Patriots Take At 196: Dametrious Crownover, A Tale of Two Tapes

The Patriots double dip at tackle, going back to the well in day three. They should now have their swing tackle in Crownover, who could be a surprise weapon on the goal-line 

Background

Dametrious Crownover is a 24-year-old, 6'7", 319-pound offensive tackle out of Texas A&M. A two-sport standout from Grandview, Texas, he arrived in College Station in 2021 as a 4-star tight end recruit per ESPN (3-star by 247 and Rivals) before being moved to the offensive line during his redshirt year. He appeared in 47 career games with 28 starts, all at right tackle. His best season was 2024, when he anchored a Texas A&M rushing attack that ranked 26th nationally at 195.5 yards per game and allowed zero sacks across 13 starts. He returned for a fifth year in 2025, logging every start again. He has no documented injury history.

The Good

The physical profile is genuinely rare. 6'7" with 35 3/8-inch arms and the movement background of a converted tight end is not a combination that appears in most draft classes. His length alone makes basic high-side pass rush moves a chore. He casts a wide net at the point of attack and is able to reassert control after losing hand position, using reach to recover reps that smaller tackles cannot. His football IQ transfers from his tight end background: he handles double teams intelligently, feeds defensive tackles across to the guard, and locates second-level targets in space on designed runs. His motor and finishing mentality are genuine character traits on tape. He runs his feet through contact and does not quit on reps. The 2024 tape, where he kept his quarterback clean across an entire SEC schedule, is the evidence that the ceiling is real. When his pad level is right and his hands land clean, he drives defenders off the ball with legitimate power.

The Bad

The pass protection arrow is pointing the wrong direction, and that is the core problem. His overall PFF grade was 65.2 in 2025, with a 58.4 pass blocking grade ranked 419th out of 632 eligible tackles. He allowed 27 total pressures and 23 hurries that season, a significant regression from 2024. For a player in his fifth year as a starter, getting worse in pass protection rather than better is a legitimate developmental red flag. The mechanical cause is consistent across tape: he plays too tall, his hands land too high and too wide, and he cannot anchor when bull rushers get underneath his pads. Lateral quickness is a genuine limitation. He struggles to redirect against inside counters that cross his face and cannot recover when he falls behind on speed-to-power conversions. The penalty spike from 3 flags in 2024 to 11 in 2025 is not a random variance problem. It reflects the same technique breakdowns showing up in the block count data. He is slow to set, reaching around defenders' shoulders rather than into the chest plate, and when he gets beaten he gets grabby. All of this at age 24 entering the NFL raises the honest question of whether the ceiling actually closes before it ever opens.

The Overall

The plan is clear. Morgan Moses is 35 and a short-term bridge. Caleb Lomu is the long-term answer at right tackle, drafted at 28 to develop behind Moses before taking the job. Crownover slots in as the third option, a developmental swing tackle who contributes in heavy run packages and on the goal line while the line in front of him stabilizes. That is a defensible role for a sixth-round pick with rare physical tools.

What makes this pick interesting rather than obvious is the gap between the 2024 and 2025 tape. The 2024 version of Crownover is a functional starting right tackle in a gap scheme who can anchor an elite rushing attack. The 2025 version is a technically regressing player with a penalty problem and a pass protection grade near the bottom of the eligible pool. The physical tools have not changed between those two seasons. The technique did. That suggests the ceiling is coaching-dependent in a way that most developmental prospects are not. A staff that fixes the pad level and hand placement has a legitimate starting right tackle. A staff that cannot runs out of time on his rookie contract.

The Aaron Banks comp from Steelers Depot is apt. Smart, physical, big build, high pad level, poor hand discipline. Banks found a role. Crownover can too. The Kiran Amegadjie comp from NFL.com is honest about the floor. At pick 196, rare tools plus a coachable technique problem is exactly the kind of bet a rebuilding team should be making.

Player Comps: Aaron Banks ceiling. Kiran Amegadjie floor.