Lanky Livingston
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NFL Offensive Lines by Average Draft Position
So, a comment from a poster on this site (Bulldog's Twin, I believe) about our OL being Trent Williams and a "bunch of guys" got me thinking - how do the Redskins rank compared to other teams in terms of average draft position of our OL? Is it as bad as that post made it seem? Note - this post is for information purposes only, it was something I found interesting.
The results may surprise you. I took all data from Pro-football-reference.com, augmented with ESPN.com's data when PFR didn't have a starter. These are also starters for 2011 without taking into account injury. The Redskins have the 10th highest-drafted OL in the league, and are the 2nd highest in the NFC East (behind the Giants).
First, the average draft position of the 5 OL starters, ranked from lowest to highest (* indicates playoff team):
1 Miami Dolphins 1.4
2 Detroit Lions* 2.2
3 San Francisco 49ers* 2.2
4 Baltimore Ravens* 2.4
5 Denver Broncos* 2.6
6 Oakland Raiders 2.6
7 New York Giants* 2.8
8 Cleveland Browns 3
9 Jacksonville Jaguars 3
10 Washington Redskins 3
11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3
12 Seattle Seahawks 3
13 Pittsburgh Steelers* 3.4
14 Buffalo Bills 3.6
15 San Diego Chargers 3.6
16 New York Jets 3.8
17 Carolina Panthers 3.8
18 New England Patriots* 4
19 Chicago Bears 4
20 Houston Texans* 4.2
21 Green Bay Packers* 4.2
22 Tennessee Titans 4.4
23 Philadelphia Eagles 4.4
24 Cincinatti Bengals* 4.6
25 Minnesota Vikings 4.6
26 Dallas Cowboys 4.8
27 Arizona Cardinals 4.8
28 Kansas City Chiefs 5.2
29 Atlanta Falcons* 5.4
30 Indianapolis Colts 5.6
31 New Orleans Saints* 5.6
32 St. Louis Rams 6.6
Five of twelve playoff teams were in the top 7, Six of twelve were in the bottom half of the league, with the Falcons and Saints being in the bottom 4! Does this mean the Saints and Falcons simply drafted OL better than anyone else?
New England, Cincinatti, Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta all had undrafted FAs on the OL (Pats and Bungles had two each), Detroit was the only team with 4th round and higher picks on their team.
Further interesting analysis: Left Tackle (2.8) and Left Guard (3.4) were the two highest drafted positions, center (4.5) and right guard (4.4) the two lowest drafted, with RT (3.8) in the middle. This surprised me, as I assumed the tackles would be the top two drafted positions.
Redskins starters:
Trent Williams - 1
Kory Lichtensteiger - 4
Will Montgomery - 7
Chris Chester - 2
Jammal Brown - 1
Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Packers, Saints and Panthers all had zero free agent linemen (all home grown). The NFC East had by far the most FA OL (Redskins had 4), the AFC West and NFC South tied for fewest with 2, respectively.
So, a comment from a poster on this site (Bulldog's Twin, I believe) about our OL being Trent Williams and a "bunch of guys" got me thinking - how do the Redskins rank compared to other teams in terms of average draft position of our OL? Is it as bad as that post made it seem? Note - this post is for information purposes only, it was something I found interesting.
The results may surprise you. I took all data from Pro-football-reference.com, augmented with ESPN.com's data when PFR didn't have a starter. These are also starters for 2011 without taking into account injury. The Redskins have the 10th highest-drafted OL in the league, and are the 2nd highest in the NFC East (behind the Giants).
First, the average draft position of the 5 OL starters, ranked from lowest to highest (* indicates playoff team):
1 Miami Dolphins 1.4
2 Detroit Lions* 2.2
3 San Francisco 49ers* 2.2
4 Baltimore Ravens* 2.4
5 Denver Broncos* 2.6
6 Oakland Raiders 2.6
7 New York Giants* 2.8
8 Cleveland Browns 3
9 Jacksonville Jaguars 3
10 Washington Redskins 3
11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3
12 Seattle Seahawks 3
13 Pittsburgh Steelers* 3.4
14 Buffalo Bills 3.6
15 San Diego Chargers 3.6
16 New York Jets 3.8
17 Carolina Panthers 3.8
18 New England Patriots* 4
19 Chicago Bears 4
20 Houston Texans* 4.2
21 Green Bay Packers* 4.2
22 Tennessee Titans 4.4
23 Philadelphia Eagles 4.4
24 Cincinatti Bengals* 4.6
25 Minnesota Vikings 4.6
26 Dallas Cowboys 4.8
27 Arizona Cardinals 4.8
28 Kansas City Chiefs 5.2
29 Atlanta Falcons* 5.4
30 Indianapolis Colts 5.6
31 New Orleans Saints* 5.6
32 St. Louis Rams 6.6
Five of twelve playoff teams were in the top 7, Six of twelve were in the bottom half of the league, with the Falcons and Saints being in the bottom 4! Does this mean the Saints and Falcons simply drafted OL better than anyone else?
New England, Cincinatti, Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta all had undrafted FAs on the OL (Pats and Bungles had two each), Detroit was the only team with 4th round and higher picks on their team.
Further interesting analysis: Left Tackle (2.8) and Left Guard (3.4) were the two highest drafted positions, center (4.5) and right guard (4.4) the two lowest drafted, with RT (3.8) in the middle. This surprised me, as I assumed the tackles would be the top two drafted positions.
Redskins starters:
Trent Williams - 1
Kory Lichtensteiger - 4
Will Montgomery - 7
Chris Chester - 2
Jammal Brown - 1
Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Packers, Saints and Panthers all had zero free agent linemen (all home grown). The NFC East had by far the most FA OL (Redskins had 4), the AFC West and NFC South tied for fewest with 2, respectively.
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