(Ed. Note - Please give CSR’s newest contributor Billy Marshall a warm welcome. He’s going to be doing some film review pieces for us for now, and later this year he will join forces with durst to form our NFL Draft Coverage Tag Team Champions. You can follow him on Twitter at @BillyM_91)

Former Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman was criticized during his tenure for rarely investing in the offensive line. So it was satisfying to see him draft Taylor Moton in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft. I was a big fan of his game at Western Michigan.

Moton’s first performance in the black and blue did not disappoint. He transitioned between left guard and right tackle.

Trai Turner’s recent contract extension has led many to assume that this will be Andrew Norwell’s final season. Don’t tell him that. He handled J.J Watt in one of his few reps.

Moton replaced Norwell at left guard when the starters came out. He showed off his athleticism on an outside zone run. Despite initially missing on the defensive tackle, Moton does well to recover and seal the backside.

Nice reach block and recovery by Moton on this stretch pic.twitter.com/3PpDHzlnmq — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

Moton’s length allows him to execute this reach block on another outside zone.

McCaffrey can beat you in space. Good run blocking on the outside zone pic.twitter.com/QPPksYiDbK — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

In addition to his work on zone runs, Moton exhibits his strengths on power run concepts too. He does a fine job pulling across the formation to pancake the defensive tackle.

LG Moton pancakes the Texans DT on the pull pic.twitter.com/IA4RM8GK1R — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

Finally, Moton did well enough in pass protection at left guard. He fires off the snap to push the tackle away from the pocket.

Pretty dumb throw by Webb. Never lead your WR into contact like this pic.twitter.com/2Z6HsJ8Xll — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

Moton played exclusively at right tackle during his final season at Western Michigan. It’s no shock that he looked like a natural last night, even though he was facing 2nd and 3rd team defenders.

Moton understands leverage and hand placement. He kick slides into his stance, but digs into the ground. This allows him to limit the edge rusher’s path to the quarterback.

More solid pass pro by Moton. This time at RT pic.twitter.com/1zDzi7VBF6 — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

An area where Moton could improve at right tackle are reach blocks on outside zone runs. His lateral movement is fine, but he needs to locate a target to block.

Needs to find a target and hit it more cleanly on this outside zone pic.twitter.com/6WJIKfCu1M — Billy (@BillyM_91) August 10, 2017

Moton had an encouraging debut. Let’s hope he continues to progress.

- Footage courtesy of NFL.com