Matt Goncalves is officially the newest Indianapolis Colt. The Colts selected Goncalves Friday night with the 79th selection in the 2024 NFL Draft (third round).
Goncalves is a big (6-foot-6, 327 pounds) offensive lineman, with experience at left and right tackle, who bided his time in Pittsburgh to emerge as a team captain and starting left tackle in the 2023 season.
His senior season was cut short due to a lingering toe injury, which required surgery, but he started — and excelled — in all three games he played. It was expected that Goncalves would break out last season following a strong campaign in 2022.
Goncalves earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2022, racking up 830 snaps last season, which only trailed fellow lineman Jake Kradel offensively and flashed the ability to play on either side of the line. He made 11 starts at left tackle and 13 starts at right tackle, finishing his career with 35 appearances.
“My versatility has given me an advantage over some people who have just predominantly (played) one side,” Goncalves said at the Pitt Pro Day. “Having the ability to bounce from the right to the left, it’s a new position and it’s something I picked up quickly. And like I always say, my old offensive line coach, Dave Borbely, he wanted to flip us into different positions and as much as we hated it, it benefited us because a lot of people don’t like to play different sides and it’s something he made us do and we kind of grew into it and ended up liking a lot.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Goncalves didn’t allow a sack in just under 1,000 offensive snaps. He allowed just 21 pressures and 15 hurries in the process.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that he missed the majority of his senior season and wasn’t able to participate at the NFL Combine, but he did get a chance to showcase his physical attributes last month.
He put together a solid performance (19 reps on the bench, a 30 1/2-inch vertical jump and a 5.06 (u) 40-yard dash), but he still felt like he has more to offer.
“I felt like it could’ve been better for sure,” Goncalves said. “I’m always achieving to do better. That’s the kind of guy I am. Whenever I have a great game, I want to do better. Whenever I have a bad game, I want to do better. I felt like I’m not 100%. Maybe I started a little slow with the run blocking or whatever, coming out of my hips. I think I was focused more on just speed training than offensive line training when I was down in Pensacola, Fla. I only had three weeks to wrap it all together, so I had to kind of figure out which ones I really wanted to excel in and I think I did great in all of them.”
Goncalves will be fully healthy by the time mini-camp rolls around, and he likely won’t be required to step directly into a starting spot, so he will be able to jump into a depth role right off the bat.
Congrats Matt… Do Great Things!