Rams made formal draft of the season roster adding up sensational ace following the senior bowl performances
Dominick Puni is starting to rise up boards following his Senior Bowl performance, does he make sense for Rams?
The Rams have a few offensive linemen that will hit free agency which leads to the belief they will likely draft more help in the trenches this April. Could the Kansas Jayhawk Dominick Puni be an option?
Puni is a former division two athlete out of Central Missouri who transferred to Kansas in 2022 and started 24 games while in Lawrence. He did opt out of this year’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl but he was the starter for last year’s Liberty Bowl and was a big piece to one of the more explosive offenses in the country.
The Kansas blindside protector graded out for me as a second round talent. I see a player that has the potential to start day one at left tackle. He has great movement ability, he’s a fluid athlete and has no issue getting out in space. He’s got a great first step and he showed on film his ability to stonewall the initial rush, he displays a solid anchor despite playing a little high and he has great awareness for the position.
Puni was the third rated pass blocking offensive tackle per Pro Football Focus, he gave up zero sacks in 673 pass protection reps and only 16 pressures in his two years at the FBS level. Overall, PFF graded Puni out as the 11th tackle in college football. Kansas went from winning zero games to having back to back bowl seasons and a lot of credit should definitely go to Puni for that.
If you don’t have a left tackle you don’t have anything on your offense. The Rams have learned that the hard way in their organization’s history. With Alaric Jackson set to hit free agency as a restricted free agent, there’s a legitimate chance a team offers enough money to deter the Rams from matching an offer. Joe Noteboom would be the next on deck and the team doesn’t feel confident in him being a starting left tackle going into a season. Insert Puni who the Rams could grab on day 2 of the draft and maybe even day 3.
While my grade might be a second round pick for Puni, there’s a very likely possibility that he is drafted later than that. The Rams have two third round picks in their possession and I could see Puni being drafted with their compensatory pick they received after they lost defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to the Atlanta Falcons. I think with the right coaching Puni should have no issue playing sooner than later in the NFL.
Puni stands at 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, he has great size for the position, he has a decently high floor and a high ceiling to go along with it. The key with Puni is that his flaws and his cons are very fixable and he has benefits others in his peer group don’t have. I watched him, Kingsley Suamataia and Patrick Paul play Texas on tape. Puni set himself apart going against the same assignments and showing off more consistency and the ability to block all sorts of pass rushers whether it was a speed rusher or technically sound. On the flip side of that, Suamataia of BYU and Paul of Houston both struggled against one or the other. Paul struggled against the outside speed rusher and Suamataia struggled against the Texas pass rusher who had a pass rush plan and was more methodical.
