Eagles get good look at possible first-rounder, Wisconsin tackle Carimi

MOBILE, Ala. - The very early mock drafts tend to be pretty close to useless. But this year, some feature the Eagles' getting Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi in the first round, 23rd overall, and that actually could happen, if Carimi doesn't go sooner.

Carimi said Eagles scouts have been among those expressing interest. NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said yesterday that Colorado's Nate Solder, Boston College's Anthony Castonzo and Carimi, all members of the North squad for the Senior Bowl, look like first-rounders, pretty much in that order, for now. The Eagles, who haven't taken an offensive lineman in the first round since Shawn Andrews in 2004, certainly figure to target the right side of their offensive line early in the draft.

Carimi was a left tackle at Wisconsin and aspires to that most elite of o-line slots in the NFL, but he played the right side in high school and is working at right guard in these practices. The Eagles like to draft tackles and play them at guard, where it might be easier to be effective as a rookie.

"I am that caliber of athlete, but, obviously, I'll play anywhere to win games," he said yesterday.

Before heading home last night, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said the versatility of the offensive linemen was one of the biggest positives he drew from the practices he saw. Roseman particularly mentioned "tackles moving inside to guard."

Carimi, who clocked in at 6-7, 315 pounds this week, is a mauler who comes from a program that emphasizes running. His frame and his nasty streak bring to mind a certain member of Congress who once played right tackle for the Eagles.

"The first two [Solder and Castonzo] move a little bit better than Carimi; Carimi's more of a thug, which I mean in a positive sense," Mayock said. "He doesn't have the footwork of the other two . . . He could play left, but he's probably more of a right tackle. He's a little bit like a Jon Runyan; he's got a little bit of nasty to him. A little bit better run blocker than the other two. But if you put the Iowa tape on, he did a great job against [Adrian] Clayborn, without help. He did really well against one of the premier pass rushers in college football."

Carimi, winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman, said he knows he must show the pros he can pass protect, and has been working on his sets with former Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley, who runs an offensive line academy in Ohio.

"That's why people [in predraft reports] thought I wasn't athletic. In practice, we'd be run blocking all day, then once we were tired, we'd [pass protect]," he said. "I'm way more efficient [after working with Bentley]. He changed my stance up, made me more explosive. People were saying I was a little slow out of my stance; that wasn't the case, I was just working against myself. I changed that up. I'm explosive out of my stance now. Just keeping my hips square and my pads set longer."

Carimi recalled having given up a partial sack to Brandon Graham, last year's Eagles first-round pick, when Graham played for Michigan. So did that mean Carimi got the upper hand?

"I don't like to give up anything," he said.

The Senior Bowl practices are particularly valuable for offensive linemen, more so than next month's NFL Scouting Combine, Roseman said. Here, the linemen work against other top potential draftees, in pads, in sessions supervised by NFL coaches. Roseman said he thinks you find out a lot more from that than from bench-press numbers.

Carimi agreed.

"What are we going to run in the 40? Nobody really cares about that," he said. "It's working against other great players . . . This was my first time playing guard, out here, [and] I've been doing really well, stoning people in one-on-ones, and I'm not doing too bad in team periods, either. I'd never pulled, before today, out of a guard position, but it was a learning experience." *