Nathan
Thomas.
Nathan
Thomas.
Louisiana· 6'5"· 332 lb· 5.19s 40
"A converted tight end who learned to block on the fly and left Louisiana with an NFL anchor bolted to a Sun Belt pass set — the rare seventh-round tackle whose ceiling was never the question, only the calendar."Pre-draft read
Thomas is a left tackle built like a road grader: a converted high school tight end who plays with a wide, heavy base and functional length. His value starts in the run game, where he fires off the ball with real burst for 330 pounds, lands his hands inside on down and kick-out blocks, and finishes with the grip strength to steer defenders past the ball.
Pass protection is another story. He plays tall, leans into contact and crosses over on lateral slides, so shifty rushers work around a body already committed. His set points are rudimentary because Louisiana rarely asked for true dropback reps. The separator is the anchor: he sinks against speed-to-power and absorbs the bull rush like a veteran.
Zone-heavy run scheme with play-action and half-slide protections that keep him from being isolated in extended true dropback sets.
Year 1: swing tackle and jumbo run package. Ceiling: multi-year starting left tackle in a zone-run offense that leans on play-action.
A pass-first offense that asks him to hold vertical sets alone against speed rushers on 40-plus dropbacks a game, where his crossover steps and upright posture get exposed every week.
The blocking scheme matters less than the pass-rush diet he faces; protect the edge with chips and tempo and his anchor plays up.
Nathan Thomas film breakdown — could he be the next Terence Steele?
All-22 breakdown of the anchor, the run-game finish and the pass-set flaws that dropped him to round seven.
Nathan Thomas highlights — OT, 2024 NFL Draft (Rd 7, Pick 233)
Louisiana left tackle reel emphasizing down blocks, kick-outs and second-level reach blocks.
Nathan Thomas highlights
Condensed Cowboys-focused cut-up of his college tape and early pro reps.
Nathan Thomas entered the 2024 class as one of the least experienced offensive linemen in it. A three-star recruit out of Chalmette (La.) who played tight end in high school, he touched the offensive line for the first time when he arrived at Louisiana, redshirted in 2019 and never saw the field in 2020. Everything scouts had on him came from three seasons of tape.
The curve was steep and real. After seven games as a backup in 2021, he won the left tackle job and started all 13 games in 2022, grading 80 percent or better in 11 of them with 25 knockdowns. In 2023 he started all 12 regular-season games, piled up 37 knockdowns and earned honorable mention All-Sun Belt before a knee injury cost him the bowl. The run tape was violent and the anchor legitimate; the pass sets were a construction site.
Boards split him hard. Several analysts projected him inside to guard, one gave him a fourth-round grade, and the Shrine Bowl and combine invites confirmed the league saw the traits. But the developmental clock, the Sun Belt pass-pro sample and a 25-inch vertical pushed him down. Dallas, rebuilding a line that had just lost Tyron Smith and Tyler Biadasz, took the swing at 233 with no rookie-year expectations.
- 01
Anchor against power
Sinks his hips and transitions into his base smoothly against speed-to-power, absorbing bull rushes from bigger ends without giving up ground.
- 02
Grip strength and hand size
Ten-and-three-quarter-inch hands latch and stick; once he lands inside, defenders rarely disengage before the whistle.
- 03
Run-game demeanor
Plays through the whistle with genuine physicality on down, kick-out and overtake blocks, and finishes defenders into the ground when he gets a body on them.
- 04
Get-off for the mass
A 1.76 ten-yard split at 332 pounds shows the burst to reach and seal at the second level in a zone-based run game.
- 05
Developmental runway
Only started playing the position in college and still improved every year, which means the technical floor is coaching, not ceiling.
- 01
Upright pass sets
Plays tall and leans into contact, which saps his power base and leaves him whiffing on shifty, evasive rushers who counter inside.
- 02
Lateral footwork
Crosses over on horizontal slides and forfeits balance, so speed rushers with a plan can get to his edge before he can mirror.
- 03
Scheme-limited sample
Louisiana's run-first attack gave him minimal true dropback reps, leaving set points, depth and pace of kick underdeveloped.
- 04
Processing games and stunts
Late to sort twists and delayed pressure, and his hand placement drifts outside the frame when he has to redirect.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.19sp50
- Vertical
- 25inp50
- Broad jump
- 107inp50
- Three-cone
- 8.01sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.65sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Louisiana | 7 |
| 2022 | Louisiana | 13 |
| 2023 | Louisiana | 12 |
| Career | — | 32 |
Offensive linemen do not accumulate box-score statistics, so only games and starts are listed. Thomas redshirted in 2019 and did not play in 2020; neither season is listed because no verified participation totals exist. Seasons sum exactly to the career line of 32 games and 25 starts (Wikipedia/school release, verified against Louisiana Athletics).
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Athletic swing tackle who holds a roster spot for years and fills in capably without ever locking down a full-time role.
The exact Cowboys precedent: a raw, mass-first tackle who turned an anchor and a motor into a long-term starting job.
Only if the pass-set issues force a permanent kick inside to guard, where the length and anchor still have value.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Thomas never played a snap as a rookie. He was a reported standout in 2024 training camp and looked like a real candidate for the swing tackle job before a knee injury put him on injured reserve for the entire season, wiping out the developmental year Dallas drafted him for. He returned in 2025, won the swing tackle spot outright, and appeared in all 17 games with four starts filling in for Tyler Guyton. The tape was uneven — the anchor and the run-game finish showed up, the pass sets were still upright and late against speed — but a seventh-round pick logging four NFL starts in his first active season is a win. By June 2026 Brian Schottenheimer had confirmed what nobody projected at 233: Thomas and Guyton, the first-round pick, were in open competition to start at left tackle.
In hindsight the evaluation was directionally right and slightly too conservative. The board said guard; Thomas has stayed at tackle. The board said years of development, and it took two, one of them lost to injury. What it underrated was how fast the anchor and grip strength would translate against pro rushers once he had an NFL strength program. He is not a solved player — the crossover steps and tall posture still show. But getting a swing tackle pushing a first-rounder in year three is exactly what a seventh-round swing is supposed to produce.
Data note: Offensive linemen do not accumulate box-score statistics, so only games and starts are listed. Thomas redshirted in 2019 and did not play in 2020; neither season is listed because no verified participation totals exist. Seasons sum exactly to the career line of 32 games and 25 starts (Wikipedia/school release, verified against Louisiana Athletics).