Why Undrafted?: Yasir Durant, OT, Missouri
By Charlie Campbell, @draftcampbell
Six years ago, we started a series of articles on why certain prospects went undrafted. In that series, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out why their organizations passed on drafting a given player, and/or, what were the reasons for other teams to pass on that prospect. We got a lot of positive reader feedback about the series, so we decided to expand in the genre to investigate why some prospects slid in the draft. Four years ago, we started the Why the Slide? series, and this year it is back. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.
For the scouting community, one of the most surprising players who went undrafted was Missouri offensive tackle Yasir Durant. Some teams had him projected to be a third-round pick, and there were teams that had discussions about selecting Durant on the third day of the 2020 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-6, 331-pounder has good size and had a solid career at Missouri. Thus, most team sources expected him to be drafted.
Three different teams WalterFootball.com spoke with all thought that Durant would get drafted. One national scout said that they thought Durant was not selected because he has heavy feet and is not much of a finisher or tenacious. Another director of college scouting said, “He’s a big man who ran slow and was more of a 1-year push guy, but for what it’s worth, I still thought someone would take a swipe at him.” Thus, it was mixed feelings on his skill set that ultimately led to Durant slipping through the draft.
After going undrafted, Durant signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, which was was a mixed landing spot. On the positive side, the Chiefs have done a good job of developing offensive linemen, so Durant landed with good coaching. On the negative side, the Chiefs have an established experienced offensive line with other veteran backups. Additionally, Kansas City used a third-round pick on an offensive tackle in Lucas Niang, so it looks like a tough depth chart for Durant to crack. The best hope for him could be to earn a spot on the practice squad and hopefully develop into a bigger role. If Durant does land on the Chiefs’ practice squad, another team might sign him off of it during the season once injuries hit, so making the practice squad is vital for him to have a NFL career.
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