Ben Brown NFL Draft 2022: Scouting Report for Mississippi IOL

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HEIGHT: 6'5 1/8"

WEIGHT: 312

HAND: 10 1/4"

ARM: 34 3/8"

WINGSPAN: 6'9 3/4"

40-YARD DASH: DNP

3-CONE: DNP

SHUTTLE: DNP

VERTICAL: DNP

BROAD: DNP

POSITIVES

— Wide-bodied frame with excellent length and solid play strength.

— Does a nice job covering up, holding ground and walling off defenders on angle-drive (down/base) blocks.

— Has enough short-area quickness to work zone combos and cut off tightly aligned defenders over either shoulder.

— Excels bumping, displacing and feeding nose tackles over on ACE blocks with thump on contact.

— Uses his length to press, widen and keep defenders at his fingertips, elongating their path to work around his edges.

— Flashes good grip strength once latched to hunker down and end reps quickly on jump sets.

NEGATIVES

— Heavy feet without much snap in his movements, causing him to be late redirecting on the move and mirroring shifty defenders.

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— Needs to speed up and tighten his strike timing and placement to better protect his chest and not allow quick access into his frame.

— Adequate processing skills and play speed, can be late recognizing delayed blitzes and loopers.

— Body control, posture and balance dwindle through contact as the rep progresses.

2021 STATISTICS

- Six starts at RG.

NOTES

— Former 3-star left tackle recruit who also played defensive tackle for St. Aloysius High School in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

— Honor graduate out of St. Aloysius with letters in football, basketball, track and powerlifting.

— Comes from a long line of Ole Miss football players including his father, both his maternal and paternal grandfathers, uncle, great uncle and father's cousin.

— Made 40 consecutive career starts (30 at right guard and 10 at center) before missing the final seven games of the 2021 season due to a biceps injury that required surgery.

OVERALL

Ben Brown was a four-year starter inside Ole Miss' multiple run scheme with 40 career starts (30 at right guard, 10 at center), including six at guard in 2021 before tearing his bicep on the 100th play against Tennessee. He stayed in for the final five plays to finish out the game.

Brown has a wide-bodied, thick build with excellent arm length, good play strength and physicality. He excels at holding the point and walling off defenders in the run game and his anchor with enough quickness to function in the zone-run game. He uses his length well to press and widen defenders when they work his edges, helping to mask middling lateral quickness and body control.

Brown is often late adjusting his aiming points to connect against quick-trigger, shifty 'backers on pulls and climbs to the second level, allowing too many run-throughs. That also gets him into trouble in pass protection due to being a tick late reading out late-loopers and delayed blitzes, lacking the twitch to redirect suddenly. Brown needs to improve his strike timing and placement, as he too often allows defenders to work past his length and inside his frame without having the recovery skills to sustain consistently if he doesn't win initial leverage.

Overall, Brown has the necessary size, strength and physicality to hold the point and create movement in inside zone/gap concepts, but his middling play speed and body control make him a career swing interior backup.

GRADE: 5.9 (Backup/Draftable - Round 6)

OVERALL RANK: 233

POSITION RANK: IOL24

PRO COMPARISON: Ben Powers

Written by B/R NFL Scout Brandon Thorn