Dolphins draft rumors 2014: Zack Martin scouting report from Stephen White

Throughout the offseason, former NFL defensive end Stephen White has been building a collection of scouting reports for SB Nation, breaking down the top draft prospects ahead of next month's NFL Draft.  His most recent addition to the collection is a look at Notre Dame offensive lineman Zack Martin, a player often linked to the Miami Dolphins.

White starts his breakdown of Martin by comparing him to another of the top offensive linemen in the Draft, Michigan's Taylor Lewan:

At 6'7, 309 pounds with this crazy nasty streak, Lewan was supposed to be a dominant force as a run blocker and a formidable pass blocker to boot.

That was my perception at least.

Of the two, it was Martin who was more aggressive and nasty with his run blocking. Unlike Lewan, he actually moved people off the ball.

White continued, remarking that in the five games he watched for Lewan, there was just one pancake block, while Martin had 12 in the same number of games.

[Martin] reminded me a lot of Greg Robinson [the top rated tackle in this year's Draft] in that he didn't just want to block his opponents, he wanted to dominate them every play.

White saw Martin's strength not just in in pass blocking, but also as an effective run blocker:

In addition to knocking people off the ball in the run game, he was also pretty good as a pass blocker. Martin only gave up one pressure and was only beaten one-on-one eight times in those five games. That is pretty damn good in any context.

It was not all positives for Martin, however.  As with most people who have watched Martin's tape and looked at his measurables, there's one thing that sticks out.

Lewan is 6'7 and has arms that are almost 34 inches long. Robinson is 6'5 with 35-inch arms. When I looked up Martin's measurements, he is just 6'4 with arms that are only 32 7/8 inches long.

White found multiple instances of Martin being beat by pass rushers making a swim move.  Simply put, Martin could not get his hands on defenders who had longer arms than him.  At the NFL level, that disadvantage is going to be magnified, and could cause problems for Martin.

The length of his arms does not, however, mean Martin will not have success at the NFL level.The good news is because he plays so physical and so strong with such good technique, a team can probably use him inside instead.

[I]t was Martin who was more aggressive and nasty with his run blocking. Unlike Lewan, he actually moved people off the ball.

Martin can immediately make most teams better at running the ball as a guard from day one, and he shouldn't have much trouble adjusting to blocking defensive tackles.

In the end, White sees Martin becoming a very good guard in the league, with the potential to move to tackle if needed down-the-road.  He sums up his thoughts on Martin, writing:

I wouldn't be surprised at all if some teams have Martin and Lewan even on their boards. What Martin lacks in size compared to Lewan, he makes up for with position versatility and more dominant film. Neither guy has the ceiling of Robinson or [Jake] Matthews, the two top tackles in this draft, but both Lewan and Martin are still likely to be day one starters who play quite a bit of quality football over the next 10 years.

You can find all of White's scouting reports listed here.