We're a month into the season. Taylor Lewan is now back. Russell Okung and Trent Williams seem to be out of the picture. And there are other injuries and whatnot. Decent time to take a look at the left tackle landscape again -- which guys are best at their jobs these days.
Smith has a high ankle sprain. It's not really clear if he'll miss a week, two weeks, or more. As we're seeing with Saquon Barkley, who might only miss a couple of games, all high ankle sprains are not the same. Apparently, Smith might be able to play in Week 6. I'm going to leave Smith atop the rankings, even though another approach would be to dock him for the likelihood he misses multiple games. Moving him down will just lead to a lot of arguments. He's No. 1. But he's playing on a bum ankle.
There's been no indication that Russell Okung (blood clots) or Trent Williams (angry at Washington's front office, medical staff, whatever) will return. So we're moving ahead with ranking their much lesser backups at those spots.
The Chargers aren't the only team without their preferred left tackle. Joe Staley is out at least 6 weeks with a fractured leg. And the Patriots lost Isaiah Wynn for at least eight weeks to a foot injury. Those teams are undefeated, but perhaps those losses will catch up to them.
Cordy Glenn has been out with a concussion. He's been back practicing, but he's also apparently still uncertain for this week. I'm ranking him as if he's playing, but it might also be Andre Smith (who would be ranked about 7-8 spots lower).
Rankings of the 32 currently starting or expected to start soon left tackles are below. Let me know where you think I'm too high or low on players.
| LEFT TACKLES | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rk | Team | Left Tackle |
| 1 | Dallas | Tyron Smith |
| 2 | Tennessee | Taylor Lewan |
| 3 | New Orleans | Terron Armstead |
| 4 | Green Bay | David Bakhtiari |
| 5 | Seattle | Duane Brown |
| 6 | LA Rams | Andrew Whitworth |
| 7 | Atlanta | Jake Matthews |
| 8 | Kansas City | Eric Fisher |
| 9 | Pittsburgh | Allejandro Villanueva |
| 10 | Indianapolis | Anthony Castonzo |
| 11 | Philadelphia | Jason Peters |
| 12 | Tampa Bay | Donovan Smith |
| 13 | Houston | Laremy Tunsil |
| 14 | Detroit | Taylor Decker |
| 15 | Baltimore | Ronnie Stanley |
| 16 | Buffalo | Dion Dawkins |
| 17 | Chicago | Charles Leno |
| 18 | Cincinnati | Cordy Glenn |
| 19 | Carolina | Daryl Williams |
| 20 | NY Jets | Kelvin Beachum |
| 21 | Minnesota | Riley Reiff |
| 22 | NY Giants | Nate Solder |
| 23 | Washington | Donald Penn |
| 24 | Denver | Garett Bolles |
| 25 | Cleveland | Greg Robinson |
| 26 | Jacksonville | Cam Robinson |
| 27 | New England | Marshall Newhouse |
| 28 | Arizona | D.J. Humphries |
| 29 | San Francisco | Justin Skule |
| 30 | LA Chargers | Trent Scott |
| 31 | Oakland | Kolton Miller |
| 32 | Miami | Jesse Davis |
--Andy Richardson