NAME: Samuel Cosmi
POSITION: Offensive Tackle
SCHOOL: Texas
HEIGHT: 6’7”
WEIGHT: 309 pounds
CAREER BACKGROUND
Samuel Cosmi was originally an under-recruited prospect coming out of high school. A native of Humble, Texas, he attended Atascocita High School. Cosmi was named first team All-District 21-6A and second team 6A All-State as a senior. Overall, the three star recruit did not receive a ton of scholarship offers. Cosmi went on to choose to play college football at Houston over additional offers from TCU and Memphis. Interestingly, the offensive tackle never played a snap for the Cougars. Cosmi flipped his college commitment to Texas after head coach Tom Herman took the Longhorns head coaching job at the time, leaving from Houston.
After redshirting during his true freshman season, Cosmi played in all 14 games the following year. Of those 14 contests, he started the final 13 at right tackle. Texas flipped him across the offensive front from right tackle to left tackle in 2019. So entering the league, Cosmi has plenty of experience at both sides (14 games at right tackle, 21 games at left tackle). He received accolades such as Second team All-Big 12 in 2019 and First team All-Big 12 in 2020. With a few games left on the 2020 schedule, Cosmi eventually opted out to finish his career at Texas, and declared for the 2021 NFL Draft forgoing his senior season.
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SCOUTING REPORT
Positives
Athleticism
Cosmi presents tremendous movement skills, given his lankier frame. He showed off short area quickness in spurts. Texas also asked him to be active out in space. For example, Cosmi would often pull from his tackle position to the second level on run attempts, where he would blow up opposing defenders quite often. On plays involving play action, bootlegs, outside zone attempts or during slide protection, he provides sufficient lateral mobility. Due to his athleticism, Cosmi can move swiftly across the face of opponents down the line of scrimmage. And his easiness shown in reaching linebackers on the second level is euphoric.
Awareness
Very rarely, is Cosmi surprised or caught off guard by multiple defensive fronts. His diagnosis during pre-snap helps to set the offense up for explosive play chances. Elsewhere, the offensive tackle often gets to the area that the offense or the play call needs in order to succeed. This happens when Cosmi is not necessarily trying to stay focused on a particular man on defense. Most importantly, he has a healthy understanding of blitzes, pass rush counters and stunts. A hidden nugget that shows up during certain reps when watching Cosmi, is how he can continue to reach to angles before opponents can even hope of arriving there before he does.
Length
On certain pass rush reps, Cosmi is able to use his ample length to catch up to rushers taking wide angles towards the quarterback. The length is not just noticeable in his arms. Having that provided in his lower half as well is a bonus that not all coaches could have at their disposal. Furthermore, certain pass rushers appear to grow tired quickly when constantly going up against his length. Combining this attribute with his athleticism makes Cosmi a versatile blocker up front.
Negatives
Leverage/Pad Level
Cosmi will have to work on playing too high at the point of attack. As a result, this leads to his feet becoming stagnant during some pass protection reps. Coaches may also worry about possible penalties in run block reps. When being asked to reach to the second level, Cosmi can become stuck or turned when meeting contact. Thus, his hips grow parallel to the sideline. One would like to see Cosmi rely less on him trying to overpower opponents.
Hand Technique
The biggest issue here is timing. Simply put, Cosmi is either too wide, too high or just non-existent at times when landing his punches. Accordingly, defenders are able to lay the boom into his chest. He can be blown back or shoved to the side too often. Especially when playing in a zone blocking scheme, Cosmi has to work on placing swifter, well placed punches. He will also have to develop more consistent mirroring techniques. That way, Cosmi’s hands do not become stuck in neutral so to speak, like his feet can at times.
Footwork
Despite excellent athleticism, Cosmi presents a fair share of false steps in his game. Timing can be off here too. When attempting to readjust, he can arrive much too late. Cosmi struggles more in that area with speedier pass rushers off the edge. His shuffles and slides can become too overaggressive at times, trying to beat the opponent to the point of attack. Cosmi will likely have to build up more strength in his lower half. That will help to battle against dense, yet nimble pass rushers at the NFL level.
Chiefs Fit
Samuel Cosmi enters the NFL with plenty of versatility, athleticism and experience in a zone blocking scheme. Thus, he is a natural fit for the Kansas City Chiefs offense. Being able to handle a wide variety of opposing pass rush styles is an asset. Meanwhile, Cosmi is just as dependable as a run blocker as he is a pass blocker. His areas of improvement are rather coachable for the most part. Above anything, the Chiefs offensive line needs to instill a youthful blocker or two. Missing Mitchell Schwartz to injury for most of the year was a chilling wake up call that those dominant studs cannot last forever. Kansas City general manager Brett Veach and head coach Andy Reid also realize they need to add impact players upfront in order to protect their $500 million investment in Patrick Mahomes.
Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs draft prospect profiles throughout the winter and spring. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.
– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.
