Josh
Conerly Jr..
Josh
Conerly Jr..
Oregon· 6'5"· 311 lb· 5.05s 40
"A fluid, basketball-footed pass protector who mirrors speed rushers as well as any tackle in the class and moves like a tight end in the second level — the athletic left tackle mold of a young Rashawn Slater with more length, whose only real question was whether NFL power could move him off his spot."Pre-draft read
Three-year Oregon left tackle who wins with feet, balance and body control. From a compact two-point stance he gets depth quickly, keeps his shoulders square through the kick-slide and rarely opens the gate, which lets him ride wide speed past the arc and recover on inside counters. Hands are quick and accurate — he punches on the second beat, resets when the first strike misses and finishes with late torque. Eyes are clean against twists: he passes off loopers, picks up the second man and works back to the edge without panicking.
In the run game he is at his best on the move — reach blocks on outside zone, climbs to linebackers, pulls with the change of direction of a former running back — but he seals more than he uproots. His signature separator is recovery athleticism when he is beaten off the snap.
Outside-zone/wide-zone offense that puts its tackles on the move — reach, climb and pull concepts with quick-game and boot play-action rather than heavy inline duo
Year 1: plug-in starter at either tackle spot in a zone-first scheme, protected on obvious passing downs with a chip or slide. Ceiling: long-term blindside starter and one of the better move blockers in the league.
A gap/power offense built on inline duo, short-yardage displacement and heavy 12-personnel down blocking, where his lack of anchor mass against 330-pound nose-shade power gets exposed rep after rep.
Athleticism and reach range are the whole thesis — pair him with a zone runner and a quick-rhythm passer, not a downhill power identity.
Josh Conerly Jr NFL Draft Film Review
Full 2024 tape review of Conerly at Oregon left tackle, with pass sets, reach blocks and recovery reps against Big Ten edges.
Josh Conerly Jr vs Micah Parsons & Rashan Gary Full Matchup | OL vs DL Film
Rep-by-rep NFL matchup film against elite speed rushers, the truest test of his kick-slide and recovery.
Josh Conerly Jr Week 1 Commanders Highlights | All-22
All-22 look at his NFL debut at right tackle, showing the side switch and how the zone reach traits translated.
Josh Conerly Jr. was projected as a plug-and-play zone tackle who offered a specific skill set: elite movement and recovery athleticism, capable as a blindside protector but potentially a better fit on the right side if play strength became an issue. Teams valued his ability to execute zone-scheme blocks and recover from false steps, making him a safe bet for a starting role with guard as a fallback.
He started 28 consecutive games, first in the Pac-12 then in the Big Ten, on an Oregon offensive line that ranked fourth nationally in line yards in 2023 and achieved a 79.7 percent power-success rate during his 2024 Big Ten championship season. His usage was consistent as a left tackle during his collegiate career.
Evaluators noted two primary concerns: the anchor against bull rushes and whether his 311-pound frame would hold up on the blindside long-term. He was generally considered a consensus top-40 prospect, ultimately drafted 29th overall.
- 01
Kick-slide and mirror
Gets depth immediately out of his stance with square shoulders, riding wide speed rushers past the arc and staying in front of inside counters without opening the gate.
- 02
Recovery athleticism
Unique ability to relocate after losing the first beat, allowing him to refit, regain leverage, and finish blocks that other tackles would concede.
- 03
Reach blocking on outside zone
Elite lateral burst and body control, consistently getting his outside hand and hip past defenders to create crucial cutback lanes.
- 04
Second-level movement
Climbs and adjusts to moving linebackers like a former skill player, tracking targets in space and hitting them on the move effectively.
- 05
Hand timing and reset
Punches on the second beat instead of lunging, landing accurate independent strikes and re-firing when the first shot misses to keep his frame clean.
- 01
Anchor against power
Can be walked into the pocket by heavy long-arm and bull rushes; his feet stop the rep more often than his hips and core, leading to lost ground.
- 02
Displacement in the run game
Primarily seals and covers up defenders rather than uprooting them, which limits vertical push on short-yardage and inline duo reps.
- 03
Play strength at the point
Wins position and angles but rarely dominates a rep, and stronger interior-shade defenders can hold their ground against his down blocks.
- 04
Frame and mass ceiling
His build is close to maxed out, and adding functional weight without sacrificing his defining movement traits presents a developmental challenge.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.05sp50
- Vertical
- 34.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 103inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 24repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Oregon | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2023 | Oregon | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Oregon | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | — | 41 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Offensive linemen do not accumulate traditional box-score statistics; games, starts and the lone receiving line are the countable record.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- First-team All-American (2024)
- First-team All-Big Ten (2024)
- Honorable mention All-Pac-12 (2023)
- Big Ten champion (2024)
- Anthony Munoz Award (2021)
Long-term starting tackle whose value comes from movement, mirror and range rather than raw power and strength.
Same athletic, technically clean profile in a zone scheme, the outcome if the anchor catches up to the feet.
Athletic tackle who ends up kicked inside to guard when NFL bull rush repeatedly moves him off his spot.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Washington took him 29th overall with a specific plan: Laremy Tunsil was already locked in at left tackle, so Conerly was drafted to solve the right side. He signed a fully guaranteed four-year rookie deal worth $15.68 million in May 2025 and then spent the summer doing the thing scouts had flagged as the hidden difficulty — flipping his stance, footwork and hand assignments to the opposite side after three years of exclusively left-tackle reps.
He won the job outright in camp and started the September opener against the Giants at right tackle. From there he never came off the field: 17 games, 17 starts as a rookie, the only Commanders offensive lineman to take every start of the season. The tape matched the projection almost exactly. Speed rushers rarely beat him clean around the corner, his reach blocking gave Washington a functional outside-zone element, and his recovery athleticism erased mistakes that would have been sacks for a stiffer tackle.
The bull rush remained the leak: heavier interior-to-edge power converters got into his chest and collapsed the pocket's depth, and short-yardage push was still an issue in the run game. Entering his second season in 2026 he is Washington's starting right tackle with the frame filled out toward 315 pounds, and the organization's long-term question has flipped from whether he can play to whether he eventually inherits the blindside.
Data note: Offensive linemen do not accumulate traditional box-score statistics; games, starts and the lone receiving line are the countable record.