Aireontae Ersery – Tackle offensive – 23 years old – Senior – Minnesota
Size: 1.98m
Weight: 150 kg
Estimated position in the draft: 2nd round
NFL comparison: Orlando Brown Jr.
There are very funny phenomena in the state of Minnesota. Three years after the Australian Daniel Faalale, drafted in the fourth round by the Baltimore Ravens, the University of Golden Gophers takes out a real ice cabinet, even more athletic than his predecessor, and with the most complete profile to evolve in the modern NFL: Aireontae Ersery.
Strengths
- Power and mobility
- First step and aggressive hands
- Game experience and intelligence
Almost 2 meters high, and 150 kilos on the scale, Aireontae Ersery already clearly appears as a wall to cross. Initially used on the right wing in Minneapolis, the native of Kansas City was quick to be replaced on the blind side to effectively protect the pocket. It must be said that despite its size, the lineman composes with massive arguments to dissuade many rushers: an explosiveness from the snapwhich allows him to impose the game on his opponent, a solid power released on the first contact and, the little extra, a lateral mobility almost indecent for a player with this center of gravity.
It is in the movements that the one who discovered football late, in adolescence, the most bluff. Vive, intuitive, snarling, he detonates by his ability to protect the exterior from the pocket, with quick supports, and by his ability to climb quickly on the second curtain, on block phases in the race.
To spoil nothing, the number 69 has leadership and a precious game reading to anticipate the opponent's games. Since 2022, he has played 2,357 snaps, demonstrating that he was a reliable player from an injury point of view. In addition, his IQ Foot allows him to protect the outside of the pocket, without necessarily leaving a breach inside, all with a notable discipline. In a big ten conference renowned for its rushers pass, Ersery has been penalized 6 short times over the last two seasons.
Weak points
- Balance
- Hand positioning
- Real margin of progression?
But you can imagine, everything is not so pink for a player who seems to regress in the hierarchy over the months … First element that worries the observers a lot: the lower body. Inevitably, given his size, Ersery is not the most comfortable from a balance and anchor point of view, which could lead him to be inconstant or even in difficulty facing more complete rushers, from a speed and power point of view.
And when things are not going as expected, Ersery sometimes tends to rush his placement of the hands. A technical data which will necessarily be rectified in the face of specialists in this field.
Last point that discredits him from others: the fact that he is one of the oldest tackles of this class. After five years spent on the ground, he has managed to develop and refine his game, but clearly, his ceiling seems already reached, in the eyes of many.
Possible destinations
Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks
If many prospects intrigue on the offensive line, Ersery's profile seems quite clear: large, physical, mobile, cerebral, but inclined to compose with a physique not always easy to move on the whole match. In view of his impressive drop -down capacity and the imponderable of his game in the “passive” phase, he seems to be promised to a block system in the solid zone, to allow him to put all his energy wisely, the time to correct his technical errors.
In Guard, perhaps for some, but he seems more promised to return to the right tackle position in the future, to maximize his beautiful side mobility at the SNAP.
