Jacob Bayer, IOL, Arkansas State
Size:
Height: 6’3” | Weight: 310 pounds
Accomplishments:
First-Team All-Sun Belt (2024) • First-Team All-Sun Belt (2023)
“Jacob Bayer is a long-term backup with the tools and technical prowess to stay in the NFL for a long time.”
Strengths:
Steady and reliable in protection
Laterally strong both in running schemes and protection
Plays with great leverage
Takes good angles consistently
Clinical footwork
Concerns:
Stalky, short frame
Not a high-level athlete
Struggles to generate vertical displacement/power on tight, covered alignments
Film Analysis:
Jacob Bayer was a two-star recruit out of Grandview, Texas, when he committed to Lamar University. As part of the Cardinals football team, Bayer was an immediate contributor, starting 22 games in his two seasons there before transferring to Arkansas State. There, he continued his impressive track record, securing a starting role, earning back-to-back Sun Belt First-Team All-Conference honors, and eventually receiving an invitation to the Senior Bowl.
Despite carrying a short, stocky frame, Bayer has tree-trunk legs and moves well laterally, as evident in the various run schemes he executed at Arkansas State. Bayer won’t wow you from an athletic standpoint. He’s capable of reaching defenders in horizontal run schemes but lacks the twitch and flexibility you’d ideally want in an NFL-caliber starter. Nonetheless, his fundamentals and footwork carry him a long way.
As a run blocker, he consistently gets his first and second steps in the ground efficiently, allowing him to sink under defenders’ pads and engage with meaningful contact. He’s especially proficient laterally, taking clean, well-mapped angles on defenders, though he struggles to generate power against tight-aligned defenders covering him up.
He’s not a downhill, vertical displacer in the traditional sense, but he possesses the baseline techniques to cover up defenders and prevent penetration. I liked what I saw from Bayer in double teams—he consistently takes great angles and positions his body well to neutralize two-gappers, either removing them from their alignment or seamlessly passing off assignments to the second level. His lack of sudden start-stop ability limits his effectiveness against linebackers in vertical run schemes, but it’s an area I believe he can improve.
As a pass protector, Bayer is exactly what you want. He never plays rushed but operates with intent and conviction. He’s adept at making pre-snap IDs, setting to different alignments, and maintaining pocket integrity. He understands when to be aggressive and when to be patient. While not athletically gifted, he compensates with a steady yet violent demeanor. His floor as a pass protector is high. Against Michigan’s elite interior defensive line, he showcased how his natural center of gravity and serviceable lateral mobility will translate to the NFL. His massive lower body provides a strong anchor while maintaining enough reactiveness to mirror defenders on counter moves.
Bayer is the ideal late-round option for zone-scheme, RPO-based offenses, where he can utilize his strengths as a reach blocker while continuing to develop as a vertical displacer. All in all, I see Bayer as a long-term organizational piece—an invaluable depth player with the potential to step into a starting center role when needed.
Prospect Projection: Day 3 — Role Specific Contributor
Exposures: Michigan (2024), Troy (2024), Bowling Green (2024)
