Vadal Alexander

Vadal Alexander (born March 23, 1994) is an American football offensive guard who is currently a free agent. He played college football at LSU. Alexander was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Vadal Alexander
Free agent
Position:Guard
Personal information
Born: (1994-03-23) March 23, 1994
New Orleans, Louisiana
Height:6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight:336 lb (152 kg)
Career information
High school:Buford (Buford, Georgia)
College:LSU
NFL Draft:2016 / Round: 7 / Pick: 234
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2017
Games played:24
Games started:9
Player stats at NFL.com

High school career

A native of Buford, Georgia, Alexander attended Buford High School, where he was a two-time Georgia AA First Team All-State offensive lineman as a junior and senior. In his senior season, the Buford Wolves went 14–1 and finished as GHSA Class AA runner-up, being upset in the state final by Calhoun.[1] After his senior season, Alexander participated in the Under Armour All-America Game.

Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Alexander was ranked as the No. 11 offensive guard prospect in the class of 2012.[2] Alexander chose Louisiana State over offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia Tech, and South Carolina.

College career

In his true freshman year at Louisiana State, Alexander played in 13 games. After an early season injury to starting left tackle Chris Faulk,[3] Alexander moved into the starting line-up, playing every offensive snap of the final nine games at right tackle. He earned Freshman All-SEC honors by the league's coaches, and was named second team Freshman All-America by Scout.com.[4] For his sophomore season, he replaced La'el Collins at left guard, who was moved over to left tackle. Alexander started all 13 games, and led the Tigers with 71 knockdowns on the season. In the Outback Bowl, he was on the field for 71 offensive plays and was credited with a career-high 13 knockdowns.

As a junior, Alexander remained a mainstay at left guard next to Collins as left tackle, giving LSU one of the most dominating guard-tackle combinations in college football. Running behind Collins and Alexander, freshman running back Leonard Fournette registered 1,034 rushing yards on the season. After LSU's 30–27 win over Florida, Alexander earned SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors.[5] Alexander's streak of 32 straight starts snapped, however, when he missed the Arkansas game in week 11 because of a hand injury.[6] Forgoing the option to enter the 2015 NFL draft, Alexander returned to LSU and was named Preseason First Team All-SEC.[7] He was moved to right tackle, as previous right tackle Jerald Hawkins had to replace Collins on the left side.[8]

Professional career

Pre-draft

Prior to his senior year, Alexander was considered one of the top senior prospects for the 2016 NFL draft.[9] Alexander was invited to and played in the Senior Bowl in January 2016. Coming out of college, he was ranked as the second best offensive guard and projected to be selected in the second or third round.[10] After the NFL Combine, Alexander was projected by the majority of analysts to be selected in the third or fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft and was ranked the seventh best offensive guard out of the 203 available by NFLDraftScout.com.[11]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand size 40-yard dash 10-yard split 20-yard split 20-yard shuttle Three-cone drill Vertical jump Broad jump Bench press
6 ft 5 in
(1.96 m)		 326 lb
(148 kg)		 34 1⁄4 in
(0.87 m)		 10 1⁄2 in
(0.27 m)		 5.57 s 1.93 s 3.21 s 4.90 s 8.04 s 24 in
(0.61 m)		 7 ft 11 in
(2.41 m)		 25 reps
All values from NFL Combine.[12]

2016 NFL Draft

Alexander was drafted by the Raiders in the seventh round, 234th overall, in the 2016 NFL Draft.[13] Many analysts were surprised by his drastic fall in the draft, as the majority of them had him projected as a second or third round selection. They said the steep fall in his draft stock likely came from not testing well at the combine and being seen as a prospect who better shows his talents in games. Scouts and teams also had concerns about his weight and conditioning.[14]

Oakland Raiders

On May 9, 2016, the Oakland Raiders signed him to a four-year, $2.41 million contract that includes a signing bonus of $76,846.[15]

He started his rookie season as the backup right guard to veteran Gabe Jackson. Alexander made his regular season debut during the second game of the season in a loss against the Atlanta Falcons. On October 2, 2016, he made his first career start during a 28-27 victory over the Baltimore Ravens after starting right tackle Austin Howard was unable to play due to an ankle injury. Howard's backup. Menelik Watson, was unable to play after he suffered an hamstring injury and the Raider's third backup right tackle option, Matt McCants, was down with a knee injury. Although the Baltimore Ravens targeted Alexander throughout the game and he was called for three holding penalties and a false start, he managed to play well on hold his own throughout the game.[16] He also started at right tackle the following game, helping the Raider's win 34-31 over the San Diego Chargers.[17]

On December 4, 2016, Alexander started the game against the Buffalo Bills at tight end. He was used as an extra blocker on the opening drive and helped the Raider's defeat the Bills 38-24. The next game, he had his first official career start at right guard against the Kansas City Chiefs after starting right guard Kelechi Osemele was unable to play due to an illness that was later verified to be kidney stones.[18] After having trouble with the Chief's defense during the first three snaps, head coach Jack Del Rio replaced him with veteran Jon Feliciano. They later rotated at right guard throughout the 13-21 loss to Kansas City.[19]

On May 1, 2018, Alexander was suspended the first four games of the regular season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.[20] He was waived by the Raiders on July 31, 2018, after failing to report to training camp.[21]

gollark: Great, we have reached an agreement.
gollark: How about "bad for a lot of the things people use it for", then?
gollark: But in general I'd consider opting into unsafety better than having it by default.
gollark: People keep using it for stuff which requires more safety. I think it's unsuitable for those.
gollark: Not many widely-used ones, I think?

References
  1. "Calhoun stuns Buford to win state title". Gwinnett Daily Post. December 9, 2011.
  2. "Rivals.com offensive guards 2012". Rivals. January 20, 2012.
  3. "LSU will have to adjust the o-line with LT Chris Faulk likely done for the season". Times-Picayune. September 7, 2012.
  4. "2012 Freshman All-American Team". Scout.com. December 7, 2012.
  5. "LSU guard Vadal Alexander named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week". Times-Picayune. October 13, 2014.
  6. "LSU LG Vadal Alexander out for Arkansas game with hand injury". Times-Picayune. November 15, 2014.
  7. "Fournette, Alexander, Mills land on first team preseason All-SEC". The Advocate. July 17, 2015.
  8. "LSU offensive tackles Jerald Hawkins, Vadal Alexander slide naturally into new roles". Times-Picayune. March 12, 2015.
  9. "College football's top senior prospects for 2016 NFL Draft". NFL.com. June 10, 2015.
  10. "why Vadal Alexander hurt his draft stock". ninernoise.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  11. "Vadal Alexander, DS #7 OG, LSU: 2016 NFL Draft". nfdraftscout.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  12. http://www.nfl.com/combine/profiles/vadal-alexander?id=2555146
  13. "2016 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  14. Glenn Guilbeau (May 3, 2016). "Why did two LSU prospects fall so far in the draft". wwltv.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  15. "Sportrac.com: Vadal Alexander contract". sportrac.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  16. Jimmy Durkin (October 2, 2016). "Raider's down three offensive lineman, Vadal Alexander to make first start". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  17. Jerry McDonald (October 5, 2016). "Raider's T Vadal Alexander holds up in starting role". Mercurynews.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  18. Austin Gayle (December 8, 2016). "Raider's rookie, Vadal Alexander, will start for Osemele". raiderswire.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  19. Will Reeves (December 8, 2016). "Raiders' Jon Feliciano quickly replaces Vadal Alexander at G". raiderswire.com. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  20. Alper, Josh (May 1, 2018). "Vadal Alexander suspended four games for PED violation". ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com.
  21. "Oakland Raiders waive OL Vadal Alexander". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
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