Robert Gallery certainly looked the part of a ferocious lineman as he walked around the NFL scouting combine, sporting a pair of silver hoops in each ear, a thin beard and long hair -- uncut for about 2 1/2 years -- pulled into a ponytail. On a 6-foot-7, 323-pound frame, the overall effect was menacing.
And that was precisely what Gallery was going for, it seemed, as he met many of the coaches and front-office executives who will determine his NFL future. After all, a coach who is searching for someone to protect his franchise quarterback isn't necessarily looking for a thoughtful, articulate man who grew up on a farm in Masonville, Iowa -- population 129 -- as a self-described clean-cut kid.
Only two offensive tackles -- Ron Yary in 1968 and Orlando Pace in '97 -- have been selected with the top overall choice in the NFL draft. Gallery, a left tackle from the University of Iowa, hopes to become the third in eight days, although that is a long shot. "I want to be the first pick," Gallery said at the late-February combine, a desire that he has mentioned regularly since.
Even if he doesn't go first, Gallery is virtually certain to come off the board within the first few selections. Left tackle has become a marquee position at a time when the NFL game is largely about protecting your quarterback and getting to the opponent's quarterback. A left tackle protects the blind side of a right-handed quarterback and matches up with the right defensive end, where many of league's top pass rushers line up.
Gallery heads what is considered a mediocre crop of offensive linemen in this draft. Right tackle Shawn Andrews of Arkansas is regarded as a strong candidate to be selected in the first round, and guards Vernon Carey of Miami and Justin Smiley of Alabama and Virginia Tech center Jake Grove also are thought to be top prospects. The class isn't deep, though, and the drop-off from Gallery to the rest of the left tackles is immense. But the presence of Gallery and Andrews keeps the class from being too disappointing.
"You're excited about some of the offensive linemen in this draft, especially the tackles," Tennessee Titans General Manager Floyd Reese said.
Gallery clearly is the prize catch. He considered leaving school a year ago, he said, but was told that he would be only a mid- to late first-round pick and that wasn't good enough for him. "My goal was to be the best tackle in the draft," he said. "That's why I went back."
He won the Outland Trophy as college football's top lineman last season, and scouts say he reminds them of former Jacksonville Jaguars all-pro Tony Boselli and the Baltimore Ravens' Jonathan Ogden, perhaps the league's top left tackle currently, with the St. Louis Rams' Pace and the Seattle Seahawks' Walter Jones in close pursuit.
"To be mentioned with Boselli and Ogden -- I'm not sure it's true, but it's nice to hear," Gallery said.
He arrived at Iowa as a 240-pound tight end and, after a redshirt year, began the 2000 season as the Hawkeyes' starter at that position before being shifted to left tackle. He had to learn blocking techniques and the patience to counteract a defensive end's moves without being suckered into making a mistake. He did have an advantage -- his teacher, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz, is a former offensive line coach and offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns and Ravens.
"I was a 6-7 kid with real broad shoulders," Gallery said. "I wasn't going to make it to the league as a tight end, I knew that, so I was all for [the position change]. . . . When I got switched, I was a little too aggressive. I'd never been in a pass set before. I was lunging. . . . My junior year was probably the first time I was truly comfortable."
Gallery recalled allowing only one sack last season, that when Hawkeyes quarterback Nathan Chandler drifted toward Gallery's side of the line on the first play of the season, then took off running and was tackled for a four-yard loss. Gallery's play was virtually flawless from there, and NFL talent evaluators like his determination, work ethic and level-headedness as well as his size, strength and quickness for a big man.
He has remained self-effacing, joking at the combine that his pencil-thin beard was all he could grow and that he needed to leave his hair shoulder-length in the back because he was worried about the day when it would begin to disappear on top. He drives a 1984 Buick, and plans to have his parents, three brothers and sister with him in New York for the draft -- as long as his father doesn't have second thoughts about leaving the farm during spring planting.
The San Diego Chargers interviewed Gallery but seem to be leaning against taking him with the top overall choice; they could trade the pick to a team that would use it on him. The Oakland Raiders, who have the second selection, and New York Giants, who pick fourth, appear to be seriously considering Gallery and the Washington Redskins and Browns are among the clubs who seem interested in trading up to get him.
"Offensive tackles, historically, there are very few great ones," Atlanta Falcons Coach Jim Mora Jr. said at the combine. "This year, the kid at Iowa, wow, he's something else. He's a tremendous athlete. He's got size and strength. He can pass-protect. He can maul people. He finishes people. . . . He just mows them down and keeps going. He's got a nasty streak. You want a nasty streak. It's a nasty game."