Spencer Drango

High school career

A native of Cedar Park, Texas, Drango attended Cedar Park High School, where he was an All-State offensive lineman. As senior, he registered 144 knockdowns while not allowing a sack, helping Cedar Park to a 13–1 record and UIL quarterfinals, where they lost 21–20 to Michael Brewer's Austin Lake Travis.

Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Drango was listed as the No. 23 offensive tackle prospect in 2011. He picked Baylor over offers from Arkansas, Louisiana State, Stanford, and Texas.

College career

After redshirting his initial year at Baylor, Drango took over from Cyril Richardson as starting left tackle for the Bears in 2012. He started all 13 games and was named Freshman All-American by Scout/FoxSports (first team) and Phil Steele (second team).

Midway through his sophomore season, Drango had back surgery for a ruptured disk, but Baylor athletic trainer Jacob Puente helped him recover so he could play football once again.

In his senior year, Drango had the highest pass-blocking efficiency in college football according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed only three quarterback hurries, and just a single QB hit—against Oklahoma State defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah—all season, giving him a nation-leading 99.2 pass blocking efficiency.

Pre-draft

Coming out of college, Drango was projected to go anywhere from the fourth to the seventh round by NFL analysts. NFLDraftScout.com ranked him the 19th best guard in the 2016 NFL Draft. He played in the Senior bowl and reportedly met with representatives from the Chicago Bears. While teams were fond of his upper body strength, ability to play in space, quality pass protection technique, and his quality setup in pass sets many pegged him as an eventual NFL backup or low-end starter with sloppy hand placement during blocks with a predictable punch in pass protection. He attended the NFL Scouting Combine and put up decent numbers in the positional drills and workouts. At Baylor's annual Pro Day, he decided to stand on his combine numbers and only participate in positional drills. 61 scouts and representatives, including Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin and Houston Texans' head coach Bill O'Brien, from all 32 NFL teams came to watch Drango, Corey Coleman, Shawn Oakman, Xavien Howard, Andrew Billings, and 11 other prospects workout. Although Drango was a top 10 tackle at Baylor each of the past two seasons, almost all analysts pegged him as an offensive guard in the NFL.

Cleveland Browns

Drango was drafted in the 5th round (168th overall) by the Cleveland Browns in the 2016 NFL Draft. On May 13, he signed a four-year contract worth about $2.55 million, which included a signing bonus worth about $207,000. Drango began training camp practicing at right guard but was immediately moved to right tackle and competed with rookie Shon Coleman for the backup right tackle position behind Austin Pasztor. He ended up winning the backup left tackle position behind Pro-bowl veteran Joe Thomas.

On September 18, 2016, Drango earned his first career start against the Baltimore Ravens after the Cleveland Browns decided to start him as an extra lineman to begin the game. On November 10, 2016, he started at right guard against the Ravens after Joel Bitonio was unable to play after suffering an injury. He started the next three games after winning the job over veteran Alvin Bailey. Drango finished his rookie season by playing all 16 games with 9 starts.

Personal life

Drango was raised by his parents, Gary and Pamela Drango, in Austin, Texas. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and overcame dyslexia at a young age. Drango graduated from Baylor in December 2014 with a degree in finance and has a brother named Brad that also graduated from Baylor. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and listening to country music and cites the MythBusters a his favorite TV show and Shooter as his favorite movie.