Max Iheanachor OT Arizona State |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #58 SUB-POSITION: Right Tackle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 03/03/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.91 seconds (97%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Invite: Senior Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #58 | |
| SUB-POSITION: Right Tackle | |
| Last Updated: 03/03/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.91 seconds (97%*) | |
| Bowl Invite: Senior Bowl | |
| Overall Rating: | 85.4 / 100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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78% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Pass Blocking: |
|
81% |
| Run Blocking: |
|
70% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
2nd - Mid
Overall Rank:
#46
Position rank:
#9 (OL)
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| College Games: 32 College Snaps: 2107 | ||
247 RATING: 89/100
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Abraham Lucas - Washington State |
|
88% |
| Roger Rosengarten - Washington |
|
87% |
| Matt Goncalves - Pittsburgh |
|
84% |
Drafted: ROUND: 1 - Pick Number: 21 (PIT)
Draft Profile: Bio
Max Iheanachor (pronounced ee-hay-nah-chore) didn't touch a football until he was already old enough to vote. Born in Nigeria, he immigrated to Los Angeles at age 13 and gravitated toward basketball and soccer, the sports he knew. He was good enough on the hardwood to attract college interest, but his AAU coach saw something different in the way the kid moved at his size and pushed him toward football. Iheanachor enrolled at East Los Angeles College with virtually zero football experience and spent two seasons there learning the game from scratch, developing quickly enough to become one of the most coveted JUCO offensive tackle prospects in the 2023 class. 247Sports ranked him a Top-10 junior college prospect regardless of position, and schools like Cal, BYU, Iowa State, and Missouri came calling.The plan was Fresno State. Iheanachor had built a relationship with offensive line coach Saga Tuitele during his time at ELAC, and the two had mapped out a future together. Then Kenny Dillingham landed the Arizona State head coaching job after the 2022 season and brought Tuitele with him to Tempe. Iheanachor followed his coach. He enrolled in January 2023 to get a head start with spring practices, and when injuries decimated the Sun Devils' offensive line that fall, the big man from JUCO was thrust into the fire. He started five of six appearances as a true newcomer, logging 324 offensive snaps at right tackle. The growing pains were real, but so was the potential.
From there, Iheanachor's trajectory bent sharply upward. He locked down the right tackle spot full-time in 2024, starting all 14 games as Arizona State made its run into the College Football Playoff. He logged 923 snaps that season and did not miss a single game despite undergoing offseason labrum surgery on his shoulder that had cost him all of spring ball. His 2025 campaign brought further improvement: 860 snaps, zero sacks allowed on 484 pass blocking reps, and a Second-team All-Big 12 selection. He capped his college career with a dominant showing at the Senior Bowl, going toe-to-toe with some of the best edge rushers in the country. Over three seasons in Tempe, Iheanachor accumulated 2,107 offensive snaps across 32 games, an impressive workload for someone who picked up the sport barely five years ago.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- His feet are absurdly quick for a 325-pound man; the basketball and soccer background shows up in every lateral slide and redirect he makes at the line of scrimmage.
- Carries legitimate length at 34.5-inch arms, giving him a wide catch radius that forces rushers into uncomfortable angles before they can threaten his chest plate.
- Natural hip fluidity allows him to mirror speed off the edge and stay connected through the arc of the rush without lunging or losing his base.
- Tailor-made for zone blocking concepts where his ability to seal front side, climb to linebackers, and win cutoff angles on the backside all show up consistently on tape.
- Showed real power at the point of attack when he stays square; his initial punch can visibly knock defenders off their spot and reset the line of scrimmage.
- Allowed zero sacks and just three quarterback hits across nearly 500 pass blocking snaps in 2025, posting a 98.5% pressure efficiency rate that quietly ranked among the best in the Big 12.
- The Texas Tech tape is the best calling card in his portfolio: he blanketed Romello Height and David Bailey, two of the more dynamic edge rushers in college football, surrendering just two pressures all game.
- Competitive temperament runs hot; he finishes blocks with a meanness that coaches love and carries an edge that never lets him get pushed around, even against more technically refined defenders.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- His hand timing is still catching up to the rest of his tools; the initial punch lands late or wide too often, which lets quicker defenders into his chest and draws holding flags (16 penalties in three seasons).
- Recognition against stunts and twists remains a real liability, as he can get caught flat-footed when defensive fronts start gaming and shifting responsibilities mid-play.
- Run blocking grade lagged well behind his pass protection marks; pad level stays too high on drive blocks, sapping the leg drive needed to move bodies at the point of attack.
- Tends to overset against speed rushers to protect the outside, which opens a lane for the inside counter move that NFL edge defenders will exploit relentlessly.
- Second-level sustain is inconsistent: he can climb to linebackers well enough, but too often he shoves and disconnects rather than locking on and finishing through the whistle.
Scouting Report: Summary
Watch any Arizona State game and you'll see it within the first five plays: Iheanachor moves like no 325-pound tackle should be allowed to move. The feet are light, the hips are loose, and there is a natural athleticism baked into everything he does that you simply cannot teach. His pass protection numbers from 2025 tell you he's already figured out enough to survive at a high level, and the Senior Bowl week confirmed that this wasn't just a product of Big 12 competition. He held his own against legitimate NFL-caliber rushers in Mobile, and the buzz around him afterwards was well-earned. This is a player whose ceiling is genuinely scary in the best possible way.Here's the deal, though. The run blocking is a tier below the pass protection right now, and the technique still has stretches where it looks like a guy who's only been playing football for five years. Because that's exactly what he is. The hand placement wanders, the recognition against complex fronts wavers, and there will be possessions where he looks lost before snapping back into dominance on the very next series. That inconsistency is the cost of betting on upside over polish, and whichever team invests in him needs to understand that the bad reps are going to come, especially early. He had a 97.6% career pressure efficiency rate, which is strong, but the 16 penalties and occasional protection breakdowns remind you that the floor can dip when the processing slows down.
The ideal landing spot is a zone-heavy offense with a strong offensive line coach and enough veteran presence on the line that Iheanachor doesn't have to carry the unit from day one. If he can sit behind an established starter or at least split time during his rookie year while refining his hand technique and protection calls, the payoff could be enormous. His physical tools and competitive fire put him in rare company among the tackles in this class. He is not the most polished blocker available, but he might have the highest ceiling of any of them. In a draft cycle thin on blue-chip tackle talent, that combination of traits and trajectory makes him a legitimate value pick.
Max Iheanachor percentiles vs other Offensive Tackles (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Max Iheanachor (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
43.6
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
10.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.