Earlier in the offseason, my fellow Undroppables did some divisional breakdowns for the “more relevant” players in the eyes of the fantasy community. I’m here to provide similar analysis, but for the more unknown fantasy assets: The Offensive Line. As we get into training camps and look forward to the season, here’s a recap of the offseason moves and draft picks from the teams in the AFC East. Unfortunately, this will be my last divisional breakdown before my final Offensive Line Ranking are released. For continuity and projected team starters, follow my current Offensive Line Rankings here.
Buffalo Bills
This group was stout throughout last year. They did not make waves, but they allowed Josh Allen and company to operate at a very high level. Dion Dawkins and Daryl Williams held down the tackle spots. Dawkins has been very solid since entering the league in 2017. Williams on the other hand has had an up-and-down career. He earned second team All-Pro honors in 2017 with the Panthers. The next year he played only one game due to knee injuries. In 2019 he started games at three different positions on the line still with the Panthers. 2020 was a career resurgence for Williams with the Bills taking a shot on him. He earned a three-year extension worth $28.2M. Sometimes it takes an extra year of mental recovery to fully heal.
On the interior it was a shuffle game, especially at guard. Right Guard Jon Feliciano tore his pectoral muscle in August. Cody Ford was then set to start at Right Guard for the season. Quinton Spain started at Left Guard but went down in Week 3. The Bills previously signed Brian Winters for depth. Ford bumped to Left Guard, with Winters in at Right Guard. This group played a few games together before Ford went down. Ike Boettger started in his place in Week 7 after releasing Spain a week prior. Mitch Morse suffered a concussion early in Week 8. Luckily Feliciano returned that week to slide in at Center. Boettger, Morse, and Feliciano finished out the season. That versatility is what kept the boat afloat for the Bills.
Biggest Moves
A few days after Williams got his extension, so did Feliciano. They tendered Ike Boettger a few days later and he signed a one year deal in April. They did all the right things in free agency and retained their guys. Winters did walk, but getting three out of four free agents back is huge. They also signed two other free agents in Forrest Lamp and Bobby Hart. It would not surprise me if both got cut in camp.
Draft Picks
The Bills invested three picks in this deep class. Although neither seem to be year-one contributors, it shows they are always looking to improve up front. Competition brings out the best. The first of the three was Spencer Brown in the third round. The second was Tommy Doyle in the fifth round. Both of these guys are least 6080, or 6’8″ for people like me who were not well versed in combine measurements before this year. Their RAS scores you ask? Spencer Brown tied with Creed Humphrey with a perfect 10. Tommy Doyle was not far behind him with a 9.9/10. If both pan out, Tackle will be set for a very long time. Below is how Brown celebrated being drafted into #BillsMafia.
https://twitter.com/CHogansTheName/status/13883432/09617727488?s=19
The third was Jack Anderson in the seventh round. Anderson was no slouch in testing either. His RAS came out at a respectable 8.58/10. As for comps for all three, courtesy of MockDraftable, see these links: Spencer Brown, Tommy Doyle, and Jack Anderson. Spencer Brown has some fantastic comps, a handful of very high quality starters. Unfortunately I have not done my film work on either of the three players.
2021 Outlook
This group seems to have a locked in their starting five going into camp. The Tackles are both set. Ford will start at Left Guard, Morse is back at Center, with Feliciano at Right Guard. They could very well be a top five pass protecting group in 2021. They have the depth to compete if one of them does go down. With the shuffle game last year, they are covered basically everywhere. The two Tackles in the draft will cover them if anything happens on the outside. This is not a sexy group, but they have a very good shot to be hyper efficient and finish top five overall. The addition of Stefon Diggs coupled with the line coming together helped Josh Allen grow immensely. It could get even better in 2021.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins spent three draft picks last year on Offensive Line. The first, picked at #18, was Austin Jackson. The second was Robert Hunt at the beginning of the second round, selected #39. Finally, they drafted Solomon Kindley in the fourth round at #111. Obviously, there were some growing pains as a rookie for each of them. They still played at least 720 snaps each, which will be huge for growth in each of their second years. Jackson had a bit of a bump year. Kindley played mainly Right Guard with Ereck Flowers at the Left Guard spot.
Robert Hunt played Right Tackle a decent amount when Jesse Davis bumped inside. They did a lot of shuffling last year. Their only player to play 100% of the snaps for the entire roster according to Pro Football Reference was Ted Karras. He signed for a one-year deal and ended up returning to the Patriots this offseason. No one expected them to do as well as they did last year. No one up front had a stellar year. I am a big fan of what Brian Flores is doing down in Miami.
Biggest Moves
Aside from not re-signing Karras, the Dolphins have made some decent moves so far. They basically poached the Baltimore Ravens roster. Early in Free Agency, they were able to sign Matt Skura. Before the draft they also signed D.J. Fluker. Fluker at this point is a bit of a journeyman, now on his fifth team since joining the NFL in 2013. What Fluker will provide is depth and experience for those young players. Skura has a chance to provide a lot more. In Week 12 of the 2019 season, Skura tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL. His season in 2020 was quite disappointing. I’ve said this before, it can take an extra year for the mental side of things to click in that everything is okay. Just because everything is physically recovered, doesn’t mean that its all good to go, especially after an injury like that.
Draft Picks
Once again in a good class, the Dolphins dipped their fins into the draft pool for an Offensive Lineman. Before my film study, one of the people that I talk O-Line with @DTH_Mason did his first look at Liam Eichenberg. He was one of my favorite prospects in the class from this moment on. He comes in with a solid RAS. A lot of his comps courtesy of MockDraftable have transitioned to Guard. If you switch the list to the general ‘OL’ tag, you will see Notre Dame definitely has a “type”. As I got started, a lot of the same things showed up. My final grade on him is 7.7/10 and you can find my writeup here.
2021 Outlook
There are many possible outcomes for this group. It seems at least three of the five spots are near locks. Austin Jackson has the Left Tackle spot locked up. Solomon Kindley will get the first crack at Left Guard, which he played in college and a little last year. I see Skura locking up that Center job and having a bounce-back year.
Neither of the spots on the right side are set yet. The Dolphins have been trying Robert Hunt at Right Guard. He will compete with Jesse Davis, who is a very solid player, but does not have the potential that Hunt does. At this point it looks like he will be a swing guard/tackle. At Right Tackle, Eichenberg will get the first crack here. D.J. Fluker will be waiting to replace if things go south. Switching sides is no easy task; everything is backwards from what you have been doing for years.
This group has the makings to improve drastically if everything falls into place. If not, they will be a below average group once again. I am very bullish on this team overall, and I think Tua returns to his college form. In the second year off his devastating injury as well, linked up with his explosive receiver from Alabama Jaylen Waddle… Feels like #TuaTime to me.
New England Patriots
This group finished as my sixth overall group in 2020, bolstered by their number five rush rank. Their quality depth was one of the biggest factors. Eight lineman played over 150 snaps. As for those specific players, it was another rough year for Isaiah Wynn. In his first three seasons he has played only 18 games, with 10 of those being in 2020. When Wynn was in, he showed why he was worth that first round pick in 2018. His running mate Joe Thuney was consistent as always; he played the most snaps out of anyone on the roster. David Andrews had a very nice comeback year, as he missed 2019 with a pulmonary embolism. He was the glue that this group missed that year.
2020 Sixth round pick Michael Onwenu technically started all 16 games in 2020. He played the third-most snaps on the team. The first two games he started as a tackle-eligible tight end. After that, he was locked in as one of the starting five. While he mainly played Right Tackle on the year, Onwenu was one of the teams biggest chess pieces. Onwenu made appearances at both Left and Right Guard as well. He has some things to clean up, but for a rookie season in a COVID year, it was well above expectations. Next to him for the majority of the year was Shaq Mason, who had another quietly great year.
Biggest Moves
As discussed in my AFC West article, the Patriots lost Joe Thuney to the Chiefs in free agency. Before that the team traded away 2020 opt-out Marcus Cannon to the Texans. That same day, the team traded for a familiar face in Trent Brown. He played only four games if you don’t count the one he only took three snaps. He spent two seasons with the Raiders after his one dominant season with the Patriots. Even without the great Dante Scarnecchia Trent Brown is happy to be back in New England.
As previously mentioned, the Patriots also brought back Ted Karras after his year in Miami. He started 15 games in the year that David Andrews was out. He will not start this year, barring injury, as the biggest move for the Patriots was re-signing the aforementioned cover man David Andrews to a four-year contract.
Draft Picks
The Patriots are hoping that the sixth round will do them well once again this year with Will Sherman. He is another versatile lineman that the Patriots will use like a chess piece if given the opportunity. Sherman played both Left and Right Tackle and has apparently practiced at Center. He is listed as a guard for his RAS. This is most likely where he will start camp as well. Here are his comps courtesy of MockDraftable. I have not done my scouting report on Sherman yet.
2021 Outlook
Few teams will have the kind of depth the Patriots do. I have a lot of promise for this group going into the 2021 season. They have a chance to finish as the number one group. A lot of it will depend on Wynn and Brown staying healthy. If they can put together a full season with improvement from Onwenu, they will be winning a lot of rock fights. Ground and pound will be this team’s way. They will still be one of the better pass protecting units as well. There are few weaknesses for this group. They have the depth, they have the leadership, they have continuity. This group is poised to dominate.
As for fantasy, I am all in on the run game here. I really like the outlook of the man in the gif above, Damien Harris. He should take over this backfield and not let go. Whether Bill Belichick lets that happen or not is another thing.
New York Jets
Not much can be said about the 2020 Jets in general. They made a bunch of signings last year which were all well below average players. This did the team, and especially Sam Darnold, no favors. The one actual improvement they did make was with first-round pick Mekhi Becton. He didn’t have a great year either though, as he struggled with a shoulder injury for a decent chunk of the season. Even with this he was still able to play 70% of the snaps, which shows how much he wants to play. When he was on the field he was every bit as advertised: a big mauler that will crush defenders. Across the line we saw below average play from just about everyone the Jets plugged in. Eight lineman had over 235 snaps. No matter the combination, it was a struggle each week.
Biggest Moves
The Jets signed Morgan Moses a few weeks ago. He improved a good amount in 2020 and was a surprising cut by the Washington Football Team. What he brings is more than just his on-field play. He brings a leadership quality that the Jets have been lacking. His contract is a one-year deal with his cap number being $4.3 million. They also brought in Dan Feeney from the Chargers, most famous at this point for slugging beers while rocking a mullet at the Islanders game. He will provide them depth along the interior.
The most impactful move was bringing in the new coaching staff. Robert Saleh, Mike LaFleur, and Offensive Line Coach John Benton are all coming over from the 49ers. Coach Benton also has the title of Run Game Coordinator. The zone scheme they are bringing will be very beneficial to the group up front. One that their draft pick will fit right into.
Draft Picks
In one of the more surprising moves of the draft, the Jets traded up with the Minnesota Vikings to secure who many thought was the best Guard in the draft, Alijah Vera-Tucker. They had to give up two third round picks, which the Vikings used to draft QB Kellen Mond and fellow Guard Wyatt Davis. This is not a knock against Vera-Tucker, but with the depth of this draft both of those picks could have been used to bolster their line. A few additional names the Jets could’ve taken in the third round: Jalen Mayfield, Ben Cleveland, and Quinn Meinerz.
Back to Vera-Tucker. He made the most of his testing, and his RAS reflects that. He has some very notable comps, courtesy of MockDraftable as always. I like him much better at guard than tackle. My final grade on Alijah Vera-Tucker is 7.9/10 and you can find my final write-up here.
2021 Outlook
With the added leadership of Morgan Moses, this group has the tools to skyrocket up ranks. It doesn’t seem like the Jets want to move George Fant inside. This gives them a very good swing tackle if needed. Fant can also be used in short yardage situations as tackle eligible, which gives them flexibility. Center Connor McGovern and Right Guard Greg Van Roten are still weak spots for this group. The scheme should help a little. The pairing of Vera-Tucker with Becton has the makings of a dominant left side. Vera-Tucker played at a high level when paired with Austin Jackson in college. Becton being as dominant as he is will be a great pairing. The growth of Becton and the health of the line overall will be the key here. Their depth outside of Fant is very weak, which has me worried given last year.
You can read more of Brad’s breakdowns on the NFC West and AFC West here and here. Be sure to follow Brad on Twitter, and follow @TheUndroppables to stay up to date on when new articles drop!
