Just how important is Left Tackle?

[w4rrior723]

9 hours ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I don't think LT by itself is much more valuable than other positions on the OL. If you have a strong LT but a weak offensive line in general, it's not going to matter. If you have an average LT but a solid OL, you'll be much more successful.

Well yeah but you're saying having 5 solid players is better than 1 great player with 4 mediocre to bad players. Of course that's the case. But for the purpose of this discussion, we're talking about individual players. After QB, LT is definitely in the discussion for most important position. It's not as solidly entrenched as it was 10-15 years ago.

Personally, I think an elite DT with pass-rushing ability (Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence, etc) is the second most valuable position. That pass-rush from the middle absolutely wrecks offenses. An elite EDGE rusher is probably a little more more valuable than an elite LT, too. A lock down CB is super valuable, too. But I would put an LT above them.

[HoboRocket]

11 hours ago, minutemancl said:

It's funny that the LT position was made so important because of LT.

It's as important as it ever was, but the difference is that RT is now equally as important. With the presence of insanely talented EDGE rushers in today's NFL, you need 2 good tackles. Some teams have 2 great edge rushers, and others will move their best pass rusher around to both sides throughout the game. The only difference between the 2 positions is that 1 of them is defending the QB's blind side. In the case of a team like Miami, where the starting QB is left handed, I'd argue that the RT is even more important than the LT.

An OL is only as good as its worst player, so while teams like the Brady-led, Super Bowl winning Patriots didn't necessarily have elite LTs, they had an elite QB and a very good (at worst) OL unit. It's more important to have a good starting 5 across the OL than 1 great player and maybe 1 or 2 bad ones. 

And depth, too! OL depth matters tremendously. It's unlikely that all 5 guys start every game in a season because injuries are so common, so you need a couple solid depth guys that can come in and play at a solid level.

2022, the Arizona Cardinals had injuries and absolutely zero DEPTH anywhere besides LT. DJ Humphries went out for the season, but Josh Jones is a starting-caliber LT in this league and played great football. Their OL was one of the worst in the league regardless and for SEVERAL games they had 4 backups playing.

With a 17 game season, you want 85 total games from your starting OL (17*5). The Cardinals got 47. Their starting LT played 8 games, their LG 5, their C 4, their RG 13, their RT 17. 

Anyways, I guess what I'm getting at is even if you get good play from your tackle spots, your offense will still be terrible if you're regularly starting guys like Sean Harlow (44 PFF grade), Billy Price (51 grade), and Max Garcia (54 PFF grade). 

With a diversified pass rush being pretty common across the NFL landscape - with defensive success being more reliant upon using pressure to make plays and generate turnovers nowadays versus being able to just limit yards - it's much more important to have a well-rounded OL than an elite left tackle. Elite blindside protectors are a huge boon to offensive success. It's still more important to have less liabilities than one really strong guy when you're talking about keeping your QB healthy and staving off the pass rush.

[Mr.UFO]

12 hours ago, CP3MVP said:

I started watching football in the early 1990’s and one of the first things they drilled into my head was how important the LT position was, it’s “the second most important position in the game because it protects the most important position” but how true is that really?

The same way we look at RB and say “how many Super Bowl champions had an elite RB” but how many SB champions in the last 10-15 years had an elite LT?

 

if I’m looking at my patriots the last 20 years the only elite LT we had was Matt Light for a few seasons, most of the time he was just really good. Nate Solder was never elite, Trent brown in 2018 wasn’t elite just solid to good.  Isiah Wynn is just ok

The glory year era Patriots are not the best example because Tom Brady would unload the ball almost immediately after receiving the snap. Their OL/LT didn't have to be great at pass protection. But normally, the left tackle is important not only for blindside protection, but also for run blocking. The RT needs to be good too, because eye side sacks do happen. All offensive lineman are important.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

2 hours ago, w4rrior723 said:

Well yeah but you're saying having 5 solid players is better than 1 great player with 4 mediocre to bad players. Of course that's the case. But for the purpose of this discussion, we're talking about individual players. After QB, LT is definitely in the discussion for most important position. It's not as solidly entrenched as it was 10-15 years ago.

Personally, I think an elite DT with pass-rushing ability (Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence, etc) is the second most valuable position. That pass-rush from the middle absolutely wrecks offenses. An elite EDGE rusher is probably a little more more valuable than an elite LT, too. A lock down CB is super valuable, too. But I would put an LT above them.

I did a very bad job of articulating it, but I was trying to say what @Sugashane said, which is that in today's NFL teams on defense move guys around a lot more, so having ONE elite player isn't going to matter because teams will just put their best pass rusher against your worst OL and create those 1v1 matchups and screw you anyways. So, while the value of LT is still there, the value of RT and the other positions have drastically increased IMO beacuse of how much teams are moving guys around and even moving them inside to get favorable matchups against slower guards.

[TVScout]

Not very if this book is accurate:

https://www.amazon.com/Blindsided-Overrated-Contrarian-Football-Thoughts/dp/0470124091

[Tetsujin]

18 hours ago, BetterCallSaul said:

LT isn’t that important in of itself. You just can’t be dreadful at that spot and it’ll be ok. 

This is why I'm not a fan of drafting OL high in the first round. Those selections should be reserved for more impact players. Ones who score touchdowns, rush the passer or shut down a WR.

[ramssuperbowl99]

On 8/9/2023 at 11:18 AM, Sugashane said:

The LT/RT line has been blurred. DCs no longer put the best passrusher at RE and tell them to hit the QB. Guys move inside, outside, flip based on formations, can be standing and stunting, etc.

OT is still critical for any consistent or deep passing attack but you need two competent OTs at least or you're going to have DCs attacking that weak link.

That being said I still have OTs ranked really highly. Behind QB and EDGE and on the same tier as WR1 and CB1.

I think this is all true, but at the same time the best pass rushing space is on the edges of the OL, and having a player who can single-handedly shut down one of those 2 major weak points down is incredibly valuable. Teams moving an elite edge rusher inside may be getting the most out of the rusher for the situation, but it still takes away one of the rusher's biggest strengths.  And having the guy who can 1-1 anyone else frees up the RB or skill position to heavily shade the other direction, and likely gives an extra man somewhere else on the OL. You still need a decent RT, but a LT specifically frees up a ton of help for the other spots that you can't really get elsewhere.

[Ray Reed]

Going from Ronnie Stanley to Alejandro Villaneuva from 2020->2021 will never make me take a LTs importance for granted again

Edited August 10, 2023 by Ray Reed

[INbengalfan]

On 8/9/2023 at 11:37 AM, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

I don't think LT by itself is much more valuable than other positions on the OL. If you have a strong LT but a weak offensive line in general, it's not going to matter. If you have an average LT but a solid OL, you'll be much more successful.

Joe Burrow concurs.

[Hunter2_1]

The value of the LT on its own is overblown. 
 

the value of the OL, for me, is 2nd overall. I think it’s crucial. I’ve seen too many good offenses absolutely torpedoed by poor OL play to think otherwise.

[Hunter2_1]

Current Pats team are proving that you can’t necessarily work around a disfunctional OL with quick game. 
 

it feels like in todays NFL, you absolutely must have big plays in your locker. Extending plays, long yardage plays etc. you can’t trust an offense to keep up with only relying on long, 12 play, short yardage chain moving drives. They will be overtaken. Eventually they get stopped. 
 

OL giving the QB time is key.

[scar988]

Left tackle is very important. But it's just 1/5 pieces on the OL. Offensive line is interesting, because if all pieces are average or better, the line is really good. But if just one of those pieces is below average, you end up with a terrible OL.

[Trojan]

If you go off average positional salary I think it's #1 over QB since a lot of backup LT are just listed as OL or OT instead of a LT or RT designation. Then a lot of QB2s or QB3s are rookie deal guys.

[FrantikRam]

Agreed with what others have said. It's definitely overblown....in todays NFL, would you rather face Nick Bosa and Von Miller or Aaron Donald and Chris Jones?

I feel like we've seen elite edge rushers play together, but a combo of Donald and Chris Jones....hard to see an offense doing much of anything. Not to take anything away from elite edge rushers here.....but point is that I think to be successful, you need an elite offensive lineman somewhere on your line. At least one. And I don't think it much matters what position they play because those guys play different positions.

 

[FrantikRam]

I guess to build off of that....historically there wasn't as much an emphasis on interior  pass rush. That alone I think has increased the value of guards and centers