We are breaking down the Notre Dame prospects hoping to hear their names called in the upcoming NFL Draft being held in Detroit from April 25th through the 27th. Today, we look at one of the most promising Irish pro prospects in many years.
SPECS
Name: Joe Alt
Hometown: North Oaks, Minnesota
Position: OT
Height: 6-9 (per NFL Combine)
Weight: 321 (per NFL Combine)
40: 5.05
Vertical: 28.0
10-Yard Split: 1.73
Broad: 9′ 4″
3-Cone: 7.31
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.51
Bench Press: 27
STRENGTHS:
A goddamn mountain of a man in stature. Excellent footwork and excels at adjusting his stride to ward off pass rushing and combo moves. Strong hands who uses his long arms to maintain leverage while blocking. Alt is an elite pass blocker. Moves really well for his size in run blocking. He has the genes and pedigree to be an All-Pro level player in the NFL. The rare player who was huge and somehow measured even larger for the NFL. Did I mention he’s huge?
WEAKNESSES:
Some of the best power rushers have had decent success getting underneath Alt’s tall frame. Most NFL scouts have been critical of his forward lean and pad level at times. Relies too much on his length and reach. A more consistent and controlled run blocking effort will be required at the next level.
OVERVIEW:
It wasn’t that long ago where I thought it was crazy Notre Dame was sticking with Alt at left tackle instead of teammate Blake Fisher who “won” the job before injury as a true freshman. It turns out, the coaching staff made the correct decision. Fast forward a couple years and Alt is coming off phenomenal back-to-back All-American seasons and could be the highest drafted prospect out of South Bend since Quenton Nelson in 2018.
In another draft year with less quarterback-needy teams ready to select first this could be a top 3 type of situation for Alt.
PREDICTION:
1st Round, 7th Overall to the Tennessee Titans
Well, this is boring. I couldn’t find a single legitimate NFL mock draft that had Alt going anywhere else besides with Tennessee’s first pick. The team just cut Andre Dillard after signing him to a 3-year $29 million deal from Philadelphia last off-season following a terrible 2023 with the Titans at left tackle. Like most teams, Tennessee has other needs to address but probably nothing where they’d be throwing top 10 draft money at when they have such a major weakness on the offensive line.
Could Alt go higher?
You could make the case the Bears could easily upgrade for Alt over Braxton Jones but the team likely isn’t entertaining anything other than a quarterback with the 1st overall pick. It’s the same situation for Washington who have a below average 2nd year player at left tackle but should be looking only at the quarterback position 2nd overall. Or, so the pundits believe.
The Patriots are yet another high picking team in 3rd without a franchise left tackle. The Cardinals recently cut D.J. Humphries but signed Jonah Williams from the Bengals on a 2-year $30 million deal so Arizona is out of the Alt sweepstakes.
The Chargers have recent 1st round pick Rashawn Slater playing well at left tackle so they will pass. So too will the Giants in the 6th spot after inking former 4th overall pick Andrew Thomas to a mega 5-year $117.5 million extension last off-season.
The Bears really should package the 9th pick and move up to 5th or 6th to take Alt. Everyone is mocking them to take a WR at 9, but Caleb Williams is going to get injured in the NFL if his blocking is anything like it was at USC.
Bears have an okay line already and while Braxton Jones has a much lower ceiling than Alt, he’s also a serviceable LT on a 5th rounder’s contract. If Alt falls to #9 they should probably take him but with only four picks this year, trading up for him isn’t a great move.
Interesting Reddit thread recently about which Notre Dame O lineman had the best ND career.
Top picks include Aaron Taylor (2 time AA, unanimous senior year), Joe Alt (ditto), Zach Martin (one time AA but most starts ever by an ND O-lineman), and Quenton Nelson (also just one AA but unanimous) for one monster season.
I lean Aaron Taylor college alone, but Alt makes a strong case.
I think a lot of it depends on how you define best career. Most accolades, “best” player, highest draft pick, highest peak, most total value to the team, best stats (well probably not for OL), team accomplishments, etc.
Did Taylor start 4 years? Was he even allowed to in the early 90s? If so, probably him, if not, then I would take Martin’s career. But Taylor was before my time, so I just don’t know much about him and particularly hard to judge as an OL with no real stats.
Of Alt, Martin, and Nelson, the guys I have followed, Nelson was my favorite to watch, boy did he just bury some poor fools, and if drafting in the NFL, I would take Alt, since he’s the only NFL LT, a much more valuable position.
But if we were getting a repeat of their careers, I would take Martin without thinking twice. Martin was at least within a fraction of as good as Alt and Nelson at their peak, but his peak was longer, as was his whole career.
Martin was ND’s OL of the year 4 straight years, the only player in school history to win the award more than twice.He started 52 games, school record for OL.He was MVP of a bowl game, lol. The first OL since 1959 to be a bowl MVP in all of college football, not just ND. Admittedly, this is more about the quality of that game than his actual performance.Named team captain twice, one of 27. No one else on this list was, despite a lot of recent guys.Went to NC game.Martin wasn’t big and flashy and sexy like the other guys, and might not have had the highest peak, but no one added more total value. He essentially put together 2 careers worthy of being in the ND HoF, if not the NCAA HoF. Hopefully making the NFL HoF, and his soon to be $100 million career earnings, will help
himme get over him being shafted repeatedly by the CFB award voters.If I was able to pick any of these guys to come back to ND today and repeat their career, it would easily be 4 years of Martin over 2-3 years of starting over the other guys. I don’t particularly care if they got more votes from national reporters around being an AA.
Edit: to clarify, I consider the best career to be most total value added.