Fantasy Index

Around the NFL

D'Brickashaw Ferguson

Retirement of upper-level LT leaves Jets scrambling

D'Brickashaw Ferguson has been one of the league's better left tackles for the past decade. Perhaps, at age 32, he wasn't as dominant as he used to be, but he was still an asset for the New York Jets. But they wanted him to take a paycut, and Ferguson balked. Instead, he's retiring.

I've been working on the offensive line story for the magazine. Part of that is looking at each of the five positions on each of the NFL's lines and ranking those players, assigning number grades to those rankings, and seeing what shakes out. With Ferguson, the Jets looked to have an above-average left tackle and above-average line. Now they've got a question mark.

It's only April, and the NFL Draft and other developments (for example, the Broncos will likely trade Ryan Clady after signing Russell Okung) will change these rankings further. But at this point in time, here's how I've got the left tackles ranked -- with Ferguson. Unless the Jets land Clady, they'll likely drop.

NFL LEFT TACKLES
TeamProjected LT
DallasTyron Smith
CincinnatiAndrew Whitworth
San FranciscoJoe Staley
ClevelandJoe Thomas
New OrleansTerron Armstead
WashingtonTrent Williams
PhiladelphiaJason Peters
DenverRussell Okung
ArizonaJared Veldheer
New EnglandNate Solder
BuffaloCordy Glenn
JacksonvilleKelvin Beachum
NY JetsD. Ferguson
MinnesotaMatt Kalil
Green BayDavid Bakhtiari
IndianapolisAnthony Castonzo
MiamiBrandon Albert
CarolinaMichael Oher
NY GiantsEreck Flowers
OaklandDonald Penn
Tampa BayDonovan Smith
BaltimoreEugene Monroe
AtlantaJake Matthews
HoustonDuane Brown
TennesseeTaylor Lewan
LA RamsGreg Robinson
DetroitRiley Reiff
Kansas CityEric Fisher
San DiegoKing Dunlap
ChicagoCharles Leno
PittsburghAllejandro Villanueva
SeattleGary Gilliam

--Andy Richardson

Fantasy Index