Jc
Latham.
Jc
Latham.
Alabama· 6'6"· 342 lb
"Latham is a heavyweight with hands: he does not out-dance rushers, he lands first, sits down on the power and grinds the rep to a stop, which is why Alabama never had to help him."Pre-draft read
Two-year starting right tackle in a pro-style Alabama offense, Latham plays the position like a heavyweight: he sets with a wide, anchored base, catches the rush on contact, and shuts down bull attempts before they build momentum. The hands are the mechanism — heavy, independent and varied, resetting inside on power and swiping across on speed so rushers never get a clean edge or a two-way go.
In the run game he is a displacement blocker who moves bodies off the line on down blocks and duo, and finishes with intent. Pass sets are short and controlled rather than fluid, so speed-to-power works better for him than long recovery reps in space. The signature is play strength: when he lands first, the rep is over.
Gap and duo-heavy run offense with vertical play-action — a downhill scheme that asks its tackle to displace bodies and anchor, not to reach defenders on the backside of wide zone.
Year 1: immediate starting right tackle in a power run scheme with tight end help available on speed edges. Ceiling: top-ten right tackle who erases power rushers and anchors the run game for a decade.
A wide-zone offense that asks its tackles to reach the play-side shoulder on the run and take deep vertical sets on drop-back passing every down, with no chip help on the edge.
The gap between his right-side and left-side value is real; scheme fit and side assignment matter more with him than with most first-round tackles.
JC Latham 2023 Highlights | Alabama OL
Junior-year reel at right tackle: the anchor reps and the down-block displacement.
Titans OT JC Latham: 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Breakdown of hand usage, set depth and the left-tackle projection questions.
JC Latham 2023 Season Highlights | Tennessee Titans
Team-produced college cut-up released after the seventh overall pick.
Latham is a five-star recruit who grew into one of the most physically imposing tackles in recent SEC memory, and the football identity matches the frame. He is a power player first — a blocker who wins by landing hands, anchoring and grinding defenders out of the play, not by dancing in space. Two full seasons on the right side against the best edge rushers in the conference gave the evaluation real weight.
The 2023 tape was the case for him: consecutive starts, All-SEC first-team recognition, and a very low pressure and sack rate against elite competition. The signature reps are the bull-rush attempts that die on contact and the down blocks that clear an entire gap. The flags were about range and conditioning: a body that ran heavy late in games, occasional lunging against inside counters, and no starting experience at left tackle, which mattered for any team drafting him to protect a blind side.
Boards had him in the second tier of a deep tackle class, usually behind Joe Alt with a right-tackle-or-guard fallback attached. At seven, the call was a bet that the power and technique floor would hold immediately, and that the left-side move would take care of itself.
- 01
Anchor strength
sits down on bull rushes with a wide base and stops power on contact, rarely giving ground into the quarterback's lap.
- 02
Hand usage
heavy, independent hands with real variety, resetting inside on power and swatting across on speed to break the rusher's plan.
- 03
Run displacement
moves bodies off the line on down blocks and duo, creating clean interior lanes rather than just walling defenders off.
- 04
Proven competition
27 consecutive SEC starts at right tackle with a very low pressure rate against the best edge rushers on the schedule.
- 05
Finishing temperament
plays to the whistle and looks for work, burying beaten defenders instead of coasting once the block is won.
- 01
Recovery range
short, powerful sets leave him vulnerable when a speed rusher wins the corner and forces a chase-and-redirect rep.
- 02
Conditioning and weight
the frame has run heavy, and the tape gets slower and more upright as games and seasons wear on.
- 03
Inside counters
will lunge and overset against long-arm-to-spin or inside moves, losing the chest and getting spun off the block.
- 04
Side experience
no college snaps at left tackle, so the blind-side projection was theoretical rather than something the tape proved.
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alabama | 9 |
| 2022 | Alabama | 13 |
| 2023 | Alabama | 14 |
| Career | — | 36 |
Games sum exactly to the career total; 27 consecutive starts at right tackle across 2022-23. 2021 starts not verified and left null. Did not test at the combine, so no timed athletic data exists.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Power-based tackle asked to move sides; realistic outcome is the anchor without the same movement skill.
Ceiling comp only for the right-side dominance and hand technique, not the athletic profile.
Reliable run-game starter on the right side whose pass-protection range caps the value.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
He started all 17 games at left tackle as a rookie, an unusual ask for a player with zero college snaps on that side, and the results were mixed in a predictable way: the anchor held, the run blocking travelled, and the speed rushers who could threaten his outside shoulder created the bad reps. He admitted afterwards that his weight climbed toward 365 pounds and that he felt heavy and slow late in the season. He came back in 2025 roughly thirty pounds lighter and moved to right tackle after the team signed a veteran for the left side, then missed a stretch early and finished with 13 starts.
The retrospective is honest and unfinished. The pre-draft read — elite play strength, questionable range, best on the right side — has been confirmed almost line for line, including the part nobody wanted to hear about the blind side. Taken at seven, he has been a starter from day one on a bad offense, which is not nothing, but the return so far is a solid right tackle rather than the cornerstone that slot usually demands.
Data note: Games sum exactly to the career total; 27 consecutive starts at right tackle across 2022-23. 2021 starts not verified and left null. Did not test at the combine, so no timed athletic data exists.