Last year's divisional playoff teams:
New England Patriots: RT Marcus Gannon, drafted in 5th round. 4 years experience.
Indianapolis Colts: RT Gosder Cherilus, drafted in 1st round. 7 years experience.
Denver Broncos: RT Orlando Franklin, drafted in 2nd round. 4 years experience.
San Diego Chargers: RT DJ Fluker, drafted in 1st round. 2 years experience.
Seattle Seahawks: RT Breno Giacomini, drafted in 5th round. 7 years experience.
San Francisco 49ers: RT Anthony Davis, drafted in 1st round. 5 years experience.
New Orleans Saints: RT Zach Strief, drafted in 7th round. 9 years experience.
Carolina Panthers: RT Byron Bell, undrafted. 4 years experience.
Wildcard
Kansas City Chiefs: RT Donald Stephenson, drafted in 3rd round. 3 years experience.
Cincinnati Bengals: RT Andre Smith, drafted in 1st round. 6 years experience.
Green Bay Packers: RT Bryan Bulaga, drafted in 1st round. 5 years experience.
Philadelphia Eagles: RT Lane Johnson, drafted in 1st round. 2 years experience.
Ok....I just looked this up today on a lark.
What struck me is the years of experience at RT for these teams. We're going to have a rookie RT?
The second thing is...that apparently yes, the MAJORITY of all of these successful teams have a RT playing who was drafted in the first or second round. But there's also a sizable number who were not. And what's shocking about those, is they are not mostly from the next rung (3rd and 4th round), they are from the 5th round or later. So what successful teams seem to do is draft them early, and if they're gone, then wait until later rounds.
It will be interesting, for sure, to see where we're going. The draft is deep in RT, from what we're told.