If there was ever a place for grit and physicality to rise and pay big dividends, it’s probably the Steel City of Pittsburgh, the site of the 2026 NFL Draft.
While skill players often dominate the rookie headlines, any gridiron champion will tell you that the ultimate battle is won in the trenches. Several blocking-hungry teams are thus blessed come this Thursday: Spencer Fano (Utah), Vega Ioane (Penn State), and other big bodies should hear their names called fairly early when the draft gets underway, all in the name of forming protection for the league’s high-profile offenses.
5 Underrated OL Prospects In The 2026 NFL Draft
Beyond Fano, Ioane, and the rest, several certain prospects could leave a major impact on the weekend. TeamFB7 has five names to keep an eye on come Friday and Saturday.
Alabama OL Parker Brailsford had a 9’10” broad jump, tying him for 5th-best all-time at his position 🔥
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 1, 2026
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/UhCRRn9H5C
Parker Brailsford, Alabama
It’s hard to go under the radar at Tuscaloosa, but Brailsford’s relatively small 6-foot-2 frame for a center leaves perhaps a little to be desired. Heart and grit, however, will attract prospective employers: during his early years at Washington, Brailsford won the scout team MVP award as a freshman and he was later part of the line group that won the Joe Moore title bestowed to the nation’s top offensive line.
The last two years have been spent atop the Crimson Tide’s depth chart (albeit with an ankle injury endured late last season) and he put forth one of the better showings at the NFL Scouting Combine: Brailsford led all offensive linemen in the broad jump and 10-yard split and placed in the top 10 in the bench and shuttle categories.
Former Miami center James Brockermeyer recently visited the Titans and will visit the Bears later this week, per source.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 30, 2026
The son of former NFL tackle Blake Brockermeyer, James helped himself with a standout week at the Senior Bowl.
pic.twitter.com/LPDJ0nnmLR
James Brockermeyer, Miami
Brockermeyer won’t be the first of his surname to get the NFL draft call, as his father Blake was the last of three first-round picks in the Carolina Panthers’ original draft class in 1995. His son will probably have an uphill battle to replicate the sizable career that runs in the family: his run blocking needs work and he lacks the versatility some of his contemporaries carry.
But the third time was the charm after he previously worked through TCU and Alabama, as he earned All-ACC honors as the man in the middle for the national runner-ups. Brockermeyer did not allow a sack in the Hurricanes’ lengthy season, and he impressed at the Senior Bowl despite some casting him aside after he weighed in at under 300 pounds.
The Patriots will reportedly host Memphis OT Travis Burke on a Top-30 visit.
— Jack Aylmer (@Jack_Aylmer) March 18, 2026
Stands 6’9” and 325 lbs. Played 762 snaps at RT and 3 at LT in ‘25, allowing 3 sacks. Finished the year with a 81.5 pass blocking grade and 84.2 run blocking grade from PFF.pic.twitter.com/9Pqjsoey4k
Travis Burke, Memphis
Burke boasts experience on both the left and right side, which makes him a prime option to be a swing tackle once he gets his call. A well-traveled bulldozer (starting at Gardner-Webb and Florida International before reaching the height of his powers a Tiger), Burke missed out on a chance to push things even further due a foot injury that wiped out the latter half of his season, including a Shrine Bowl invite.
But in his play placed on film, which yielded first-team All-American Conference honors, Burke has hardly been afraid to throw his 6-foot-9, 330-pound frame around. Such a relentless demeanor is what Friday and Saturday dreams are made of at the draft.
Penn State runs a Tackle screen to OT Drew Shelton, but it is called back due to holding pic.twitter.com/LXPxuFsAKC
— LandonTengwall (@LandonTengwall) September 6, 2025
Drew Shelton, Penn State
A good bit of the blocking attention In Happy Valley centers on Vega Ioane, and rightfully so. Shelton faced an unenviable task in succeeding first-round choice Olu Fashanu on the outside but mostly succeeded with a sterling sense of athleticism that’s partly assisted by a basketball accompaniment.
He’s got a relative lack of strength that will probably relegate him to the latter stages of the selections, but his unique vigor could make him an intriguing project for a team yearning in the run block.
Trey Zuhn III (6’6” 312) Texas A&M
— Bengals & Brews (@BengalsBrews) March 16, 2026
+ Multi-year team captain
+ 96.8 pass blocking grade with just 10 pressures allowed in 2025
+ Low amount of penalties
+ Quickness off the snap
+ Blocking on the move
+ Four-year starter with over 3,200 snaps played in the SEC
+ Aggressive… pic.twitter.com/kve8WfliQP
Trey Zuhn III, Texas A&M
Zuhn’s familial ties to College Station run deep (he’s a third-generation Aggie whose grandparents served as professors before his parents met at A&M) but his rise on the Aggie line required no nepotism. He was a four-year starter in this lucrative stretch that ended in the College Football Playoff (overcoming significant early injuries to build such a legacy) and with him winning the SEC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy previously earned by Kelvin Banks Jr., Landon Dickerson, and Braden Smith.
Zuhn spent this past season as a left tackle but his size that works for and against him, as well as his toughness would make him a better option as an interior man when his name is eventually called.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
