When you draft an offe sive lineman, you don't get gaudy stats...or really any stats. You can look at the testing measurables, but even at center, that isn't usually all that impressive. The Arizona Cardinals selected center Evan Boehm out of Missouri. He is not the most athletic of linemen, but one thing the Cardinals get is a competitor.
When he spoke to the media not long after being selected, Boehm gave the standard answers of "can't wait to go in and compete and try to earn a spot."
But there is more to it.
"I enter a mode when I get on the field, and I think that is what makes me who I am," he explained. "I change to a different person. I go out there, and I like to compete and I like to dominate. I hate losing. That's one thing I can't stand, is losing."
What else is Boehm?
He describes himself as "football intelligent." He grew up with football, as his dad was a football coach.
He is also tough and durable. He never missed a game in college. He started every game at Missouri from the time he was a true freshman. He played almost all last season with a high ankle sprain.
"It happened on the fifth play of the season, and it just went on and on and on about the whole season" he recounted. "I don't think I was ever 100 percent."
He also was good even as a kid. Missouri offered him a scholarship when they saw him at a one-day camp before he was even in high school. "I was there and right away they moved me up with the upper classmen," he said. "I just went in there and played my style of football, did my stuff and dominated it."
His coach had him go last so Missouri coach Gary Pinkel could see him. "Nerves got in the way a little bit, but I still went out there and just gave y all, and I had an offer. It was unbelievable."
His playing style is physical. "I'm a guy that will stick his nose into the opponent and dominate him," he said. "I don't like to lose and I'm going to go out there and I'm going to win every rep I can. People say I'm this scheme, I'm that scheme; honestly, I feel like I'm both schemes (zone vs. power). I'm athletic enough to move around in space. I'm athletic enough to play a zone scheme. Any scheme you put me in, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to dominate it.
It sounds like he will be in the mix trying to take the starting job away from A.Q. Shipley, the guy currently slated to start.