An early look at WVU’s 2019 NFL Draft prospects: Yodny Cajuste

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The 2019 NFL Draft is months away, but West Virginia has numerous players on its roster this season who have a chance of playing at the next level.

WVSports.com catches up with CBS Sports NFL Draft Writer, Chris Trapasso, to ask him his opinions on the early draft stocks of these players.

Today, we continue our series with another Q&A with Trapasso regarding the draft stock of West Virginia offensive tackle, Yodny Cajuste.

1. What stands out the most to you about Cajuste?

“I think the athleticism for Cajuste is probably what stands out for him, that he doesn’t look like a 'sloppy,' bigger offensive tackle. He's certainly not small, but just what he's able to do at his size, just how quick he can move his feet and how light on his feet he is -- that to me is a pretty good basis for what you want in your offensive tackle or really any offensive lineman."

2. Do you think he’ll remain at tackle or is there a chance he could play guard at the next level? Why?

"He could play guard and I think obviously it'd be on a team-by-team basis that will obviously kind of change things, but he does kind of have that body type, which is kind of crazy how big these guys are getting. He doesn't look like the biggest, heaviest and longest offensive tackle. He would be, and I think with his athleticism and his quickness, would really be the perfect right or left guard in a scheme that really wants to have lead blockers, that's a power scheme, gap-blocking, man-blocking, whatever you want to call it. I think that he could be someone like Kelechi Osemele, who went to Iowa State, got drafted by the Raiders, was a left tackle for the Cyclones, they instantly put him at guard and he's one of the bigger guards in the league and he's one of the best guards in the league because he can overpower some of these smaller defensive tackles. There could be some teams that will say, 'hey we want someone with that much athleticism on the edge of our offensive line,' but I could certainly see because he's not -- there are some guys that are 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7, 320 (pounds) with crazy long arms that almost have to play tackle in the NFL -- I don't think he’s that case so it'll be really interesting. That could even push him up a little bit -- to have that versatility that some teams could say, 'hey in a pinch he could play left tackle, but we're going to start him at left guard.'"

3. How much do you believe his injury history could affect his draft stock?

"I think he could be someone that ultimately goes on day three anywhere from the fourth to the sixth round. I think he's too talented and had too good of a season last year to go any later than that. Obviously, again, this is predicting he's going to have a similar, if not better season than what he did last year, but that he would almost be a second or third round prospect, especially with the versatility, especially with what he showed as a pass protector last year, but then because of that injury history, some teams will be a little more unwilling to invest that early of a pick. We see it all the time. Every year there are a handful to 20 or 30 guys that fall from picks 100-200 that probably should've gone 75-100 just because of those medical red flags a lot of teams put on a lot of prospects."

4. Which teams would he fit best with?

"I think Baltimore Ravens, I mentioned earlier a team that wants to just play smash mouth up front. He is athletic like I said, but teams that aren't really as worried about their offensive linemen getting lateral, but just getting North and South. Marshal Yanda, their perennial, all-pro right guard is getting up there in age. They have Greg Roman that's kind of installing their run game. He's obviously a disciple of Jim Harbaugh who is kind of really keeping the old-school I-formation, pulling blockers, lead fullback that type of offense alive in college which is obviously transitioning to the NFL too for some prospects. So, the Baltimore Ravens pop out. I mentioned them earlier -- the Buffalo Bills. I think they're a team that wants to play with that kind of demeanor and that kind of scheme up front. Any team that would really want more of a power running game and a lot of tenacity up front as opposed to more finesse and more speed and quickness in a zone blocking scheme. I think the former more so than the latter."

5. In what ways do you think he improve or hurt his draft stock?

"One thing that I always look at for offensive linemen is how they react and how they perform once they get to the second level. You see guys that are athletic, that are big dudes, but are very light on their feet and they get to the second level and they either just look totally out of sorts and they're whiffing at linebackers or they really just get overanxious and they kind of fall forward and then there are guys that are pretty calm, cool and collected, find someone to block at the second level even if it's not their assigned linebacker or defensive back. Not that I thought he was terrible in that area, but that's kind of a refined skill that maybe separates the second and third round picks from the first round picks or the second and third round picks from the fourth and fifth round picks. Those combo blocks that are used in the screen game, that are used in the run game I think are very important. Like is the case with probably 90-95 percent of offensive linemen -- to just get as absolutely strong as possible.

"Usually, and I think it’s kind of why we've seen this over the past five seasons, for a lot of these first round picks on the offensive line -- that they're just not quite NFL strong yet in their rookie years and that usually we see kind of a jump in year two or year three once they get inside an NFL weight room just because they're dealing with the top five percent on the defensive line and just everyone's making everyone strong so just even if he is physically dominating at West Virginia this year to just get as strong as possible and then obviously just the vice-versa. If he doesn't really improve his strength and he kind of regresses in terms of what he does at the second level just with how often he finds linebackers, how often he maintains those blocks -- if he's not better in that area, then I think that could potentially hurt his stock, but with someone with his combination of pretty good size, not outstanding size for a tackle spot, and his athleticism, I think you have the makings.”

6. Who would you compare him to?

"I think the two guys that I already mentioned -- Isaiah Wynn and Kelechi Osemele would really be the two players that he should really try to model his game after that neither were the longest, strongest, offensive tackles in college, but they're both just tremendous technicians that their hand placement was almost always very good, their balance, they were able to anchor very well against stronger players. I think part of the fact that they weren't so big and so towering and so long, they could kind of sink their hips a little bit and get underneath some of those bigger defensive ends. So, I think those two players would probably be at the higher end for him and that he should, reasonably, aspire to be because he does kind of have that similar type of, at least one season, of high quality production and just the overall skill set that he brings to the field."

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