Isaiah
Adams.
Isaiah
Adams.
Illinois· 6'4"· 315 lb· 5.22s 40
"A Canadian junior-college transplant who played four positions in two Big Ten seasons and mauled people at every one of them — the tape sells effort and power long before it sells polish."Pre-draft read
Two-year Big Ten starter who lined up at right guard, left guard and both tackle spots for Illinois, and a blocker whose identity is force rather than finesse. He fires off the ball with real intent in gap and duo concepts, generates displacement on down blocks, and finishes runs with a mean streak that shows up on the second level.
The pass sets are where the resume gets bumpier. He has the mass and grip strength to stall bull rushes once he is square, but the initial slide is heavy and his hands arrive late against interior quickness. The trait that separates him is positional flexibility: five spots of college experience on a body built to grind, with a Canadian junior-college backstory that means the reps are still coming.
Gap and duo-heavy run game with a play-action pass menu — an offense that lets him move defenders forward on early downs rather than reaching them on the backside of wide zone every snap.
Year 1: swing interior lineman and short-yardage jumbo blocker who competes for a starting guard job by midseason. Ceiling: multi-year starting guard who sets the physical tone of a downhill run game.
A quick-game, empty-set passing offense that leaves guards on islands against interior speed rushers and asks them to slide-protect on long-developing dropbacks without help.
Value rises on a staff with a hands-on line coach; his technique, not his temperament, is the variable.
Isaiah Adams — Guard/Tackle Film Breakdown | 2024 NFL Draft
Full pre-draft breakdown of his run-blocking power and pass-set inconsistencies across both guard and tackle reps.
Film Room: Isaiah Adams vs Penn State — All Pass Protection
Every pass-protection rep against a top Big Ten front, the best test of his slide quickness and hand timing.
Film Room: Isaiah Adams vs Kansas — All Pass Blocks
Pass-blocking cutup showing his anchor once square and the late hands that let rushers into his chest.
A power-based interior lineman with an unusual path — Wilfrid Laurier in Canada, then Garden City Community College, then two seasons in the Big Ten — and a game that reflects every mile of it. Adams is at his best moving forward, and the film is full of reps where he simply outmuscles the man across from him and keeps climbing.
Illinois used his flexibility hard, moving him between guard and tackle across 2022 and 2023 and earning him All-Big Ten honorable mention in both years. The signature snaps are down blocks and short-yardage duo, where his weight transfer buries interior defenders. The flags are just as clear: pad level rises in space, hand placement drifts wide, and quick counters can beat him before his feet reset.
Boards had him as a Day 2 interior starter with a developmental caveat, a guard-only projection despite the tackle reps. The Cardinals took him at 71 to add competition on a line they were rebuilding, buying the traits and the versatility and accepting that the technique needed an NFL room to catch up.
- 01
Play strength
Genuine displacement power on down blocks and duo; when he gets his hat across and his hips under him, interior defenders lose ground immediately.
- 02
Positional versatility
Logged meaningful reps at right guard, left guard and both tackle spots in the Big Ten, which is rare flexibility for a Day 2 interior prospect.
- 03
Finishing temperament
Plays through the whistle with a mean streak, works to bury defenders on the ground and never gives back yards once he has leverage.
- 04
Anchor once set
Heavy base and strong grip let him absorb bull rushes and stall power once he is square, which is the floor skill for an NFL guard.
- 05
Developmental runway
Only two seasons of Power Five football after Canada and junior college, so his technique has more untapped growth than most fourth-year prospects.
- 01
Pass-set footwork
The initial slide is heavy and upright, and quick interior rushers can win the inside track before his second step lands.
- 02
Hand placement
Punch drifts wide of the frame and arrives late, which lets defenders into his chest and turns clean reps into holding risks.
- 03
Balance in space
Pad level climbs when he climbs, and he misses second-level targets by lunging rather than tracking with short steps.
- 04
Experience gap
Two years of high-level competition means the mental processing against stunts and games is behind where a Day 2 pick usually sits.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.22sp50
- Vertical
- 24.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 102inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.77sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.73sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Illinois | 13 |
| 2023 | Illinois | 12 |
| Career | — | 25 |
Illinois 2022-2023 only; season games sum to the 25 career games. Pre-Illinois stops (Wilfrid Laurier in Canada, Garden City CC) are not tracked in FBS records. Per-season start counts are not confirmed by a primary source and are left null rather than zero-filled. Offensive line: no box-score stats tracked.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A dependable, physical interior starter who bounces between guard spots and is at his best in a gap-scheme run game.
The ceiling if the hands and footwork catch up to the power — a decade-long starting guard who wins with strength and consistency.
A heavy-handed swing interior lineman who holds a roster spot for years without locking down a starting job.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Isaiah Adams was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the 3rd round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He has not yet played in an NFL regular season game.
Arizona threw him into the deep end. He appeared in 15 games as a rookie in 2024 and started the final five as the staff shuffled the interior, and the tape matched the scouting report: real displacement in the run game between reps where interior quickness beat him to the spot. He opened 2025 as the starting right guard, lost the job to Will Hernandez, then went back into the lineup when Hernandez got hurt, finishing with 11 starts and 763 offensive snaps. He reported to camp in July 2026 for his third season, now under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur, while facing four firearms-related charges filed in Ontario after he turned himself in to Durham Regional Police on July 19, 2026 — a case that is unresolved and clouds his roster outlook.
In hindsight the evaluation reads accurate rather than wrong. This was always a traits-and-toughness pick who needed a full coaching cycle before the technique caught up, and two seasons of on-again, off-again starting reps is a fair reflection of that. At No. 71 the pick was not a miss — he has been a starting-caliber body for 16 games — but the return so far is a swing interior lineman, and the next chapter now depends on things that have nothing to do with football.
Data note: Illinois 2022-2023 only; season games sum to the 25 career games. Pre-Illinois stops (Wilfrid Laurier in Canada, Garden City CC) are not tracked in FBS records. Per-season start counts are not confirmed by a primary source and are left null rather than zero-filled. Offensive line: no box-score stats tracked.