Andre Smith's Reach May Save Him

If your'e looking for a breakout football Website that's come from nowhere to provide top-notch content, the 2008-2009 season winner would have to the National Football Post, which has quickly become a must-view site. The NFP is back at it again this week, swimming upstream against the Andre Smith stock-falling news to point out a reason that Smith won't fall as far as you may think.

Smith may be a fat tub of goo who apparently didn't spend much time working in the weight room in preparation for his pro day, but he has a giant asset (to go with his giant ass) that NFL teams will love. As the NFP points out, while Smith may be only 6-foot-4, he has the longest arms of any of the top tackle prospects this year. With his 35-5/8-inch reach, Smith has the long arms to help ensure he wins the battle of hand positioning against most defensive ends.

OT REACH MEASUREMENTS
Andre Smith	35 5/8"
William Beatty	34 3/4"
Eugene Monroe	34"
Jason Smith	33 3/4"
Michael Oher	33 1/2"
Eben Britton	32 1/2"

Now arm length isn't a sure-fire guarantee a tackle will turn into a Pro Bowler (just ask D'Brickshaw Ferguson and his 35 1/2-inch reach), but it is valuable piece of the puzzle something that often goes unnoticed as we focus on tackles' 40-yard dash times and how man reps they do in the bench press.

There's a lot of reasons to worry about Smith. He shows horrendous work habits, and if you watch him at Alabama, he's not nearly the pass blocker yet that his reputation had him made out to be. But he does have the physical skills to become a NFL left tackle, and with that reach, if he moves over to right tackle, he should be a dominating pass blocker in addition to a bulldozer in the running game.

There's still a lot to not like about Smith, but it still would be surprising to see him slip out of the Top 10.