Penn State guard Olaivavega Ioane might be one of the top prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft, but he’s just as in the dark about where he might end up as all the fans and other observers following the festivities coming up next week in Pittsburgh.
“That’s the hard part about it, man,” Ioane said in a video released by Penn State’s athletic department from the program’s pro day last month. “Every team I’ve met with and talked to, they all seem to like me as a player, as a person, things like that.
“So I really don’t have an idea (who will draft him). I couldn’t tell you.”
While that’s largely true of most draft prospects, Ioane seems to have more variance than most in regards to where he might be selected. Reputable national outlets range in projection for Ioane’s NFL home from a pick just inside the top 10 all the way down into the 20s.
The latter part of that span happens to be where the Steelers are scheduled to pick (at 21st overall). They also have an opening atop their depth chart at left guard, the position where Ioane made 32 starts over the past three seasons for Penn State.
If the Steelers aren’t comfortable with returning reserve guard Spencer Anderson or free-agent signee Brock Hoffman as the replacement for the departed Isaac Seumalo, they could target Ioane with the reasonable hope that he’s their next David DeCastro: a plug-and-play first-round guard who performs at a Pro Bowl level for a decade.
“He’s an outstanding guard,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said on a recent podcast appearance. “If you want the guy that’s a defined guard, you plug him in, you’ve got maybe a Pro Bowl-caliber guard.”
Kiper used the term “defined guard” because although Ioane is far and away the highest-rated pure (defined) guard in this draft class, there are some projected first-round tackles who could end up at guard in the NFL, Utah’s Spencer Fano and Alabama’s Kadyn Proctor, in particular.
There is far less question that the likes of Texas A&M’s Chase Bisontis, Oregon’s Emmanuel Pregnon and Georgia Tech’s Keylan Rutledge end up at guard. It is, however, unlikely any of that trio will be selected in the first round.
Part of the reason for that is precisely why there is so much debate about how far Ioane will fall. In the modern NFL, positional value plays a major role in draft, salary cap and other personnel decisions. Guard, for better or worse, is among the lowest-prioritized positions in the sport.
Some draft analysts view Ioane as one of the top pure players in this draft. Where he gets picked will depend more on how much a given team covets having a high-pedigree guard.
Perhaps that, in part, is why Ioane said that ending up a first-round pick would carry extra meaning to him.
“All the work that I put in to be in a position like this, all that’s just going to tie it all together, connect everything,” Ioane said. “It’s definitely going to be a surreal moment knowing that I put a lot of work to get into that position, but it’s going to be worth it.”
That moment — getting their name announced in the first round Thursday evening on the North Shore — doesn’t seem as if it will happen for any of the draft-eligible centers. Even the top names available at that position — Florida’s Jake Slaughter, Auburn’s Connor Lew, Kansas State’s Sam Hecht and Iowa’s Logan Jones among them — are projected as Day 2 selections.
On whole, when looking at the interior offensive line positions, there appears to be a tad bit more quality and quantity at guard.
“You can find pretty good guards in this draft,” Kiper said. “There’s a lot of options there.”