Gavin
Gerhardt.
Gavin
Gerhardt.
Cincinnati· 6'4"· 309 lb· 5.21s 40
R7 · #235 · Minnesota Vikings"A leverage-and-intelligence pivot in the Nick Martin mold: not the athlete a wide-zone team wants, but a three-time captain with 49 starts, elite short-yardage torque and the protection calls already in his head, which is the profile that turns into a long-term backup center and emergency starter."Pre-draft read
A leverage-and-torque center, Gerhardt plays from the ground up, using a low first step and inside hand placement. He finishes through blocks, creating displacement on down blocks and vertical creases on short-yardage plays and in gap and duo concepts. His anchor is functional; he sits into bull rushes with a wide base, recovering quickly if the first punch is late.
His range is limited. He is a below-average athlete in space, slow to reach shaded noses and with climbs to the second level relying on angle and timing over closing speed. Under a square bull rush, his pad level can rise, and his shorter arms hinder early contact against longer rushers. He is a fully formed technician, winning with leverage rather than movement.
Gap/duo power run game, favoring a physical, downhill approach built on vertical displacement rather than horizontal stretch.
Year 1 short-yardage and goal-line interior run blocker, with a ceiling as a starting center in a gap-heavy run game.
Any wide-zone dominant scheme where the center is asked to execute reach blocks, cutoff blocks, and climbs to the second level in space.
Gerhardt's lack of mobility and short arms make him an ideal fit for a power-based system that values leverage and torque over athletic range, but a poor fit for a zone-heavy scheme.
Gavin Gerhardt College Highlights
Team-produced college cutup: snap-to-fit quickness, second-level climbs and short-yardage torque at center.
Vikings Center Gavin Gerhardt's College Highlights
Condensed reel focused on his pass-protection anchor and communication reps in Cincinnati's 2025 offense.
Minnesota Vikings Select Center Gavin Gerhardt With No. 235 Pick in 2026 NFL Draft
Draft-slot context and the front office's stated reasoning for taking a six-year starter late in round seven.
Gavin Gerhardt projects as a leverage-based, gap-scheme interior lineman whose value derives from his advanced technical polish and extensive experience making protection calls. Despite below-average athletic testing, including a 7.65 three-cone, he offers a team a high-floor, mentally ready center with a proven ability to anchor and displace in the run game.
Gerhardt was a six-year college player, starting 49 games at center for Cincinnati across four seasons after moving from guard due to an injury. He played for multiple coordinators and quarterbacks through a conference transition, earning three captaincies. He led the Big 12 among centers in PFF run-block grade in 2023, and anchored a 2025 offensive line that was a Joe Moore Award semifinalist, allowing only eight sacks.
His pre-draft process revealed significant athletic limitations confirmed by pro day measurements, resulting in no Combine invitation. Evaluators saw a mature, technically sound player with limited athletic upside and an older age for a rookie, leading to a late-round projection; he was selected 235th overall by the Minnesota Vikings.
- 01
Program pillar
a three-time captain and one of only four Bearcats ever voted captain three times, with 49 career starts, tied for third-most in Cincinnati history at any position.
- 02
Short-yardage torque
Cincinnati converted 76.7 percent of power runs in 2025 per College Football Data, with a 15.9 percent stuff rate among the best interior marks in the Big 12.
- 03
Pass-protection anchor
the 2025 line was a Joe Moore Award semifinalist and allowed only eight sacks all season, second nationally.
- 04
PFF-validated run blocking
his 79.7 run-block grade in 2023 was the best of any center in the Big 12 and sixth nationally.
- 05
Line-call intelligence
four straight seasons of full-time snaps making protection calls for four different starting quarterbacks and multiple coordinators.
- 01
Bottom-tier testing
a 5.21 forty, 1.84 ten-yard split, 25½-inch vertical and 8-foot-7 broad, all under the NFL threshold for a movement-based zone center.
- 02
Short length
32½-inch arms and 9¼-inch hands, so NFL nose tackles get into his frame before he can reset.
- 03
Wide-zone projection
he wins with leverage and torque rather than range, and the 7.65 three-cone confirms the change-of-direction limit on reach and cutoff blocks.
- 04
Waist-bend under power
anchor holds against college bull rushes, but pad level rises when a 340-pound zero technique stresses him from a dead-square alignment.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.21sp50
- Vertical
- 25.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 103inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.65sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.67sp50
- Bench
- 27repp50
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 0 |
| 2021 | Cincinnati | 4 |
| 2022 | Cincinnati | 13 |
| 2023 | Cincinnati | 10 |
| 2024 | Cincinnati | 12 |
| 2025 | Cincinnati | 13 |
| Career | — | 42 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- Third-team All-Big 12 (2025)
- Three-time Cincinnati team captain (2023, 2024, 2025), one of four players in program history so honored
- 2025 Rimington Award watch list, Allstate Good Works watch list and Wuerffel Trophy watch list
- Member of a 2025 Cincinnati offensive line named a Joe Moore Award semifinalist that allowed only eight sacks, second nationally
- PFF Big 12 Team of the Week (vs. UCF, 2025); the Cincinnati line earned Big 12 Offensive Line of the Week three times in 2025 (Northwestern State, Kansas, Iowa State)
- All-Big 12 honorable mention (2023), when PFF graded his 79.7 run block the best of any center in the league and sixth nationally
- First-team CSC Academic All-District and Big 12 Fall All-Academic Team (2023)
- 49 career starts, tied for third-most in Cincinnati program history regardless of position
A late-round center who sticks around for years as the emergency snapper and short-yardage package body, starting when injuries force it and never losing the locker room.
The ceiling for a leverage-based Group of Five center in Minnesota: a multi-year swing interior lineman who starts 25-plus games across a career because the calls and the anchor are never the problem.
The floor if the movement limits win: a decorated, technically sound college interior lineman whose testing profile keeps him on practice squads and out of a real rotation.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Minnesota took him with the 235th pick, the eighth of nine selections in a draft class built almost entirely in the trenches, and the logic is easy to read. The Vikings have invested repeatedly in interior offensive line stability, and Gerhardt is the least speculative kind of late-round lineman: a six-year college starter who has already solved the mental half of playing center - protection identification, front recognition, the snap-and-fit timing that undoes so many college guards who get moved inside.
What he cannot do is run, and that is the entire question. Minnesota's run game leans on movement and angles, and a center with a 5.21 forty and a 7.65 three-cone is not a natural wide-zone reach blocker; if he is asked to play a gap-and-duo role in short-yardage and goal-line packages while backing up the pivot, his skills fit.
The realistic ceiling is a long-tenured swing interior backup and emergency starter, the Nick Easton or Austin Schlottmann outcome - a player whose value shows up in the eleven snaps a season when the starter's helmet comes off. The realistic floor is a practice-squad year followed by a roster cut, because the testing numbers give him no special-teams path and no guard fallback. His football character, his three captaincies and his ability to make the calls will keep him in a building longer than his athletic profile suggests. Whether that turns into meaningful Sunday snaps depends on whether the anchor that held against Big 12 noses holds against NFL ones.