in the preseason game against Green Bay, was carted off and placed on injured reserve on August 18, and missed the entire season.
The 2026 camp was his last chance in Indianapolis. He gave up seven pressures on roughly 100 preseason pass-blocking snaps competing for the swing job, and the Colts waived him in final cutdowns on August 30. Cincinnati signed him to its practice squad two days later. The evaluation was honest about him: the athletic profile was genuinely rare and the anchor was genuinely a question, and three years later the anchor is still the question. What the profile could not price was the leg fracture that erased the season he needed most.