Arizona Cardinals added an intriguing UDFA offensive lineman

The Arizona Cardinals nabbed a promising offensive line prospect in undrafted free agent William Sweet.

With a slew of undrafted free agents getting their chance with the Arizona Cardinals, there are a few players that show a bit of promise. One of those players is North Carolina’s William Sweet; a big-bodied offensive tackle. Standing at 6-foot-6 and 313-pounds, he has the optimal size for an NFL offensive lineman.

Starting on an offensive line in Chapel Hill that only allowed 10.0 sacks all season, Sweet was the leader as he gave up just one sack in his career as the crucial blindside tackle slated to protect quarterback Nathan Elliot, per Pro Football Focus. He also allowed only two QB hits and 16 hurries in 607 pass-blocking snaps, per PFF; making him a QB’s best friend.

Sweet is a bit clunky, and he has labored movement, but he will make his money using his arm length (34-3/4ths-inches) in quick pass sets. From the tape that I’ve watched Sweet always stays busy and has an extremely high motor, which is good to see in a guy that has some flaws in his game.

He also tested well at the combine to the tune of a 5.27 second 40-yard-dash, 111-inch broad jump, 30.5-inch vertical, and 8.01-second three-cone-drill. If you factor in his grittiness and athletic ability and offensive line coach Sean Kugler should have no problem tweaking this excellent prospect.

PFF graded Sweet highly, as he finished 2018 with an 81.2 rating, and finished 14th in the class in pass-blocking efficiency and fourth in run-block success rate. He also allowed an outside pressure one in every 99.8 snaps — good for 15th in the class amongst linemen.

It’s not a bold statement to say that the Cardinals need to fix their offensive line that allowed 52 sacks and 109 QB hits just last season. Although Sweet has a red-flag in the form of a season-ending knee injury in 2017, there isn’t a reason as to why the Cards shouldn’t give him a chance.

When training camp starts, and we begin to get a feel for the new guys, Sweet may be at the forefront. With the Cardinals only drafting two linemen (Lamont Gaillard, Joshua Miles), Sweet has a chance to make the roster.  If he does, Sweet will have to be a rotation guy until he works out his kinks including pass slides and all around movement, but he’s a low-risk high reward player.

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