Building an Offensive line always starts with the center.

[Kamelion4291]

The average draft position of all starting guards of all the Super Bowl teams is the 156th pick in the draft. I'd wager center is close to that number so I'm not sure where all this "MVP of the line" talk is coming from.

 

[juniorseau55]

I get your point. Maybe I'm obsessed with 'baseline.' Without knowing how many sacks/penalties the 'average' OT allowed, I don't know if Jackson's 4 sacks/4 penalties is good, average, or bad. Comparing OCs to OTs isn't comparing apples to apples.

I'm talling the amount of sacks and penalties in our line. And I am accounting who is responsible. You do have a point because we are not comparing these penalties to other players in the NFL. The most any tackle gave up was 10 sacks and that was the top pick tackle in the draft aka Thomas by the giants that played the same tackle position as Jackson with us. We are not even counting qb hurries but when I looked at Thomas he had almost 60 which is very horrible. Even though he had 3 penalties, his sacks were mostly detrimental to his line ranking. The better ranked rookie tackles happen to play right tackles mostly.


Go to this link. The rankings on PFF can give you some insight. We are ranked here at 28 and to no surprise the giants and the Bengals bottom.

Final 2020 offensive line rankings | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

With the 2020 NFL regular season now in the books, PFF's Ben Linsey ranks every offensive line in the NFL.

www.pff.com

 

[Feverdream]

I'm talling the amount of sacks and penalties in our line. And I am accounting who is responsible. You do have a point because we are not comparing these penalties to other players in the NFL. The most any tackle gave up was 10 sacks and that was the top pick tackle in the draft aka Thomas by the giants that played the same tackle position as Jackson with us. We are not even counting qb hurries but when I looked at Thomas he had almost 60 which is very horrible. Even though he had 3 penalties, his sacks were mostly detrimental to his line ranking. The better ranked rookie tackles happen to play right tackles mostly.


Go to this link. The rankings on PFF can give you some insight. We are ranked here at 28 and to no surprise the giants and the Bengals bottom.

Final 2020 offensive line rankings | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

With the 2020 NFL regular season now in the books, PFF's Ben Linsey ranks every offensive line in the NFL.

www.pff.com

We weren't very good last year... and another year's worth of development (and a full training camp if we get one) will certainly help three of our starters, but we were near the bottom last year and I wonder how good they could become with no help?

I'm in favour of giving them some help.

 

[juniorseau55]

I've always felt it was...

1a) Blindside Tackle
1b) Center

Left tackle plays on the weak side of the field. They have a higher responsibility and a more important assignment. The right tackle has a tight end on his right hand side. The Jaguars invested in boselli in the draft as their first pick. Worked out really good for them. They did a lot in a short span.

 

[Ray R]

What do you think of Tim Ruddy playing for three coaches? And basically all his career here.

I became a Dolphins fan when Adam Gase came to Miami, so I am largely unaware of most of their previous players.

Was he an offensive linesman?

 

[juniorseau55]

I became a Dolphins fan when Adam Gase came to Miami, so I am largely unaware of most of their previous players.

Was he an offensive linesman?

Shula drafted him and played until wanny was here. So 94 to 2003. Not the flashiest but a dependable center for us

 

[Jimi]

I see the logic, but kind of hard to square that with looking at average salaries by position.

 

[Ray R]

I agree!

If you had to choose (in this draft) do you choose center over tackle for the Fins?

I'd take a center but at this point with an "OK" center, if the coaches estimation of the change in improvement of the Olines performance by picking an available tackle or guard is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than picking an available center then that's what I would support.

That is the important question for this team; will picking the best available center have more effect on improving the overall efficiency of the Oline than picking the best available Oline player who is not a center?

We also need to consider which Oline players will be available at our different draft positions. In this draft we may be able to get improvements at both positions.

There is always a need to pay attention to the cap and free agency since those will affect the draft as much as anything else.

This draft should be one for the ages!

 

[Ray R]

I see the logic, but kind of hard to square that with looking at average salaries by position.

YES!

That's why I pointed out that the Offensive lines position salaries are a bit of an oxymoron. I feel that the higher pay is needed to offset the shorter career times associated with each linesman position.

 

[Zounds]

OT are more important for the passing game because of who they block. They are usually blocking the best player on the defense. Thats why you build an OL with tackles first. The Offense's best vs the Defense's best.

 

[Ray R]

OT are more important for the passing game because of who they block. They are usually blocking the best player on the defense. Thats why you build an OL with tackles first. The Offense's best vs the Defense's best.

Your position only makes sense if there are no running games.

 

[Zounds]

Your position only makes sense if there are no running games.

It’s a passing and QB driven league. Welcome to the 21st century buddy.

 

[mwestberry]

I think between Jones, a replacement for Howard, Igbinoghene and Needham you wouldn't fall all the way down to can't cover the pass.

LOL ... my post was tongue in cheek sarcasm ... losing Howard weakens a strength we have IMO ... trading him to a team in the AFC AND a team that, as history shows, beats us like a drum in most match-ups would give me pause.

If the cap hit was weighted in favor of the Dolphins I "could" be on board but I am struggling with the impact of gaining a tackle and losing an all pro CB ... can't see how the trade-off does anything overall except keep us treading water ....

I would rather keep my tools and add to them than trade my "hammer for a crow bar" yeah I gained an advantage with leverage etc. but I can't drive a nail ...

Silly analogy but for those reasons I'm out

 

[Ray R]

It’s a passing and QB driven league. Welcome to the 21st century buddy.

Current winning teams usually run more than 40% of the time.

That means that there are roughly 2 runs for every 3 passes. You must ignore reality under these circumstances to think your statement supports tackles being more important than centers. You also have to ignore defenders coming up the middle to get to a QB faster. The last and most important counterpoint is the effectiveness of coaching and play calling which seems to be almost completely ignored.

Since a defense usually adjusts itself to what it sees when the offense lines up, that means its play is reactionary. The offense sets the tone for everything and the line and back fields of both the offense and the defense usually use the bulk of the players on the field, then the argument for the best line play overrides the need for individual achievement on the line. This is why so many posters have pointed out that the line and especially the offensive line acts as a group as opposed to heroic individual efforts.

It's been this way in football for the last 100 years, so saying "welcome to the 21st century is a meaningless argument and only displays an ignorance of over 100 years of football.

Sounds like someone is a millennial to me!

 

[Ray R]

OT are more important for the passing game because of who they block. They are usually blocking the best player on the defense. Thats why you build an OL with tackles first. The Offense's best vs the Defense's best.

Not a bad argument if you total ignore the running game or the reality that the center represents the shortest path for the defense to get to the QB.

Did you consider that in your argument, and if you did, how did you account for it?