They don't get as much ink as skill position guys, which makes sense since fantasy leagues don't tend to draft offensive lines or linemen. But those injuries are important too, since lines can have a big impact on whether quarterbacks and running backs will get enough time to do their thing, or struggle at it.
Since the magazine, our offensive line ranking have seen a number of changes. In most cases, the issue is injuries, with several big names being sidelined for weeks or, in some cases, the season.
Right tackle has been a noteworthy victim of the injury bug, with big names like the Vikings' Phil Loadholt (out for the season) and Tampa Bay's Demar Dotson (out 6-10 weeks) the ones you may have heard about. But other teams are dealing with injuries, too.
The first table below shows our current offensive line rankings, as well as where they were ranked when the magazine first came out. Changes are due to injuries, early camp reports and exhibition observations, and lineup changes. Biggest moves up in bold, biggest moves down in italics. Weigh in below where you think the mark has been missed -- teams too high or too low.
OFFENSIVE LINE RANKINGS | ||
---|---|---|
OL | June | New |
Dallas | 1 | 1 |
Green Bay | 2 | 2 |
Cincinnati | 5 | 3 |
Cleveland | 6 | 4 |
Philadelphia | 3 | 5 |
New Orleans | 4 | 6 |
Baltimore | 12 | 7 |
New England | 7 | 8 |
Detroit | 8 | 9 |
San Francisco | 9 | 10 |
Pittsburgh | 10 | 11 |
Miami | 11 | 12 |
Washington | 16 | 13 |
Buffalo | 14 | 14 |
NY Jets | 15 | 15 |
Indianapolis | 20 | 16 |
Houston | 19 | 17 |
San Diego | 17 | 18 |
Oakland | 21 | 19 |
Minnesota | 13 | 20 |
Kansas City | 23 | 21 |
Seattle | 22 | 22 |
Denver | 25 | 24 |
Tennessee | 24 | 23 |
Chicago | 21 | 25 |
Jacksonville | 30 | 27 |
Arizona | 18 | 26 |
Carolina | 27 | 28 |
Atlanta | 28 | 29 |
NY Giants | 29 | 30 |
Tampa Bay | 31 | 31 |
St. Louis | 32 | 32 |
The second table ranks the league's 32 right tackles. Players at the position that have changed since the magazine came out are listed in bold. That's 8 out of 32, so a quarter of the league. A couple of others are currently injured and uncertain to be available in Week 1. LaAdrian Waddle in particular.
In the coming weeks, we'll take a look at the other positions, including the most important ones (left tackle and center). So far, those haven't been as hard hit by injury as right tackle, but hey, it's early.
NFL RIGHT TACKLES, 1-32 | |
---|---|
Team | RT |
New England | Sebastian Vollmer |
Green Bay | Bryan Bulaga |
Dallas | Doug Free |
Cincinnati | Andre Smith |
Philadelphia | Lane Johnson |
Houston | Derek Newton |
Miami | JaWuan James |
Indianapolis | Jack Mewhort |
Detroit | LaAdrian Waddle |
New Orleans | Andrus Peat |
NY Giants | Marshall Newhouse |
Baltimore | Rick Wagner |
Cleveland | Mitchell Schwartz |
Denver | Chris Clark |
Kansas City | Paul Fanaika |
Washington | Morgan Moses |
San Diego | Joseph Barksdale |
San Francisco | Erik Pears |
Buffalo | Seantrel Henderson |
Pittsburgh | Marcus Gilbert |
Tennessee | Jeremiah Poutasi |
Arizona | Bradley Sowell |
Tampa Bay | Gosder Cherilus |
Jacksonville | Jeremy Parnell |
NY Jets | Breno Giacomini |
Seattle | Gary Gilliam |
Minnesota | T.J. Clemmings |
Chicago | Jordan Mills |
Oakland | Khalif Barnes |
Carolina | Daryl Williams |
St. Louis | Rob Havenstein |
Atlanta | Lamar Holmes |
--Andy Richardson