Spencer
Fano.
Spencer
Fano.
Utah· 6'6"· 311 lb· 4.91s 40
"A 6'5", 310-pound Utah tackle who started at both edges since true-freshman year, a two-time All-American with elite kick-slide craft — top-ten board consensus as OT1 despite bull-rush anchor flags."Pre-draft read
He sets with a controlled 45-degree kick, maintaining a compact base through the second slide, mirroring edge speed with an elite snap-to-pass-set clock. He delivers an inside-out punch to the sternum, resets with a counter jab after a lost first hit, and finishes sustain reps with fists inside the numbers. He climbs to the second level in a coordinated manner on gap and outside-zone concepts, tracking linebackers on an angle and finishing reach blocks with sustained leg drive.
His anchor is quality but can concede depth on early-down bull rushes before resetting. He occasionally opens the gate on wide-alignment speed rushes by over-committing to the edge post, then losing balance on the inside counter. His separator is the release, mirror, and finish rate.
Spencer Fano projects as a franchise bookend left tackle in a Shanahan-style outside zone run scheme that prioritizes movement, angles, and coordination at the second level, ideally with a play-action focused pass game.
Year 1 starting left tackle who can anchor the blind side, with Pro Bowl ceiling in a run-heavy, play-action oriented offense.
A vertical-drop traditional straight-ahead pass-blocking scheme where he is asked to mirror and sit on an island regularly against long, heavy power rushers.
Fano's elite pass-set craft and movement skills in space make him an immediate impact player, but his anchor against bull rushes suggests a scheme fit that leverages his strengths and avoids his more vulnerable traits.
Spencer Fano Full College Football Highlights | Utah Right Tackle
Full Utah highlight reel from RT to LT — kick-slide, second-level climb, and finish rate on outside-zone.
Spencer Fano: Outlier or Franchise Tackle?
The Athletic scout breakdown weighing his pass-set craft against the arm-length and anchor questions.
Browns Fill Massive Need | Spencer Fano Draft Evaluation
Post-pick evaluation framing Fano as Cleveland's long-term blindside answer in the Stefanski zone scheme.
The team acquiring this prospect is drafting an immediate starting-caliber tackle designed for a zone-heavy scheme, particularly as a bookend left tackle. His elite pass-set craft, independent hand usage, and exceptional movement skills in space make him a plug-and-play cornerstone for an offense prioritizing protection and outside-zone concepts.
Fano started as a true freshman at right tackle before flipping to left tackle for his final two seasons. He earned unanimous All-Big 12 first-team honors and was a consensus All-American in both 2024 and 2025. Pro Football Focus graded him as the top pass-blocking tackle in the Power Five in both 2024 and 2025 across roughly 850 pass-blocking snaps, despite the offense experiencing quarterback struggles during 2025.
Evaluators consistently projected him as OT1 throughout his junior season despite questions regarding his 34-inch arm length and the durability of his anchor against heavy power rushers. He skipped timed drills at the Combine due to a soft-tissue precaution, posting only pro day short shuttle and bench numbers. He was drafted ninth overall by the Cleveland Browns.
- 01
Kick-slide craft
Sets from the snap with a controlled 45-degree angle, keeps a compact base through the second slide, and consistently arrived on speed rushers.
- 02
Independent hands
Delivers an inside-out punch that lands on the sternum, resets after a lost first punch with a counter jab, and finishes with fists inside the numbers.
- 03
Movement in space
Pulls and climbs to the second level on angle rather than chase, tracks linebackers with light feet, and finished reach blocks with leg drive.
- 04
Pass-pro production
Pro Football Focus graded him the top pass-blocking tackle in the Power Five across 2024 and 2025 on roughly 850 pass-blocking snaps.
- 05
Positional versatility
Started 12 games at right tackle as a true freshman and 24 games at left tackle without a drop in grade or footwork consistency.
- 01
Anchor durability
Anchor is quality but can concede two yards of depth on early-down bull rush before resetting his stance against long, heavy power rushers.
- 02
Arm length
34-inch arms sit at the low end of NFL tackle norms, leading some teams to consider a kick to guard rather than trusting him at tackle.
- 03
Wide-alignment speed
Occasionally opens the gate on wide-9 speed by over-committing to the edge post, then losing balance on the inside counter.
- 04
Testing gap
Skipped timed drills at the Combine on a soft-tissue precaution, leaving evaluators to project athletic ceiling without RAS confirmation.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.91sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 111inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.34sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.67sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Utah | 13 |
| 2024 | Utah | 12 |
| 2025 | Utah | 12 |
| Career | — | 37 |
Merged from verified season/game stat tables; Sports-Reference remains the preferred source when reachable.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Career built on independent hands and pass-set discipline; a steady long-term starter with occasional bull-rush concessions rather than an All-Pro ceiling — the realistic middle projection.
Same left-tackle skeleton: pass-set craft over athletic freakiness, three-year college starter, drafted top-ten as a franchise blindside anchor with room to grow into an elite pass-pro plus anchor pairing.
First-round pass-set specialist whose anchor got exposed against NFL power and who required a guard conversion or backup role; the floor if the arm-length flag scales.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Pre-draft context. Fano committed to Utah out of Timpview High in Provo as a consensus top-100 recruit and started at right tackle as a true freshman in 2023, then flipped to the blind side in 2024 after Sataoa Laumea graduated to the Seahawks. He earned unanimous All-Big 12 first-team honors in both 2024 and 2025, was a consensus All-American in each of those seasons, and reached the Outland Trophy finalist round as a junior. Utah listed him at 6'5", 310 pounds with 34-inch arms; he attended the 2026 Combine but skipped timed drills on a soft-tissue precaution and posted only short shuttle and bench numbers at the Utah pro day rather than a full battery. Board consensus locked him in as OT1 by October — top-ten across every major public board — and the class's other high tackles (Caleb Lomu, Kadyn Proctor, Francis Mauigoa) never seriously threatened that ranking despite bigger frames and longer arms.
NFL fit — Cleveland Browns. Cleveland entered the 2026 offseason with a franchise-tackle vacancy after Jedrick Wills's release and Dawand Jones's inconsistent 2025, and the organization treated the position as the second-most-expensive slot on the roster behind quarterback. Fano projects as an immediate Week-1 left tackle in Cleveland's outside-zone system — the very scheme his Utah tape screams for. The independent-hands, pass-set craft is a plug-in fit for protecting whoever wins the Cleveland quarterback room, and the anchor questions matter less in a zone offense that rarely asks the blind-side tackle to hold a 320-pound bull rush cold for three seconds. The bet is that Fano is the ten-year answer at a position the Browns have not stabilized since Joe Thomas retired.
Retrospective. Career outcome pending — this profile will update as the 2026 rookie season plays out. Cleveland handed him the starting left-tackle job out of camp with the expectation that he protect the blind side for the next decade; the tape and board consensus supported that bet, and the archetype is the exact modern franchise tackle NFL organizations seek to build around.
Data note: Merged from verified season/game stat tables; Sports-Reference remains the preferred source when reachable.