Draft buzz builds on Army tackle
Two-year commitment will come first for Toth
MOBILE, Ala. – Brett Toth has a different plan.
Each day on the Senior Bowl practice field this week he has worked to showcase his skills to NFL talent evaluators just like the rest of his fellow draft prospects. He did the same thing this month at the East-West Shrine Game.
But the 6-5, 303-pound Army right tackle — the first player from West Point to play in the Senior Bowl in the 69-year history of the game — doesn’t see himself suiting up on Sundays next season, or even the one after that.
First comes a two-year commitment to military service for the Charleston, S.C., native, who will graduate as a nuclear engineer while commissioned as a second lieutenant.
“The NFL dream waits until my service is done,” said Toth, who understands that fulfilling his military obligation could cause him to fall in the draft or go undrafted. “You have that dream ever since you started playing ball or even being young and in the backyard playing ball. But again, being at West Point, initially thought it was going to be five years (of military service), for me at least. Going in, I didn’t think (the NFL) was going to be something for me. But now, under the current administration, the requirement is two years, so it looks like I might be doing both.”
Army’s coaches recruited Toth out of West Ashley High, where he was as an all-state tight end and standout in track and basketball. Military commitment intimidates some teens, but not Toth.
“They got me on campus at West Point and I was exposed to the brotherhood — the loyalty is, I think, incomparable to anywhere else, and I was sold on it,” Toth said. “It’s just selfless service. … Just talking about the position you would be in: leading America’s sons and daughters resonated with me. The decision wasn’t going to be for the next four years, but the next 40 years.”
Toth draws inspiration from Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, who after three tours of duty in Afghanistan was signed to Pittsburgh’s practice squad in 2015 and became a mainstay starter. Toth also referenced Collin Mooney and Josh McNary as examples of players who first served as Army officers before pursuing NFL opportunities with the Falcons and Colts, respectively.
“They’ve shown what the military is all about and the attributes that come with it,” Toth said. “It puts it on a higher stage for the world. … For me, the big one is what the academy has to offer. My maturation process was unbelievable going there. All my coaches can attest to it, and hopefully my parents can attest to it.
“People throw out there: Do I regret it? Absolutely not. I couldn’t imagine it any other way.”
Toth’s dual journey comes after a season in which the league and its players had to wrestle with the perception of patriotism. Players participated in various forms of protests, including kneeling during the national anthem. Those actions drew harsh criticism from some Americans, including President Trump, who tried to frame the players’ demonstrations as a slight to the military.
Toth doesn’t view the protests that way, however. “There’s a bunch of character development and whatnot at West Point, and you learn to see and understand other perspectives,” he said. “I doubt that anybody that protested did that with the intent of protesting the military. All the guys that did it, when they vouched for themselves, they said that’s not the reason.
“There’s stuff that happens in the United States that plenty of people frown upon, and it’s an extreme measure they had to go to, to voice their opi- nion. I understand where some of them come from, and I’m not going to judge them for it. Me personally, I’m not going to ever take a knee just because of what the flag means to me, and it means something different to all of us.”
In the final two seasons of Toth’s three years as a starter, Army posted back-to-back winning records for the first time since 1989-90. But his pass protection skills need further refining. The Black Knights ran the ball 785 times last season and threw the ball 65 times.
That’s part of the reason Toth counts the education he has received in each of the past two all-star game practice weeks as invaluable.
“I hate to say it,” Toth laughed, “but some of the improvement comes from getting beat in a rep and having to watch yourself on film and realizing, ‘I do not want to get beat like that again,’ so you really have to raise your game the next rep after that.”
If a team likes Toth, it could spend a late-round pick on him with the understanding he will not contribute until after he fulfills his military commitment.
Upon graduation, Toth — like most West Point graduates — will receive 60 days of leave, and he could use that time to take part in offseason practices with whatever team drafts or signs him. The ideal scenario would involve him getting selected by a team near a military base so he could take part in other activities during additional time off, such as weekends as long as he’s not deployed.
But he’ll address that at the appropriate time.
“You can’t worry about that,” Toth said. “Every soldier, you do what you’re told, and you go fight when you’re told to go fight.”