Christian Haynes 2024 NFL Draft Profile
The 2024 NFL Draft has a multitude of positions that are stacked with talent, and one of those is among the offensive line. One of the best coming out just might be UConn’s Christian Haynes. He has done a great job this offseason raising his stock, but what does his draft profile look like? Let’s talk about it.
To quote Trey, I’m not going to bury the lede here. I think Christian Haynes is the best guard in the class. Haynes started 49 straight games for the Huskies, doing a great job in both pass pro and run blocking. Haynes would win third-team All-American honors in his Junior and Senior seasons, showcasing his talents on a national level to win an honor like this from a smaller football school like UConn.
I got to watch Haynes at the Senior Bowl this year and came away very impressed with what I saw. He’s a mauler in its purest form, exactly what you want out of your guard play. He can really drop his ass and anchor to stand up against a pass rush. Everything looks like it is working as one unit, meaning he never feels like he is overextending and getting caught in bad positions. More than willing to finish a block to the ground, which I love. He would thrive in a zone scheme.
Guards don’t need a *ton* of twitch to their game, but the tape feels like it’s lacking some oomph. I spoke on how much I love his aggression, but it has drawn him more than a few penalties in college, that will need to be cleaned up. I wrote in the Senior Bowl piece above that hand placement could be cleaned up and I second that thought here. Simple things to clean up, really.
I think Christian Haynes will be a dang good pro. He has the makeup and mental you look for in someone who is willingly smashing heads for 70+ plays a game. I have a second-round grade on Haynes and would go a step further in saying I would take him in the top 40 and rest easy at night. If you are an NFL team in need of a guard, I’m not sure you’ll find a better one in the class.
