Anthony
Belton.
Anthony
Belton.
NC State· 6'6"· 336 lb· 5.26s 40
"A former JUCO transfer, Belton is a powerful tackle whose unrelenting displacement at the line of scrimmage and improved pass protection make him a high-floor mauler for a gap scheme."Pre-draft read
Three-year NC State left tackle who plays like a wall with a mean streak. The first thing that shows up is the mass he brings on contact: he squares up, gets his hands inside and drives, and on angle-drive and combo blocks he removes the down lineman before climbing. His hands are heavy enough to stall a rusher on first contact.
In protection he wins with length and anchor rather than feet. He sinks his hips against bull rushers and locks out, and power-first edges rarely move him. Against speed and counters he plays tall, clicks his heels expanding the set and leans, which is where the reps get ugly. Run-game value is the separator: on gap and duo concepts he is a true displacement blocker, and the 51 pancakes in 2023 were no accident.
Gap and duo-heavy run game inside, paired with a quarterback who gets the ball out and protection help on the edges.
Year 1: developmental swing piece with spot starts. Ceiling: multi-year starting right guard who anchors a downhill run game.
A wide-zone offense that asks him to reach-block a 3-tech on the move or protect on an island in deep dropback sets.
The move inside is not a demotion; it is the only alignment where his power outruns his feet.
Anthony Belton College Football Highlights | NC State Left Tackle
Full-length NC State cut-up showing the displacement power and finish in the run game.
Anthony Belton | Left Tackle | NC State | 2025 NFL Draft Highlights
Draft-cycle reel with pass sets against ACC speed and the anchor reps against power.
Why Packers Anthony Belton is MUCH BETTER than you Realize
Film breakdown of his rookie-year guard tape in Green Bay and the second-year projection.
Belton is a mass-and-power blocker whose football identity is displacement. He went unranked out of high school in Tallahassee, spent two years at Georgia Military College, arrived at NC State in 2021 with 11 snaps of ACC exposure, then replaced a top-10 pick at left tackle and never gave the job back.
The production was steady rather than spectacular. Eight starts in 2022, then all 13 in both 2023 and 2024, with third-team All-ACC honors and 51 pancakes in a Wolfpack scheme that mixed zone with counter. He never surrendered more than three sacks in a season across roughly 400 pass-blocking snaps per year, and his 2024 pass-block grade was the best of his career. The flags were just as consistent: upright sets, clunky feet, two-hand striking and slow recovery when a rusher crossed his face.
The board had him as a Day 2 tackle with a strong Senior Bowl and a real chance of kicking inside. Green Bay took him at 54 knowing the feet might not survive on the edge, and betting that a line room with Zach Tom and Jordan Morgan could turn all that power into a starting guard. It was a projection pick, not a plug-and-play one.
- 01
Displacement power
Generates real vertical movement on angle-drive and duo blocks, caving down linemen and creating rush lanes without needing a running start.
- 02
Anchor against power
Sinks his hips and locks out with 34-inch arms; bull rushers and long-arm converters rarely walk him into the quarterback.
- 03
Heavy, jarring hands
Delivers enough pop on first contact to stall a rusher's momentum and reset the rep before the defender gets into his frame.
- 04
Combo-block finisher
Bangs the down lineman, feeds him off and climbs with enough mass to bury a linebacker at the second level.
- 05
Proven durability and volume
Started 34 games over three seasons at left tackle with more than 2,200 snaps and never allowed more than three sacks in a year.
- 01
Lateral quickness
Marginal agility expanding his set; speed rushers and inside counters across his face get him leaning and late to recover.
- 02
Pad level
Plays too tall in both phases, which costs him leverage on the move and lets defenders under his hands on run downs.
- 03
Footwork mechanics
Clunky, heel-clicking kick slide with an overreliance on two-hand striking that leaves him grabbing when beaten.
- 04
Second-level range
Slow foot speed on climbs and pulls means he arrives late on space blocks against moving targets.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.26sp50
- Vertical
- 29.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 107inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.77sp50
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | NC State | 2 |
| 2022 | NC State | 13 |
| 2023 | NC State | 13 |
| 2024 | NC State | 13 |
| Career | — | 41 |
Offensive linemen do not accrue box-score statistics; games and starts shown. Green Bay's release credited 33 career starts; game-by-game logs support 34.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Big-bodied convert who settles in as a functional interior starter and emergency tackle.
Ceiling if the technique cleans up: a durable, powerful right guard who wins the run down every week.
Tools flash but the feet and pad level cap him as an inconsistent, injury-prone swing piece.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Green Bay drafted him as a tackle and spent the entire offseason treating him like one. Every preseason snap came at right tackle, including a five-penalty second quarter against Indianapolis that made the ceiling look far away. He played right tackle in two early-season games, then was moved inside mid-game against Minnesota in Week 12 and started the last seven games, playoffs included, at right guard. The results were exactly what the scouting report predicted: 465 of his 558 blocking snaps came at guard, he ranked near the bottom of the league in pressure rate and pass-block efficiency among starting guards, and he did not allow a sack largely because Jordan Love bailed him out. The one genuine positive was discipline — a single penalty after the position change — and a grade curve that climbed from the low 20s in his first two starts to an 84 in the finale.
A year in, the honest read is that the projection is still open. He never practiced inside until the regular season and still finished as a starter, and Green Bay has now committed to him at right guard for 2026 with a full offseason of reps. The tackle experiment is over, which is the correct verdict on the feet. Whether the power translates into the mauling interior presence the Packers thought they were getting is the entire second-year question.
Data note: Offensive linemen do not accrue box-score statistics; games and starts shown. Green Bay's release credited 33 career starts; game-by-game logs support 34.