Connor Tollison C Missouri |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report

Scouting Report: Weaknesses

• Very lean through his lower half; gets walked back when bigger nose tackles lock onto his chest.
• Hands arrive wide and late too often, giving rushers a clear lane to his pads.
• Got rocked by a push-pull-swim in 2023 that put him on the ground; vulnerable to counter moves.
• Struggles to create any push on base blocks against physical fronts, especially on inside runs.
• Takes poor angles climbing to the second level at times and arrives without finishing.
• Drops his head into run blocks, loses sight of the target, and gets stacked and shed.
• Seventeen penalties across four starting seasons; the flags come in bunches on tape.

Scouting Report: Summary

When you watch Tollison on tape, the feet are the first thing you notice. He moves differently than most centers in this class. On outside zone, he can reach a shaded nose and stay connected through the cutback. On screens and pulls, he covers ground in the open field the way you want a fullback to. That movement ability is genuine and it translates. The best version of Tollison at the next level is in an offense built around wide zone and movement concepts, where his lateral agility and second-level blocking become real assets rather than nice extras. He would not be the first undersized center to stick in the league because his feet got him to the right spots.

The problem is what happens when the scheme cannot help him. On inside runs against a 320-pound nose tackle who locks hands into his chest, Tollison gets walked back. He does not have the lower body or the mass to stalemate those reps right now, and his hand technique is not refined enough to compensate. Defenders swipe his hands and work through him too easily. His best pass protection reps came when he was uncovered and could double with a guard. One-on-one against a bull rush, the anchor gives. His 2025 tape was a step back from his strong 2023 season, particularly in the run game, and the 2024 knee injury could be a factor in that decline even though he did not miss any time this past year.

Tollison needs to add at least 15 pounds of functional mass without losing what makes him special. That is a difficult ask, and it will likely take a full year or two of NFL-level strength work. If he fills out and cleans up the hand technique, there is a backup center here who can spot-start in the right system. If the body never catches up to the feet, this is a practice squad player who helps on the scout team while he develops. The range of outcomes is wide, but the athletic foundation gives him a shot.