Just how important is Left Tackle?

[ILoveTheVikings]

Might be in the minority opinion, but unless you have a franchise QB investing a ton into the LT is pointless. LT's cannot win you games but they can lose you games by letting the defense get to your QB.

Joe Thomas is a picture perfect example. One of the GOAT LT but his impact on winning was basically nonexistent because the Browns never could get a decent QB.

[scar988]

1 hour ago, ILoveTheVikings said:

Might be in the minority opinion, but unless you have a franchise QB investing a ton into the LT is pointless. LT's cannot win you games but they can lose you games by letting the defense get to your QB.

Joe Thomas is a picture perfect example. One of the GOAT LT but his impact on winning was basically nonexistent because the Browns never could get a decent QB.

Just imagine if Joe Thomas played for a team like Atlanta or New England or New Orleans during his career. He would have been the franchise guy at LT and really built their lines for them. 

[Kiwibrown]

Wouldn't be the hardest position to fill with a street free agent?

[CasperX22]

It's as important as ever.  Finding an elite LT or OT in general is almost as hard as finding an elite QB.  The inverse of that is the RB position where every year there is a new group of RB's at the top of the league and can be found pretty much anywhere.  Their success is also more tied to the OL's ability than it is their own ability.

Now to touch on the people that said it's more important to just have a solid OL overall than an OT? You're only partially right.  Many of the best guards and centers in the league were former OT's or failed OT's and are a lot easier to find whereas like at QB unless you take a guy an OT in the 1st Rd your chances of success are extremely low.

This is a long way of saying a lot of people are looking at this from the wrong perspective.  The more rare and harder to find a commodity  is, the more important that position becomes.  This is why QB's, OT, DL, Edge rushers, and CB's are your typical premium positions.  It has every bit as much to do with the difficulty of finding 1 as it has to do with their impact on team performance.

[Pugger]

On 8/11/2023 at 10:22 AM, scar988 said:

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.

You can get away with average to below average guards but not tackles.

[Scoundrel]

There is a reason that most of the best LT’s in the league were 1st round draft picks. 

Armsetad, Bahk and Jordan M are guys that weren’t but the list of the other top guys from the first is very long.

Trent Williams
Laremy Tunsil
Andrew Thomas
Tyron Smith
Kolton Miller
Tristian Wirfs
Christian Darrisaw
Rashawn Slater

etc, etc…

[scar988]

2 hours ago, Pugger said:

You can get away with average to below average guards but not tackles.

Honestly, you need at least average at all 5 spots. Doesn’t matter if it’s guard or tackle or even center. You need at least average play for a good offensive line. 

[Jeezla]

On 8/11/2023 at 2:02 PM, ILoveTheVikings said:

Might be in the minority opinion, but unless you have a franchise QB investing a ton into the LT is pointless. LT's cannot win you games but they can lose you games by letting the defense get to your QB.

Joe Thomas is a picture perfect example. One of the GOAT LT but his impact on winning was basically nonexistent because the Browns never could get a decent QB.

Your 2nd sentence destroys your 1st sentence. If a position can single handedly lose you games, it's worth investing into, with or without a Top Guy at QB.

Joe Thomas is a bad example. The Browns didn't lose with Joe Thomas because their QB was bad, they lost because the team was bad, starting with the Head Coaches. The Browns never have a great defense, even though they have one of the best defensive players at one of the most important positions on defense. Should teams never invest big in pass rushers, because look what the Browns did with Myles Garrett? Don't invest big in anything, unless you have a Top 10 QB, essentially? 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Jeezla

[DannyB]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:40 AM, Tetsujin said:

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.

Ah but there's the rock paper scissors of it all. If rushing there passer is so important, then wouldn't stopping that rush be just as important?

 

I dunno, I go back and forth a little, and this might be overly simplistic, but I think you really need it (the O-line as a whole I mean) to be "good enough", but it's a luxury for it to be elite. It doesn't need to be amazing, but you're screwed if it's bad

[Mazrimiv]

Maybe a different way of asking the same question is would you rather have an elite OT, WR, Edge or CB?

Of those 4, I'm taking the Edge first.  CB vs WR is kind of a wash for me, then I'd go with the OT.

[VonKarman]

Its importance is greatly increased by the scarcity of good LT, whereas the abundance of WR1 (which in vacuum is more important than a LT) is diminished by their abundance.

[Frankie2Gunz]

On 8/9/2023 at 8:04 AM, 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

 How long a QB holds the ball is a major factor in tackle play as a bad Qb who holds the ball too long can make even a great LT/RT look bad.  

An example is a James Winston and how he holds onto the ball way too long which leads to the line breaking down, unnecessary pressure and turnovers. A Qb like Brady who gets the ball out quickly is a tackles best friend.  

I still think a LT is one of the most important positions on the field as it protects the QB's blind side.  A stud LT like T. Williams is a factor in both the pass and run game and having a stud in both areas is quite important to the overall scheme.  

I would say the franchise "building block" positions are QB, Edge, 3T, LT and CB.  

Edited August 13, 2023 by Frankie2Gunz

[Tugboat]

If you don't have one, they're extremely important.

 

 

If you've got an average one, that's fine.  You can probably work with that.

 

 

The premium often comes from the exceptionally rare set of traits it takes to be even just an "average" LT in the NFL.

[smetana34]

I'm more shocked at how highly some of you value WR. 

[ILoveTheVikings]

On 8/12/2023 at 5:04 PM, Jeezla said:

Your 2nd sentence destroys your 1st sentence. If a position can single handedly lose you games, it's worth investing into, with or without a Top Guy at QB.

Joe Thomas is a bad example. The Browns didn't lose with Joe Thomas because their QB was bad, they lost because the team was bad, starting with the Head Coaches. The Browns never have a great defense, even though they have one of the best defensive players at one of the most important positions on defense. Should teams never invest big in pass rushers, because look what the Browns did with Myles Garrett? Don't invest big in anything, unless you have a Top 10 QB, essentially? 

Myles Garrett is a player (and DE's in general) who can make impact plays that win you games. LT's literally cannot win you a game. LT's make the game easier for other position players to win you the game but if your position players suck then it doesn't matter how good your LT is, they wont be impacting winning at all. 

 

Investing in the LT position is important, but only if you already have other pieces in place.