Charlie Heck Overview
Position: Offensive Tackle
Height: 6’-8”
Weight: 311 pounds
School: North Carolina
NFL Combine Performance Data
40 Yard Dash: 5.16 seconds (unofficial)
Bench Press: 21 reps
Vertical Jump: 28.0”
Broad Jump: 112.0”
3 Cone Drill: 8.02 seconds
20 Yard Shuttle: 4.86 seconds
Charlie Heck 2020 NFL Draft Profile
After five years with the North Carolina Tar Heels, offensive tackle Charlie Heck is hoping to take his game to the NFL level. The 6’-8”, 311-pound monster of a man is coming off arguably his best season as a redshirt senior. During the 2019 campaign, Heck didn’t allow a single sack and only gave up one hit and 13 hurries on 865 snaps.
Heck initially joined the collegiate ranks as a three-star recruit. Despite the relatively solid rating, he struggled to find much interest from top programs. He ultimately chose North Carolina and took a redshirt year in 2016. In 2017, Heck played in 833 snaps while allowing four sacks, one hit, and 16 hurries. He improved on those totals in 2018, allowing just one sack, four hits, and nine hurries on 791 total snaps.
Strengths
- Ideal build for the position;
- Good when moving in space – far more natural than you’d expect from someone of his size;
- Solid collegiate production over a multi-year sample;
- Father Andy Heck coaches offensive line for the Kansas City Chiefs;
- Can recover when beat and rarely gives up on a rep.
Weaknesses
- Bends way too much and loses all leverage;
- Rarely faced off against elite competition;
- Below-average run blocker and only a pedestrian pass blocker;
- Needs to add more strength to his frame;
- Not very flexible, which is an issue for someone as tall as he is;
- Should have been a lot better, considering his build and the competition he faced.
NFL Comparison: Emmett Cleary
Teams With Need at Position: Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, New York Jets
Projection: 6th Round
Bottom Line on Charlie Heck
Charlie Heck has the size to play in the NFL, but he has a long way to go before he’s ready to see the field. The 6’-8” offensive tackle is a fundamental nightmare, notably bending too much in his sets and losing a lot of his leverage in the process. This problem might require more than just coaching, as his body ultimately works against him here. Because he’s so big, he needs to be flexible to handle speedy rushers off the edge. Unfortunately, he’s not very flexible, so he has to bend in order to handle said quickness. It’s hard to see that problem going away, especially since everyone is stronger and faster at the NFL level.
Perhaps it’s his unideal sets that lead to a lack of play strength. Heck can’t do much of anything in the run game and mostly just survived passing reps, rather than dominating them. His punch doesn’t do much, and he typically wins his pass reps by size and size alone. Once again, that won’t work in the NFL, when opposing edge defenders are just as big as he is.
Heck’s best path to NFL success begins on a practice squad. For all the negatives, he does have the size and build that you simply cannot teach. Perhaps a season or two of NFL training and coaching can hone out his flaws. It’s admittedly a long shot, but he’s worth a late-round flier simply because there aren’t too many guys built like him out there.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
