Henry Bainivalu Scouting Report

By: Michael Higgins

(Image courtesy of Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

School: Washington (Senior)

Position: IOL

HT: 6’6

WT: 340 lbs

Sideline Prospect Ranking: #95

Henry Bainivalu is a fifth year senior who was a 4-star recruit out of Sammamish, Washington. Bainivalu opted to stay close to home and committed to playing his college ball at the University of Washington. Bainivalu was quite the athlete in high school; he played both sides of the ball in football, was a wrestler throughout high school, and also competed in Track & Field events.

Bainivalu has great length and long arms that play well on the outside as well as the interior. Bainivalu controls and utilizes his weight very well and builds himself a nice anchor when he gets his feet set.  He works well with his linemates when it comes to combo blocks and zone-running schemes. Bainivalu is an experienced and poised player on the interior and he shows that experience in the way he is able to handle different defensive looks and adjust on the fly. He has improved each year at Washington, not being on many people’s draft radars before the season began, he had his best season yet in 2022 and vaulted himself to a top 100 position in this draft class.

Bainivalu is definitely a strong guy, but he doesn’t seem to use it in an effective or efficient way. While improvement on technique may help him channel some more functional strength, it won’t make him above average in that regard. He carries his weight well but he is still slow. His length is enough to allow him to play tackle, but everything else about Bainivalu’s game suggests that he should stick at guard. His footwork is slow despite his mechanics and technique being good, his lower half is usually a beat slower than his upper half. It would also benefit Bainivalu to play through the whistle more often. He doesn’t instinctively climb to the second level of the defense or constantly look for new assignments after finishing his first block. His athletic testing has also been less than subpar. Bainivalu tested poorly in just about every athletic drill at the combine. Sometimes, these athletic drills do not mean much, especially for guards, but I think this is a case where his lack of athleticism is quite evident on the football field and it hinders his play. Henry Bainivalu can be an above-average starter in the league, a lot of the weaknesses in Bainivalu’s game are coachable. If he can work on his strength and his footspeed, he can be developed into a nice starter for any franchise that is willing to be patient with him.

Scheme Fit: Zone Rushing Offense

Ideal Role: Developmental Right Guard

Best Team Fits: JAX, NO, CIN

Player Comparison: Trai Turner

Player Grade: 73.1