Nick
Broeker.
Nick
Broeker.
Mississippi· 6'4"· 305 lb· 5.27s 40
"The four-year Ole Miss starter who moved from left tackle to All-SEC guard as a senior — a Kent Hull Trophy winner whose athletic testing pushed him to the seventh round."Pre-draft read
Broeker is a 6-4, 305-pound interior lineman who spent three years starting at left tackle for Ole Miss before moving inside to left guard as a senior — and won the 2022 Kent Hull Trophy as Mississippi's top offensive lineman doing it. He is a wide-bodied, strong-handed blocker who covers up targets and holds the point on double teams and down blocks, with genuine positional versatility across four spots.
The athletic ceiling is what dropped him. He ran 5.27 in the forty with a 7.75 three-cone, and the tape matches: a short-area power player who can be stressed by speed on the edge and suddenness inside. In Lane Kiffin's up-tempo spread he was asked to move more than most college linemen, and he survived — but NFL evaluators saw a guard whose success would have to come from strength, hands and intelligence, not traits.
Gap/power run scheme that values guard-center flexibility and interior anchor over athleticism in space
Year 1: practice-squad or gameday-inactive swing interior; ceiling: quality backup at guard
Wide-zone offenses that live on guards climbing and reaching in space
His NFL path — claimed, kept, recycled — is exactly what the evaluation projected.
Nick Broeker Play Breakdown
Former NFL linebacker Arthur Moats breaks down Broeker's tape.
NFL Draft Prospect: OL Nick Broeker, Ole Miss
Draft-season prospect reel on the Ole Miss lineman.
Nick Broeker at the Senior Bowl
Short on his pre-draft work at the Senior Bowl.
Broeker was a four-year starter at Ole Miss and one of the most decorated linemen in school history — second-team All-America (Walter Camp, FWAA, Phil Steele) and first-team All-SEC in 2022, plus the Kent Hull Trophy as the state of Mississippi's best offensive lineman. He started at left tackle from 2019 through 2021, then slid inside to left guard for his senior season and earned the conference's top honors at a new position.
The scouting case was versatility and polish. A player who could legitimately play tackle or guard, with 50-plus games of SEC experience, clean technique and a reputation for intelligence and toughness — Kiffin trusted him enough to build protections around him. The limitations were athletic: below-average testing (5.27 forty, 7.75 three-cone) and a game that wins in a box rather than in space.
The board pegged him as a Day 3 swing interior — a safe-floor, low-ceiling pick for a team that values experience. Buffalo took him at 230 as exactly that: a four-position insurance policy from the SEC's best offense.
For a seventh-rounder, the profile was about as bankable as it gets — the question was always whether the athletic floor would let the technique play.
- 01
Positional versatility
Started at left tackle 2019-21, then moved to left guard and won first-team All-SEC there in 2022.
- 02
Decorated senior year
Second-team All-America, first-team All-SEC and the Kent Hull Trophy as Mississippi's top lineman.
- 03
SEC experience
Four-year starter in Lane Kiffin's up-tempo offense; 50-plus games against elite defensive lines.
- 04
Strong hands and anchor
Covers up targets and holds the point on doubles and down blocks.
- 05
Intelligence and toughness
Trusted with protection calls in a fast-paced spread; team-first reputation.
- 01
Below-average athlete
5.27 forty and 7.75 three-cone; a phone-booth player at the next level.
- 02
Limited range
Struggles to reach second-level targets and pull into space consistently.
- 03
Edge speed stress
Tape at tackle showed vulnerability to speed rushers, forcing the move inside.
- 04
Low ceiling
Safe-floor profile whose NFL ceiling is a swing interior rather than a long-term starter.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.27sp50
- Vertical
- —in
- Broad jump
- —in
- Three-cone
- 7.75sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.70sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-22 | Ole Miss | — |
| Career | — | — |
Career details per Ole Miss official roster bio; per-season OL splits are not published by cfbstats.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Experienced college guard who stuck around rosters as deep depth for years.
Versatile, smart interior backup who carved a long career as trusted insurance.
Tackle-guard tweeners who wash out when the athleticism cannot hold up inside.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Broeker did not survive Buffalo's final cuts as a rookie, but Houston claimed him immediately — a small win for the profile — and he spent two seasons with the Texans, appearing in 12 games without a start as a deep-reserve interior. When Houston moved on, the journeyman loop began: a practice-squad stint with Kansas City in December 2025, then a futures deal back with Buffalo in January 2026, where he remains fighting for a roster spot.
The honest retrospective: the evaluation was right. Versatile, smart, strong college guards with limited athleticism become exactly this — valued 53-man roster insurance who keep getting claimed because coaches trust them, but who never quite start. Three years in, Broeker has appeared in more games than most seventh-rounders ever do. That is not nothing. It is also not a hit.