2018 NFL Draft: Where will Iowa center James Daniels land?

With the NFL draft approaching, where will Iowa center James Daniels land? The offensive lineman could be first round-worthy.

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Throughout Kirk Ferentz’s tenure at Iowa, one of the many constants is his ability to produce top-tier NFL talent on the offensive line. The Hawkeye program has lineman littered all over the NFL, such as Brandon Scherff, Marshal Yanda, Bryan Bulaga and Riley Reiff to name a few. James Daniels is the newest prospect from Iowa City and he has many pro scouts intrigued with his upside.

Daniels was a major contributor to the Iowa offensive line, seeing significant playing time his freshman season and being a regular starter his final two years. His skill set is one that every offensive line coach in the NFL loves.

Strengths

Daniels biggest strength is likely his quickness, his first step is one of the best you’ll see in the combine and is able to move laterally better than most centers can coming out of college, especially his ability to swing his hips around and seal off his block. His technique is also very polished coming from a pro-style, zone-blocking scheme that Iowa has run for years. Daniels is also very active with his hands and is very good at keeping defensive linemen off him in run-blocking situations.

Weaknesses

Despite his quickness, Daniels is lighter than most centers that enter the NFL Draft and he will have to put some mass on before he can start handling NFL-caliber defensive linemen week in and week out. His ability to drive block and get to the next level is somewhat hampered but is mainly due to the zone-blocking scheme that Iowa runs and if anything, Daniels will pick up on those techniques very quickly.

Next: Latest pre-Combine NFL Mock Draft first round

Draft Expectations

Many experienced pro scouts and general managers are aware of the talent Iowa puts out on the offensive line year-in and year-out and will be very willing to add Daniels to their offensive line. While he will have some work to do, not many will doubt the potential Daniels has to be the next top-tier offensive linemen to come out of the Hawkeye State.

Prediction: Late 1st-round to early 2nd-round selection