2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Zach Frazier

Strengths

• Strong, stout frame
• Aggressive, powerful hands with excellent placement, jolting defenders on contact and ready to replicate
• Loose hips that rotate on a swivel
• Strong understanding of leverage and space, wrestling background evident on tape (4x state champ)
• Possesses a low center of gravity, leading to good contact balance
• Good lateral blocker who makes easy adjustments to square up in space
• Processes information quickly and communicates calls
• Athletic enough to execute adjustments on the fly
• President's List athlete with a 4.0 GPA

Weaknesses

• Gives up ground early in the rep against power
• Especially struggles when power finds his edges
• Less than ideal length paired with occasionally slow transition from snap to block gives defenders opportunities
• Must square up stronger opponents to effectively block them
• Struggles to gain power from less ideal positions and angles
• Gets too wide in his base, limiting his ability to mirror against lateral athletes
• A generally average athlete
• Lacks ideal athleticism to recover from being a step late
• Needs to be on time 100% of the time
• Not explosive in space and range leaves little margin for error

Final Thoughts and Bears Fit for Zach Frazier

I love smart centers. This guy will be in charge of all the protection calls. He needs to be smart, able to think on his feet, and able to communicate clearly and concisely. Moreover, I love centers with a wrestling background. The art of moving people and leveraging your position is something you constantly learn and perfect over many years of practice.

Frazier currently has a top-50 grade from our team, and that's exactly where I'd take him. His athleticism is only average, and there are still parts of his game that he can improve upon, but this is a player I'd bet on time and time again. The mental aspect of playing center is something we see get overlooked every year in draft season, and Frazier's football IQ bleeds through the tape.

Best case, I see Frazier becoming a Pro Bowl-caliber player. He uses his intelligence, timing, and understanding of space to define run lanes and control the pivot smoothly. At the least, I see Frazier being a capable starting center with the ability to play guard in a pinch. While center should be his primary position at the next level, he shows enough athleticism to be used as a puller and has experience playing left guard at the college level.

Frazier would be a great pick for the Chicago Bears anywhere on Day 2. In many mock drafts, he's lasting into the third round (as of late January), but I think he'll rise on draft boards. Frazier can play in multiple schemes, but he's best suited for a zone-run scheme that's less reliant on lateral movement.

Based on what I've seen of Shane Waldron's offense, Frazier would be a strong fit for the Bears. He shouldn't have any issues starting from day one due to his mental aptitude and adequate tools. While it's not ideal to pair a rookie quarterback with a rookie center, Frazier is one of the few prospects I can stomach putting in that position.

Pro Comp: Ben Jones