I have him as my 4th OG, with only Lamp, Johnson, and Feeney ranked ahead of Braden (agree with Slimm that Dawkins and Moton should be ranked ahead of him, but I like them as OT's - particularly Dawkins).
His combo of brute force and speed definitely gives him a high ceiling. Good call. I kind of doubt that Braden will be there when Miami drafts in the 5th, but if he is available, Miami should jump on that. If Miami spent a 3rd on him, I wouldn't complain.
The way I see it, he plays at Michigan, and he's been playing for years, captain at the bowl game and all that. He's known. His tapes are against high quality opponents. He blew out the Combine and looked good in the drills even aside. If this guy is available at 97 overall then even that would be a surprise to me, and if you pass there because you're hoping to get him in the 5th round then I just don't think that's going to happen.
He shares traits with Billy Turner as a prospect out of NDSU, in a good way. But there are some pretty big differences.
First off he's bigger at 6062 & 329 lbs versus Turner being 6047 & 315 lbs. Same arm length, similar wing span, but Braden is flat out bigger. Turner was definitely pudgier too, this guy just looks like a massive grown man with "heavy bone girth" as Bill Walsh would put it.
Second, Braden is faster. He ran a 5.04 official with 1.78 unofficial ten yard split. Turner ran a 5.16 official with 1.82 official ten yard split (1.86 unofficial). Braden's ten yard split is 15th percentile over the last ten years, and Mock Draftable has his forty as 8th percentile.
Third is the obvious, you had Billy Turner putting together attractive tape at North Dakota State University against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits and the the Southern Illinois Salukis. And he was playing next to guys who never got a sniff at the next level. His shining moment was against Kansas State, and I'm not sure anyone on that defense even got a cup of coffee in the NFL. So when you see Billy Turner looking head and shoulders above the crowd on tape, keep in mind it was a vertically challenged crowd.
Ben Braden plays at Michigan, his tapes at LG are against UCF, Colorado, Penn State, Wisconsin, Rutgers. He has other tapes at LT against the likes of Florida State, Ohio State, Illinois, Michigan State, Maryland, and Iowa. He has 2015 tape at RT against a bunch of good opponents. And he's also playing with guys who will go pro like Kyle Kalis, Erik Magnuson. Mason Cole will be a pro in 2018 and is in fact NFLDS's top rated Center for that year. Ben Bredeson is the guy who came in for Braden at LG during some of the games, and played LG while Braden moved to LT, and Bredeson was a 4-star recruit who got All Big 12 Honorable Mention as a freshman. Already NFLDS has him as the 2nd best guard for 2020.
When you stand out on tape in THAT crowd, it's different. And in particular looking at Braden playing the position and then watching Ben Bredeson come onto the field in his place, the drop-off was DRAMATIC. And I don't mean to pick on the Freshman All-American, but it wasn't close. Braden made Bredeson look kind of pathetic by comparison.
Another big difference between he and Billy Turner is that Turner never got a look at guard while at NDSU. You never got to see that tape, as an evaluator. Even at the Senior Bowl he played right tackle. You were left guessing about the projection, and there were certain weaknesses in Turner's game (tendency to play too upright, hand placement, foot discipline) which were particularly problematic in a theorized move to guard, so that tape would have been very useful. Ben Braden got moved to left guard for five games, so you've seen how his strengths and weaknesses interact with the demands of the position. We never got to see that with Turner until it was too late.
I think you hit the nail on the head with respect to Braden's profile and the potential which is tied to the strength and speed combo. It's tied to the fact that he's got vicious and brutally powerful drive blocking ability on tape, and then you turn around and he's showing off high end lateral movement skills on tape, and then you get him on the pull and it's like holy cow that dude can run. And he doesn't just run in a straight line; he improvises on the move. If there's a thing that you have to find out about him, it's pass pro. I know that he let up 2 sacks, 5 hits and 13 hurries in 2016, but he played 7 games at left tackle versus 5 games at left guard, so in which games he allowed what is relevant. Based on what I've seen, not many of those data points happened in those games. But there are times his hand placement is off, or he freezes his feet. There are times he's too high. He's not a technician yet.
This is what brings me back to the similarities with Billy Turner. You knew Billy Turner could run, you knew he could move laterally, you knew he was powerful and strong (or at least, he looked that way at the FCS level). But you also knew he could play a bit upright, that his feet could get lazy, that his hand placement was raw. These things made pass pro a question. But you knew his run blocking would be amazing at times. And indeed, at the pro level, it was.
Ultimately what sank Billy Turner in Miami was a lack of professionalism. He had, "issues". I'll leave it there. I don't know much about Ben Braden. He seems intelligent, thoughtful, but so did Turner.
Braden was a captain for Michigan's bowl game which I think is meaningful. When he showed up at Michigan he was 6'6" and 322 lbs with only 12 percent body fat. Taylor Lewan said, "Genetically, he's a freak. That's how it is. He's unbelievable. He's the most physically gifted individual I've ever seen in my life." You can't get that lean at that size without working at it. He was a standout left wing in hockey at 6'6" and 315 lbs, scoring 28 goals in a season.
