It’s time for part six of my summer scouting positional previews for the 2026 NFL Draft! Last week, I discussed my top five offensive tackles, and we’re staying with the offensive line. Let’s dive into my top five interior offensive lineman rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft!
The 2025 NFL Draft was a productive class for the position with five interior linemen being selected in the first two rounds, three of which were first-round picks: Tyler Booker to the Dallas Cowboys, Grey Zabel to the Seattle Seahawks, and Donovan Jackson to the Minnesota Vikings. Some exciting players are in this 2026 class of guards and centers, so let’s get started!
Rankings
1. Jaeden Roberts - Alabama
Alabama Crimson Tide right guard Jaeden Roberts is my early IOL1. Roberts is entering his redshirt senior year, and he’ll look to step up as potentially Alabama’s best offensive lineman in 2025.
Roberts is an insanely strong player with vice grips for hands. He is an absolute people mover in both phases and finishes blocks violently. His anchor is rather immovable as well.
He also looks to have exceptional length for a guard, locking out defenders with ease. This was no more evident than when he held off former Georgia Bulldogs and current San Francisco 49ers EDGE rusher Mykel Williams with just one arm.
I’d also consider Roberts to be a pretty good athlete at 6’5” and 310 pounds. I thought he looked larger than that on film, but when he got in space he had no issues moving vertically. This makes him an effective puller on power and counter runs which Alabama runs at a decent rate.
He’s not a perfect prospect, however. Roberts does get overextended at times by dipping his head which leads to balance issues and a misfire with his hands.
Roberts’s hand placement also needs to be refined. It’s not bad, but it needs to be more consistent. I’d say it’s just as inconsistent in the run game as pass protection.
Still, I view Jaeden Roberts very highly as he is my eighth overall player on my big board and has a first-round grade. The tools along with his play strength and anchor make him an easy prospect to like.
2. Connor Lew - Auburn
Auburn Tigers center Connor Lew comes in as my IOL2. Auburn’s offensive captain has started since he was a true freshman and has only continued to improve.
The first thing that jumps off Lew’s tape is how great of an athlete he is. He has lightning-quick feet and does a great job climbing to the second level of the defense.
I’d consider him a plus in both pass protection and the run game. The hand usage is rather refined for someone who was a true sophomore and should just continue to improve in 2025.
While I think the anchor is pretty good at 6’3” and 300 pounds, he does have his fair share of reps where he gets overpowered. Hopefully, he continues to add strength while holding his current level of athleticism.
I think Lew also lacks length. Lack of length isn’t as big of an issue on the interior as it is at offensive tackle, but he did struggle with lengthier interior pass rushers.
The flashes Lew showed on tape as just a true sophomore, as well as the athleticism he possesses, make him a really enticing prospect. He currently has a second-round grade for me and it’ll be exciting to see how he continues to grow this season.
3. Ar’maj Reed-Adams - Texas A&M
Texas A&M Aggies right guard Ar’maj Reed-Adams slots in as my IOL3. Texas A&M’s offensive line has draftable pieces in at least four of their five offensive line positions, but none were more impressive than Reed-Adams.
Reed-Adams is an absolute road grader who plays with a nasty edge. When his hands land, he creates violent knockback.
The tape in the run game stood out to me. He’s a good reach blocker and displaces defenders at the first and second level.
Reed-Adams is also a pretty good athlete at a monstrous 6’5” and 340 pounds. He’s an effective puller going both ways and is a bit of a moving mountain coming across the formation.
The technique absolutely needs refinement though. He occasionally struggled with leverage, but the most glaring deficiency for him was that he was a lunger. If he missed with his hands, the defender had a pretty easy path to the backfield.
Reed-Adams’s footwork could also use some work. It’s not necessarily clunky, but his hands and feet need to be more in sync to create as much force as possible.
Reed-Adams might have been my favorite watch of this group as watching a big guard who just mauls in the run game is a joyous time. He absolutely has deficiencies, but none that can’t be coached up. His upside is really enticing and he currently sits with a second-round grade on my board.
4. D.J. Campbell - Texas
My IOL4 is Texas Longhorns right guard D.J. Campbell. Campbell is a returning piece of a great Texas offensive line and should be the leader in that room in 2025.
Campbell was another prospect that has some dominant tape in the run game. He too plays with an edge and has no problems driving defenders through the turf.
He’s a pretty good athlete at 6’3” and 314 pounds and is a really good reach blocker. Texas also pulled him a lot in 2024 with how much power and counter they run, and he had plus tape in those situations as well.
Campbell’s pass protection tape is a bit streaky. He has a really good anchor and digs in against power rushers, but the hand placement needs to improve.
The footwork in pass protection could also use some work. His base tends to get rather wide at times and he can sometimes set too far back in the pocket. The latter is hard to read though with how bad Quinn Ewers’s management of the pocket was last season.
Campbell’s tape is very comparable to Reed-Adams, I just liked Reed-Adams slightly more. Still, I liked a lot of what I saw from Campbell and he has a third-round grade for me.
5. Wendell Moe Jr. - Tennessee
Tennessee Volunteers new left guard Wendell Moe Jr. rounds out this list as my IOL5. Moe Jr. transferred from Arizona to Tennessee in the winter portal period and he’ll be an immediate starter on the left side of the offensive line. Him being in my top five was a bit of a surprise to me as almost no one in the draft community has discussed him, but I was impressed.
Moe Jr. is an absolute unit at 6’2” and 335 pounds. I think Tennessee will get him down to that 325 pound range with the up-tempo offense that they run.
His anchor is great and he is a technician in pass protection. The hand usage is proficient and he has plus footwork.
Moe Jr. is really strong and is able to lock out defenders consistently. The grip strength is some of the best in this entire offensive line class. The snatch trap he shows is also rather lethal.
He isn’t as proficient in the run game as he is in pass pro, but he still shows plus tape. He’s a pretty good reach blocker and an effective puller.
The hangup with Moe Jr. is that he is an average athlete. It’s not bad enough to where it makes him lose because of how much of a technician he is, but it’s not on the level of some of these other linemen.
Overall, his floor as a prospect was enough to vault him into my top five. He’s still a relatively young player, so he absolutely could continue to get even better. As it stands right now, Moe Jr. has a third-round grade for me.
Honorable Mentions
Now that we’ve gone through my top five, here are some guys who missed my list but are prospects you should still keep an eye on in 2025.
Emmanuel Pregnon (Guard) - Oregon
Tanoa Togiai (Guard) - Utah
Chase Bisontis (Guard) - Texas A&M
Parker Brailsford (Center) - Alabama
Iapani Laloulu (Center) - Oregon
Jake Slaughter (Center) - Florida
Final Thoughts
This is a fun class of interior offensive linemen filled with a variety of different styles of play that are fun to watch. This class could become even better overall if any of the tackles in the 2026 class end up kicking inside. As always, this list will almost certainly be different by April with the nature of summer scouting, but as of now, I’m confident in my top five interior offensive lineman rankings in the 2026 class.