After looking at the O-Lines of several good teams, I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what round that they are selected. It only matters that they were scouted properly and that the Line is able to enjoy some consistency!

Here is what I found out:

Buffalo Bills:

RT Jonathan Scott 3yrs 141st Overall 5th Rd

RG Eric Wood Rookie 28th Overall 1st Rd

C Geoff Hangartner 5yrs 169th Overall 5th Rd by Carolina

LG Andy Levitre Rookie  51st Overall 2nd Rd

LT Demetrius Bell 1yr 219th Overall 7th Rd

Cincinnati Bengals:

RT Dennis Roland 2yrs UDFA by Dallas

RG Bobbie Williams 10 yrs   61st Overall 2nd Rd by Philly

C Kyle Cook 2 yrs UDFA by Minnesota

LG Evan Mathis 5 yrs 79th Overall 3rd Rd by Carolina

LT Andrew Whitworth 4 yrs 55th Overall 2nd Rd

Houston Texans:

RT Eric Winston 4 yrs   66th Overall 3rd Rd

RG Chris White 5 yrs UDFA by Green Bay

C Chris Myers 5 yrs 200th Overall 6th Rd Denver

LG Kasey Studdard 3 yrs   183rd Overall 6th Rd

LT Duane Brown 2 yrs 26th Overall 1st Rd

Pittsburgh Steelers:

RT Willie Colon 4 yrs   131st Overall 4th Rd

RG Trai Essex 5 yrs   93rd Overall 3rd Rd

C Justin Hartwig 8 yrs   187th Overall 6th Rd by Tennessee

LG Chris Kemoeatu 5 yrs   204th  Overall 6th Rd

LT Max Starks 6 yrs   75th Overall 3rd Rd

New Orleans Saints:

RT Jon Stinchcomb 7 yrs   37th Overall 2nd Rd

RG Jahri Evans 4 yrs 108th Overall 4th Rd

C Jonathan Goodwin 8 yrs 154th Overall 5th rd NY Jets

LG Carl Nicks 2 yrs   164th Overall 5th Rd

LT Jermon Bushrod 3 yrs 125th Overall 4th Rd

Except for Buffalo, these teams are doing fairly well this year at running the ball and protecting the passer.

For comparison, Buffalo at 3 - 4 has made 107 first downs, gained 783 Yds rushing, 1131 Yds passing and allowed 16 sacks.

Seattle at 2 - 4 has made 114 first downs, gained 542 rushing Yds, 1319 passing Yds and allowed 16 sacks.

IMO, Buffalo has enjoyed more stability on their O-Line but Seattle has performed as good or better in some situations.

I have 5 Left Tackles whose draft positions add up to a total of 500 even...which of course averages out to the 100th position which is the 3rd Rd 4th pick

Since Ryan Succop was drafted # 256 I will give the UDFA a score of 257

The NUMBERS:

RT: 632 / 5 = 126.4 -> 3.95 3rd Rd 30th pick
RG: 547 / 5 = 109.4 -> 3.42 3rd Rd 15th pick
C: 967 / 5 = 193.4 -> 6.04 6th Rd 1st pick
LG: 681 / 5 = 136.2 -> 4.26 4th Rd 8th pick

Of course this is a relatively small sample size, covering ~1/6th of the teams but it gives us a general idea that not every good Offensive Lineman has to come out of the 1st or 2nd round. Jason Peters and Kris Dielman are good examples of that.

CONSISTENCY MEANS EVERYTHING!!!

I am fine with five players the caliber of steve vallos as long as they don't get repeatedly injured and ruin the chemistry of the line.....sims,spencer,locklear are much more talented but break much too easily and cause us to shuffle our line to oblivion..

We DO NOT need five star pro bowl players especially in a zone blocking scheme...

What we DO NEED is more tenacity and grit (like ummm... hutchinson) instead of players that want to "stay pg rated" in a distinctly "R" rated game at a "nc-17" position!!

I'd beg to differ on a few things: Pittsburgh is NOT running the ball well at all this year, and Houston's line has been very inconsistent (read: dominated by better DL).

Then you look at a team like the Jets, who are 2nd in the league in rushing, and towards the bottom of the league in sacks allowed (with a rookie QB, and they tend to hold the ball longer). They have either 4 or 5 first round picks.

This is probably more of a Rotak subject, but without looking at the numbers for an exact count, I've noticed the overwhelming number of OLmen taken in the 1st two rounds in the last 3 years or so have been LT's. Teams are really focusing on the skill position of the OL and anyone with decent talent isn't going to slip to the 3rd-5th rounds anymore.

There are some drafts where there are more LT's taken in the 1st round than any other position. We HAVE to get the BPA for LT with one of our 1st round picks; we need a guy that can start right away, since the only other real option is hoping Frye develops or we can land a good FA aquisition.

The draft is a crapshoot, you can get talent all over but usually the higher the player drafted the better he is. Look at the 2 best OL in Seattle history, Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson, both first rounders.

I think what is more important is continuity on the line. The Giants line up until last week had started something like 40 games in a row or something rediculous like that. With all of the injuries on the line for the Hawks this is almost impossible which is why the Hawks line sucks.

Hawksfan46 wrote:

I'd beg to differ on a few things: Pittsburgh is NOT running the ball well at all this year, and Houston's line has been very inconsistent (read: dominated by better DL).

 

Pittsburgh (5) and Houston (3) are at the top of the league in passing. Rushing Pittsburgh is averaging 107 YPG but Houston is only averaging 79 YPG.

Ok, so didn't you just prove my point ? Your OP was concluding that you can draft OL in any round and get starters and impact players. Maybe I should specify my point more.

Sure, you can get starters in any round, but teams value LT's more than any other position on the line. So, you will see more LT's taken in the first 2 rounds of the draft. My point about Pitt and Houston was that they are chock full of mid round guys and they can't run the ball consistently (Slaton for Houston will have one good game followed by one terrible game) and Pitt can't run the ball reliably. If they didn't have one of the league's best defenses, they would be a 9-7 team at best with that offense.

You need balance to win in the NFL. The Patriots are running the ball better than they were. The Jets are a great running team, but you will see inconsistency out of the pass game until Sanchez is consistent. Until then, you're going to see a streaky team. To achieve balance, you need to protect the QB, since the en vogue thing in the NFL is to get pressure on the passer. If you can draft a LT that can eliminate the opposition's best pass rusher one on one (read: Walter Jones in his prime), you don't have to screw with protection packages as much and you can run your offense. One reason our passing game is dropping off is that we need to keep Carlson in to protect the QB. Not a coincidence that he's dropped off drastically after the first 2 games.

This team can win next year. We need a GOOD playmaking FS that takes good angles, eliminates big plays, and gets turnovers. We need a pass rush. We're pretty good against the run. We need OL help badly. If Hass had time to throw, he'd be able to find our good WR corps more often. If we could run the ball, teams would have to drop 8 in the box and guys would get open downfield.

A lot of us would be surprised at the difference of 1 great LT and 1 great FS would make to this team. I'd like another shutdown corner, but Lucas and Wilson would be good enough if we had a good pass rush.

1st, 2nd, 3rd...7th