Matt Hennessy 2020 NFL Draft Profile

After three seasons starting for Temple, Matt Hennessy opted to skip his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2020 NFL Draft. The center had the best season of his career in 2019, playing a career-high 889 snaps. During his time on the field, Hennessy didn’t allow a single sack and only surrendered one hit and three hurries.

Hennessy initially entered the college football ranks as a lowly two-star prospect out of New Jersey. After redshirting through 2015 and spending most of 2016 on the bench, Hennessy finally earned the starting center job in 2017. During his first full year as a starter, the New Jersey native played in 870 snaps, allowing one sack, no quarterback hits, and seven hurries. He continued to improve in 2018, playing in 717 snaps without allowing a sack or a quarterback hit.

Strengths

Phenomenal pass-blocker;

Thrives in space and would excel in a zone scheme;

Above-average ability to maintain balance;

Advanced ability to hand off blocks and handle double teams;

Solid hand usage and footwork allows for maximum efficiency on blocks.

Weaknesses

Will need to add some weight to handle NFL size;

Better suited for zone scheme than gap blocking;

Below-average arm length will lead to minimal separation from defensive linemen;

Didn’t face NFL-caliber competition on a regular basis;

Never played guard at college and might have to learn position on the fly;

NFL Comparison: Dan Connolly

Projection: Late second/early third

Bottom Line on Matt Hennessy

Matt Hennessy is a good player that could be a great one in the right system. The Temple product excels in the passing game, especially when he’s allowed to work as a zone blocker. He rarely gets knocked off-balance and he has a great sense of how to handle multiple rushers. From a technique standpoint, he knows how to use his hands to maximize the effectiveness of his blocks.

The biggest issue with Hennessy comes from his relatively underwhelming size and athleticism. Hennessy is probably going to need to add some weight if he’s to thrive in the NFL, and that reduces some of his athleticism even further. He’s not great as a gap blocker and is somewhat scheme-specific in that sense. Additionally, his short arms mean that it will be hard for him to engage his defender at a high rate and he doesn’t have any experience at guard. Hennessy probably won’t start right out of the gate, and positional versatility is a must for non-starting interior linemen.

While there are some question marks regarding Hennessy’s ability to handle the NFL game, there is still a lot more good than bad on his tape. He should be a solid pickup that can compete to start on a pass-happy team.