Eleven Warriors

I’ve heard a lot lately from people who argue OL from “Pro-Style”/Traditional (pound the rock, QB under center) offenses are more-likely to get drafted high in the NFL draft than those from Spread offenses. They’ve tied this in with recruiting (i.e. as rationale for why teams like Alabama, Georgia, Michigan [these days, as they begin to move back towards a "Pro-style"/Traditional offense], Wisconsin [formerly], etc. have an easier time recruiting OL than teams like Oregon and OSU). Looking at mock drafts for the upcoming draft, I saw a much different trend. Although there are OL from Pro-style/Traditional offenses predicted as high draft picks (two from Alabama), there are a large amount of OL from Spread offenses who are predicted to get drafted just as high, if not higher, in many cases. The NFL seems to be moving from Pro-Style/Traditional offenses to a more Hybrid offense that incorporates both Traditional and Spread concepts, and as a result of this I think you see it in the OL that are predicted to be drafted in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

NOTE: After watching a bit of film on each of the teams listed below, I separated them into 3 categories describing what I see as their offensive style: Spread (operate 70% of the time or more from the Shotgun formation), Hybrid (near 50/50 mix of both Spread and Traditional concepts), Traditional (operate 70% of the time or more with the QB taking snaps under center, commonly I-back and Single-back formation heavy). I realize we could argue all day about the definition of “Spread” vs. “Hybrid” vs. “Pro-style” offenses,  I understand that it’s subjective and there could be some disagreement on that. By some definitions, “Pro-style” and “Hybrid” could be the same thing. I’m looking at “Pro-style” in this case as your more traditional offensive style.

Luke Joeckel - OT - Texas A&M - Spread
Eric Fisher - OT - Central Michigan - Hybrid
Jonathan Cooper - OG/OC - North Carolina - Spread 
Lane Johnson - OT - Oklahoma - Spread
Chance Warmack - OG - Alabama - Traditional
DJ Fluker - OT - Alabama - Traditional
Menelik Watson - OT - FSU - Hybrid
Kyle Long - OT/OG - Oregon - Spread
Larry Warford - OG - Kentucky - Hybrid
Terron Armstead - OT - Arkansas Pine-Bluff - Hybrid (from what little I saw)
David Bakhtaran -  OT/OG - Colorado - Hybrid
Dallas Thomas - OG/OT - Tennessee - Hybrid (50/50 shotgun to single-back during the games I watched, surprisingly -- I‘d assumed previously that they ran a Traditional offense ala Bama‘s)

Just something to consider when you hear people saying that OL from Spread offenses aren't NFL-ready, or viewed as high draft prospects. The trend actually shows the opposite to be true. The New England Patriots (ran quite a bit of Oregon's hurry-up Spread this past year) and San Francisco 49ers (very versatile offense with some Pistol and Spread concepts) are good examples of where the NFL could ultimately be moving, at least in some cases. The more teams move to these offensive concepts, the more valuable versatile OL who are capable of operating in Spread and Hybrid offenses will become. 

EDIT: Mods -- feel free to delete this if you feel it'd be better as a personal blog post rather than a forum topic. I felt it'd be a fair discussion topic for anyone interested in OL recruiting, a big factor for OSU in 2014.