NFL Draft
11/15/24
6 min read
Aireontae Ersery 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Minnesota Golden Gophers OT
Height: 6060 (unofficial)
Weight: 330 (unofficial)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Kingsley Suamataia
Scouting Overview
Minnesota Golden Gophers offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery boasts an impressive athletic profile in a prototypical frame for playing the position at the NFL level. Ersery is a three-year starter at Minnesota and comes with plenty of proof of concept of playing a physical brand of football that is easy to appreciate.
His skills pop in the run game and allow large voids in the front for his backs to attack confidently. Given his prototypical frame, Ersery offers significant gravitational pull for first-level defenders and enough influence to create second-level disruption when he looks to climb.
His pass protection work lingers as the big point of emphasis moving forward — a team that can get him up to speed with the technique and framing on an island in protection could reap big rewards.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Very good linear explosiveness and ability to create movement in vertical run game; both in solo and double team reps
- Prototypical frame and length create steep angles for pass rushers when well-framed on the edge
- Showcases necessary lateral range to stay attached in zone run scheme
Negatives
- Balance and center of gravity in space can be compromised, leaving him vulnerable to inside counters
- Foot speed in pass sets is sufficient but leaves less room for error against explosive speed off the edge
- Hand placement and timing will need continued development for optimal stun
Background
Ersery hails from Kansas City, MO, and played high school football at Ruskin HS. While at Ruskin, Ersery also partook in track & field as a shot put, discus, and javelin thrower and did not start playing organized football until his junior year of high school.
Despite his rawness and late start to the game, he was rated as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) before committing to Minnesota for the 2020 college football season. Ersery played in one game during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, which did not impact his eligibility. He then redshirted in 2021 after playing in one game against Northwestern and assumed a starting tackle role for the Gophers in 2022.
He’s been a staple of the Gophers offensive line ever since, manning the left tackle position for the last three years. It is worth noting his true freshman appearance in 2020 came with more than 70 snaps at right tackle, so he does appear to have multi-position flex available to him as he preps for the NFL.
Tale Of The Tape
Ersery will hit all of the benchmarks of an NFL starting tackle — the question is simply how high the floor is and how achievable the ceiling is.
Ersery is dynamic as a raw athlete. He’s got an explosive first step when firing off the ball, effective lateral mobility, and good core strength to eat power rushes despite having a larger frame at 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds. The blend of size and athletic ability will move the needle for offensive coaches — he’s got the uncoachables.
Given his late start to the game as a high school junior, it is understandable to see some of the warts that still exist in his game despite three years of starting experience. His hand usage lingers as an area where he is generally getting by with his length and raw punch power. Ersery’s hand strikes can be late at times and yield some added leverage from rushers despite his wingspan and area of influence.
Ersery’s ability to flash and run rushers past the peak of the pocket can make up for the late hands. Still, NFL rushers figure to add a new level of challenge, given some can convert power into late hands and simply run through a soft angle off his outside shoulder.
The punch power is very good when he does time up his protection stun and when he’s firing off the ball. He’s at his best playing forward and attacking out of his stance. He’s not quite as dynamic in short-area lateral situations or mirror reps compared to firing vertically off the ball.
Still, he has enough to play backside cutoff or work front side and create expansion at the point of attack in outside run concepts, too. That affords him some universal appeal, but teams that want to get the most leg-work out of him in the run game will feature him playing downhill.
Ersery gets off double teams well and has a large area of influence at the second level, leaving linebackers with a business decision to bubble and run over the top while giving ground or alternatively gambling and running underneath his leverage to try to make the play.
Ersery’s athletic profile features a lot of pop, but I don’t necessarily see the most fluid and loose frame on the edge. It sometimes impacts his recovery ability, both in protection when he allows a defender to stress his set and when he catches upfield penetration in the run game.
He has sufficient hinges, but his hips, ankles, and knees aren’t standout traits like his linear power and explosiveness. This means he will need to refine several angle and hand usage fundamentals to ensure he’s got the margin for error needed to be a successful starter.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Ersery projects best to a play-action-heavy scheme at the NFL level. He’s a developmental starter with all the tools needed to be a quality starter. However, his technical refinement and snap-to-snap consistency, particularly in pass protection, loom as an area of necessary growth.
Playing in a PA-heavy scheme would allow him to paint a similar picture for defenders in run and pass reps, helping reduce the stress he’d take with vertical or angular pass sets until he can develop this phase of his game.
Grade: 77.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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