Matt Goncalves, OT Pittsburgh: 2024 NFL Draft Profile

Goncalves was a three-star recruit from Eastport-South Manor High School in Manorville, N.Y. in the class of 2019

Pittsburgh right tackle Matt Goncalves projects as a third or fourth round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He is a well-rounded technician with impressive power who should go higher in the draft than his former teammate, Carter Warren.

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Matt Goncalves, OT Pittsburgh: 2024 NFL Draft Profile

Classification: Redshirt senior right tackle from Manorville, N.Y.

Background: Goncalves was a three-star recruit from Eastport-South Manor High School in Manorville, N.Y. in the class of 2019. He was the No. 679 recruit according to 247Sports and No. 696 for On3.com. Goncalves was an unranked three-star recruit for Rivals and an unranked three-star recruit for ESPN with a 74 grade out of 100. He played offensive tackle, tight end, and defensive end in high school. Goncalves earned American Family Insurance ALL-USA New York Football Team, Newsday All-Long Island, and All-Suffolk County honors while at Eastport-South Manor. He lettered in basketball four times. His brother, Billy, played baseball at SUNY Cortland. Goncalves already completed his bachelor’s degree in administration of justice and is working toward a second major in communication. He was born on Jan. 26, 2001.

Injuries & Off-Field: Suffered a significant knee injury in high school

Awards: 2020 Freshman All-American (FWAA), 2022 Third Team All-ACC

Pros: Experience at left guard, left tackle, and right tackle, only penalized three times combined in 2021 and 2022, appears to have acceptable arm length, maintains a wide base and low pad level, maintains smooth and consistent footwork in pass pro, maintains active but not undisciplined feet, powerful upper body, hands clamp on strong, uses arm length to frame and engulf rushers, flashes of independent hand usage, throws feints and baits rushers with his hands, drives rushers up the arc and around the pocket, attacks and neutralizes the defender’s arm on long-arm attempts, easily drove smaller edge rushers like Tennessee’s Byron Young (2022) too far up the arc and away from the pocket, locked down Dante Stills (2022), always looking for work, recognizes and redirects to handle stunts and delayed blitzes, impressive awareness to spot and redirect to threats in the run game, power to seal or cave in the defensive line, leg drive generates displacement, climbs on combo blocks, comfortable climbing to the second level to pick off linebackers, mobility to execute in a gap scheme

Cons: Inconsistent first step makes it difficult to counter wide rushers, stressed up the arc by wide and explosive pass rushers, vulnerable to inside counters, struggles to re-anchor once he surrenders initial leverage, lifted out of his stance when he allows defenders to strike his upper chest, late to redirect laterally for B-gap rushes, lateral shuffle is a step slow, clamp strength fades quickly, clamp is broken too easily, more independent hand usage required, relies more on shoving defenders than natural hand pop, two-handed punch lacks knockback, defenders slip his punches which throws him off balance, edge rushers can swipe aside his two-handed punches and gain easy access to the outside arc, sometimes encroaches on the guard’s assignment which weakens the outside edge, occasionally ducks head into contact, ducking head leads to him not seeing some stunts, body positioning allows defenders to escape blocks, lacks a mean streak as a run blocker

Overview: Goncalves enters 2023 with more than 500 snaps played at both left and right tackle. He also played a little at left guard in 2020. Goncalves is a technically sound player who limits his mistakes as demonstrated by the three combined penalties he committed in 2021 and 2022. He appears to meet the arm length requirements to play tackle at the next level. Goncalves maintains a wide base and low pad level in pass protection. His footwork is smooth and consistent, only breaking when he’s stressed vertically by a speedy or explosive edge defender. Goncalves’ feet stay active but avoid getting undisciplined. He doesn’t pack much natural pop in his hands but has a powerful upper body that he uses to shove defenders back or off their rush arcs. Goncalves’ initial clamp is strong, but it fades too quickly. He needs to work on sustaining his clamp because the flashes of him controlling and engulfing pass rushers are impressive. The New York native shows flashes of independent hand usage but still relies too much on a two-handed punch, which frequently misses and compromises his balance. He drives rushers up the arc and around the pocket. Defenders that get into Goncalves’ chest with long-arm moves can lift him out of his stance and break his anchor, so he’s developing counters to attack and neutralize long-arm attempts. The redshirt senior overpowered Tennessee’s Byron Young and locked down West Virginia’s Dante Stills in pass protection in 2022. Goncalves recognizes and redirects to handle stunts and delayed blitzes, although he sometimes ducks his head into contact, leading to him missing these visual cues. Goncalves has the power to seal or cave in the defensive line in the run game. His leg drive generates displacement, and he’s comfortable climbing to the second level on combo blocks. His mobility is good enough to run gap concepts. Unfortunately, Goncalves lacks a mean streak as a run blocker. His body positioning and fading clamp allow defenders to escape his blocks. The All-ACC selection’s inconsistent first step explosiveness makes it difficult to counter wide rushers. He is stressed up the arc by wide and explosive pass rushers and is vulnerable to inside counters. Goncalves is late to redirect laterally for B-gap rushes because his lateral shuffle is a step slow. He struggles to re-anchor once he surrenders initial leverage. Goncalves’ two-handed punch gets him in serious trouble. Edge rushers can swipe aside his two-handed punches and gain easy access to the outside arc as Goncalves attempts to regain his balance and load his hands again.

Overall, Goncalves is a well-rounded technician with impressive power who should go higher in the draft than his former teammate Carter Warren. Goncalves has top 100 potential, but his best long-term fit in the NFL could be as a high-end sixth offensive lineman who serves as a swing tackle. He projects best to an inside zone scheme but can also handle gap concepts.

Role & Scheme Fit: Swing tackle in an inside zone scheme

Round Projection: Late Third to Mid Fourth

Size: 6'6", 325 lbs. (Unofficial)

Submitted: 05-29-23