The 2022 NFL draft is now less than one month away.
For former Ohio State offensive tackle Thayer Munford, draft day can’t come soon enough.
After participating in both the NFL Scouting Combine and Ohio State’s pro day in March, Munford has completed the biggest steps of the pre-draft process. He’s still talking often with representatives from NFL teams and is scheduled to visit the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders later this month, but for the most part, there isn’t much more Munford can do except continue to work at his craft and wait to see how the draft unfolds.
“I’m anxious to get with a team,” Munford told Eleven Warriors.
With about three-and-a-half weeks to go until the 2022 NFL draft begins, Munford checked in with us once again for another installment of Thayer Munford’s NFL Draft Diary.
At the NFL Scouting Combine on March 4, Munford ran a 5.39-second 40-yard dash and posted marks of 22 inches in the vertical jump and 8-foot-8 at the broad jump. At Ohio State’s pro day on March 23, Munford improved to 5.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash and 9 feet in the broad jump while he also put up 22 reps of 225 pounds in the bench press.
While the combine is a lengthy four-day process for players in which they go through a litany of medical examinations and interviews with NFL teams before they take the field for their workouts, the pro day is only a one-day event, and Munford felt he was better prepared to put his best foot forward as a result.
“With the combine, I felt like I was more tired with my legs, not being physically ready to actually perform as well as I should have been,” Munford said. “But I pushed through it, as usual. Pushed through everything, except for bench, because I didn’t want to do bench and put up a bad number, of course. Other than that, the scouting combine was cool.
“Pro day, I felt like I was at peak performance. That's why I feel like, as I went through the drills and stuff, I felt great. I felt like I ran good, I looked good. And it was just a different mentality and different setting. So I was just more comfortable and more relaxed than anything.”
Although he didn’t perform as well as he thought he was capable of in his on-field workout in Indianapolis, he says he still enjoyed the combine experience overall, as he got to meet with representatives from each of the 32 NFL teams that could potentially draft him while he also got to meet hundreds of other prospects who could potentially be drafted by the same team as him.
“I for sure enjoyed getting to meet everybody. Getting to meet some of the players I’m going to be going against in the next couple of years. The people that I’m going to be hopefully spending my time with in an offensive line room or on a team, of course, just to get to know them a lot more. And as far as the coaches and scouts, it was good to actually see how everybody is, just to interact with coaches, see how they like me and see how everybody else is. It was a great experience.”
Thayer Munford enjoyed his combine experience for the most part, but felt he performed better at Ohio State’s pro day. (Photo: Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports)
The one part of the combine that Munford didn’t enjoy was the medical examination, which turned out to be a much longer day than he expected going into it, though he’s able to laugh about it now.
“The medicals was a very, very long process. So basically, I got there around like 10, 10:30 (a.m.) for the DEXA scans, X-rays. That took like an hour-and-a-half. I got done with that around like 11:30 and I was waiting, I was patiently waiting and I saw people go in front of me, I was like ‘OK, that's completely fine.’ Then when it got to like 7-8 (p.m.), I was like ‘OK, I've been around here for like eight hours already, what's going on?’ So I asked the person up front who was calling out the names and stuff, he was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right up next on the list.’ I was like OK, I was a little bit more comfortable because I thought they skipped me.”
With the combine and pro day now behind him, Munford has returned to Columbus as he waits to find out later this month what city he’ll be playing in next. While he spent a couple of months leading up to the combine training with OL Masterminds in Frisco, Texas, Munford has been training since the combine at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, where he’s been working out with some of Ohio State’s other 2022 NFL draft prospects including defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson, wide receiver/cornerback Demario McCall, tight end Jeremy Ruckert and running back Master Teague.
“I've been training with them a little bit more, talking to them about how they like their experience at their places that they've been at. It's been pretty nice. We push each other a lot. Even though we’re working for the same goal.”
Munford has also visited Ohio State spring practice to check in on the returning Buckeyes as they prepare for the 2022 season, and although he acknowledges it’s a bit weird to be at practice as an alumnus rather than as a player, he’s proud to see how many of his former teammates have continued to grow in the three months since his five-year Ohio State career ended.
“That’s pretty nice to see, because I just see how Paris (Johnson Jr.) and Dawand (Jones) and Matt (Jones), Luke (Wypler) and Josh Fryar have grown up and just become grown men, young grown men actually trying to take people under their wing, so they can succeed for the team and also succeed for themselves. And on the defensive side, it's also nice to see that Zach Harrison, J.T. (Tuimoloau), Jack (Sawyer), Taron Vincent, they’ve grown up a lot.”
Over the next few weeks, Munford says training will be his top priority as he works to continue getting stronger and also looks to lose a few more pounds, as he currently weighs 329 pounds but is looking to get down to 325 pounds before he starts his NFL career. And though he says he’ll be happy to be drafted by any team, he’s looking forward to his opportunities to visit the Raiders and his hometown Bengals to get to know their coaching staffs better.
“I'm pretty excited so they can actually see me and just talk to me. Talk to me about football, talk to me about how I am as a person, not just a number. I want them to get to know me as a person and as a player as well.”
As for his draft weekend plans, Munford says he plans to watch the draft with his family and close friends. He says the list of invitations to his draft party will be short because he wants to share the moment with those who mean the most to him and who will be there solely to support him.
“I’m gonna have a little draft party for my family and close friends, like very close friends. I’m not having nobody else coming in just because they want to say ‘I went to Thayer Munford’s party.’ I don’t want that type of energy around me.”
Munford says it will mean a lot to share that moment with his family, particularly his mother and his girlfriend. What Munford is really looking forward to, though, is getting back on the practice field with whatever NFL team selects him and playing football again.
He realizes that life in the NFL will be more of a business than it was at Ohio State. Yet he feels like he’ll be prepared for the next level because of the way he was taught to prepare during his five years as a Buckeye.
“Ohio State had been telling us like, ‘Don't train like you're in college, train like you're a pro.’ Make sure you go hard, 4 to 6, A to B, of course, and also just be yourself, and also push each other. Iron sharpens iron.”
