Personally I do not see Sam Baker pass protecting at the NFL level with that frame and from what I've seen thus far.
For Jake Long I do see him at left tackle inasmuch as you always put your best OL at left tackle no matter what and I don't see him going to a lot of OLs that will have a player better than him. In pass pro, he's certainly not a guy that gets the job done with style and grace but he does get the job done. To have only allowed one sack all year and that being to Vernon Gholston during one of the rare days where Gholston is on fire all day, that's pretty impressive to me.
In pass pro, he reminds me of Stephen Neal of the Patriots, the former wrestler. Neal was a championship caliber wrestler before ever he stepped on the football field, so it was a process getting him to display good fundamentals and techniques. But one thing he's had that keeps the Pats coming back to him is this great resilience for working his way out of leverage disadvantages that can come about due to choppy technique. It may be ugly sometimes, but he gets the job done. Jake Long is sort of like that, and I think that's why you get people that wonder if he's a Right Tackle.
But look at the bottom line. The bottom line is he's big, he's strong, he's got a good frame with long arms that Joe Thomas didn't have, his first couple of steps are some of the most explosive I've ever seen (we're talking Joe Staley), he's tough, he's smart (watch him close, he makes a lot of the OL's calls from the LT spot), he's nasty and tenacious. These are the building blocks from which good offensive line coaches build great offensive linemen.
So where people look at Jeff Otah and see all this "potential" because of his inexperience, I look at Jeff Otah and I see a more finished product than Jake Long. The only area where Otah needs "finishing" is his X's and O's, the rule blocking and priority chain associated with zone protections and some run plays. Once he's got that down, he is what he is, a dominant force to be reckoned with. Jake Long is not all that he could be, yet. But, if he's already got a knack for recovering from disadvantages that poor technique get him in his unbalanced kick slide, then imagine what he could be when/if a Hudson Houck or Jim McNally or someone of that caliber can get hold of him and get him all wound up to keep moving his feet?
The thing I can't deny about Jake Long is that, because of those explosive feet, he has more potential than Jeff Otah...who has feet that are smooth and sweet, but not explosive. If someone can work on his drop to make him smoother and more balanced out, then he could be an All Pro at Left Tackle. I wouldn't bank on that, though. I'd take Otah, then Long, then Clady.
