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. Here’s a recap of the offseason moves and draft picks from the teams in the NFC West. Be on the lookout for future divisional previews leading into my preseason Offensive Line rankings. For continuity and projected team starters, follow my current Offensive Line Rankings.
Seattle Seahawks
Seattle has been a run-first style team under Pete Carroll. It makes sense for them to build a run-first offensive line. They have done well enough the past three years in adjusted line yards per carry (ALY/C) according to FootballOutsiders, their lowest being 4.32 ALY/C in 2019, sandwiched by 4.50 and 4.53 in 2018 and 2020. Part of this is due to scheme, outside playmakers, and running back ability. However, they don’t really have anyone that truly stands out as elite up front, but they work well together in the scheme. Duane Brown is far and away their best player at Left Tackle. He plays a good anchor and will lead the way in their shift to a more refined passing attack.
The best thing that happened last year was getting Ethan Pocic and rookie Damien Lewis experience. They were able to bring back Pocic with their limited cap space, which will be good for continuity. Lewis will definitely need to clean things up in his sophomore season, but showed some promise overall. It was good that these two stayed together and went through some growing pains in 2020. Outside at Right Tackle there will be a camp battle between Brandon Shell and Cedric Ogbuehi. Carroll has said that he liked what he saw from Ogbuehi in his limited play time last year.
Biggest Moves
As for the other guard spot, the Seahawks traded their 2021 fifth Round Pick for Gabe Jackson. The Raiders had plans to release Jackson, but the trade ensured Seattle their guy. Jackson’s play the last two seasons certainly has not lived up to his extension in 2017 leading up to this point. However, he can still play at a good enough level. The Seahawks did sign him to a three-year extension after giving up zero sacks last year. The extension gives them some flexibility, but it looks like Jackson will be in Seattle for the next two seasons.
Draft Picks
Not too much of note here other than sixth round pick Stone Forsythe. He does have some decent comps at MockDraftable, as well as a good RAS. He very well could be the successor to Duane Brown, who is a free agent after this year, but barring injury he will most likely not play very much in 2021. I have not finished my film evaluation on him at this time.
2021 Outlook
Sacks are a QB stat and sure, some of them fall on the QB, but typically not the majority. Some are coverage sacks, some are due to scrambling QBs, some are due to excellent defensive line play, and others are due to poor offensive line play. It doesn’t matter which way you slice the pie, it still comes out in pieces.
The Seahawks offensive line will have to improve in order for this team to do what they truly want to do: throw the ball effectively. Yes, Russell Wilson can take some sacks away, but in the last five years of the regular season alone, he has taken 230 sacks, or 2.875 sacks per game. That may not seem like a lot, but the goal is always zero. Sacks stop drives, kill the offenses momentum, and potentially flip it to the other team. Can they clean it up? Sure, but it will be an uphill battle. This group has the potential to be the best group Wilson has ever had, they just need to show it.
I’m not saying to not draft the Seahawks playmakers in fantasy. Wilson is still one of the most gifted QBs in the league. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are more than capable. I still think Chris Carson is underrated and his potential involvement in this new passing game has me excited. This is one of the teams that has overcome sub par line play and been great.
Los Angeles Rams
The resurgence of Andrew Whitworth last year was nothing short of incredible. His play before suffering a torn MCL was great. He was once again one of the best tackles in the league. Recovering from that torn MCL and playing in the playoffs was a feat that had many in awe. Aside from Whitworth, the rest of the Rams line played above expectations. A big part of this was the rest of them stayed relatively healthy. Austin Blythe and Austin Corbett were both able to play 100% of snaps. Rob Havenstein missed three snaps on the year. David Edwards played nearly 90% of total snaps after taking over for Joseph Noteboom. Noteboom started the season at guard, but suffered an injury and later returned to take over for Whitworth.
Aside from staying healthy, the Sean McVay offense is very kind to the big guys up front. Zone scheme with lots of play action and roll outs. This leads to not many one-on-one blocks and not needing the best lineman to dominate the defense. This has allowed the Rams to not have to use high draft capital on elite offensive line prospects (I know they don’t have any capital anyway.)
But they don’t need it; the Rams are essentially playing money ball on the offensive line. Since McVay started with the Rams in January of 2017, they have drafted a total of six offensive lineman. None have been in rounds one or two. Two were taken in the third round, (Joseph Noteboom and Bobby Evans,) one in the fourth, (Brian Allen,) and one in the fifth (David Edwards.) Jamil Demby and Tremayne Anchrum round out the picks in the sixth and seventh rounds.
Biggest Moves
The Rams biggest move so far is not re-signing 2020 Center Austin Blythe. They let him walk and sign with Kansas City.
Draft Picks
Once again, the Rams spent no draft picks on Offensive Lineman in 2021. They did sign two players as UDFA in Alaric Jackson and Jordan Meredith.
2021 Outlook
I’m not sure how much longer Whitworth has in the NFL, but they sure did give him a good shot at a ring by bringing in Matthew Stafford. Rob Havenstein will continue to lock down the Right Tackle spot for the Rams. The interior is where it starts to get a little dicey. There have been reports of them moving Corbett in and playing Center. With that, they are also sliding Bobby Evans in to Right Guard for a shot to win the job there. Evans started at Left Guard in the playoffs for an injured David Edwards over Noteboom. David Edwards seems to have won the Left Guard job when Noteboom went down. The latter can backup just about anywhere along the rest of the line if there are injuries. For right now, I am a little low on the Rams, but there is a lot of room to climb.
I am all in on this Rams passing attack for 2021. Robert Woods is forever slept on and Cooper Kupp will continue to carve underneath. I believe Tyler Higbee will once again be fantasy relevant even with Jacob Harris waiting in wings. As for Cam Akers, he very well could have a top five fantasy season if given the workhorse role he deserves. Whether McVay thinks he has earned it will be something to watch. With Henderson healthy I belive Akers’ upside is capped.
One point of note is the two playoff games that Akers was given that workhorse role was also with Whitworth starting. His late season surge was without Whitworth. In the playoffs, McVay gave Akers 46 carries for 221 yards (4.8 YPC) with a touchdown each game. My fear is his lack of reception opportunity in this offensive scheme. Akers all season only had 17 targets. However, with Matthew Stafford I think the targets increase a decent amount.
Arizona Cardinals
2020 was overall a disappointing year for the Cardinals, as many thought the second year with Kliff Kingsbury coupled with the addition of DeAndre Hopkins would bring wins aplenty. Eight wins is an improvement over 2019, and hopefully this offense can take another step forward in 2021. Up front we saw D.J. Humphries and Kelvin Beachum allow three sacks each. They were the only two on the line to play more than 85% of the snaps. Justin Pugh was close, but committed nine penalties last year. Hopefully that was just a fluke, as he is a very average guard in NFL, but better at pass protection than in the run. Mason Cole also committed eight penalties last year, but shipped him to the Vikings for a sixth round pick. Their Left Guard spot was a bit of a revolving door. We saw J.R. Sweezy and Justin Murray split time there. Sweezy is still a free agent as it sits right now. They finished middle of the pack in my Pressure Coefficient.
Biggest Moves
The Mason Cole trade was able to happen due to the Cardinals acquiring Rodney Hudson in the same light that the Seahawks got Gabe Jackson. The Raiders were also going to cut Hudson who was unhappy after the team traded Trent Brown, was set to release Jackson, and had not yet re-signed Richie Incognito. They sent their 2021 third round pick in exchange for Hudson and a 2021 seventh round pick. He becomes an immediate improvement over Cole and for the line overall.
The other competition for Justin Murray at Right Guard will be Brian Winters. He has been a bit of a journeyman the last few years between the Jets and the Bills, now finding himself on the Cardinals. It seems this is Justin Murray’s job to lose at this point and Winters was brought in to push him.
Draft Picks
The seventh round pick the Cardinals got back from the Raiders was used on Michael Menet from Penn State. Barring some major injuries, he will not get any playing time this year.
2021 Outlook
Kyler Murray is able to mitigate a decent number of sacks with his scrambling ability, which certainly helps the big guys up front look better. I truly believe that Hudson was sought after in the trade to help Kyler with protections as well. This will allow Kyler to just play football. He won’t have to worry as much about where pressure is coming from as Hudson directs traffic up front. While Hudson may have lost a step physically, he more than makes up for it mentally. The rest of the line will be elevated with Hudson there as well. Recently, I have seen some more advocates for this, but it really isn’t talked about enough. This team is built for the air raid offense that will light up scoreboards.
The run game will be better with the additions of Rondale Moore and A.J. Green. Teams will have to spread out the box and respect their offense. This also means that Murray will have bigger lanes to take advantage of as well. The addition of James Conner makes this backfield a bit questionable. They very well could give Chase Edmonds the majority of the workload and make him a three-down back. I believe it will be Conner inside the 20s and Edmonds in the middle of the field. They are both capable pass catchers and low end RB1s in this offense if one were to miss time. This line is on the fringe of being sneaky good this year.
(P.S. This is one of the most fun teams to do projections for, please head on over to Analyst Depot to do your projections today!)
San Francisco 49ers
Arguably one of the best seasons of Trent Williams career last year was unable to overcome the injuries this team had overall. The team did right by Williams, giving him a six-year deal worth $138 million. Sitting out 2019 did not hurt Williams, but he definitely can polish his game up a little bit. He committed ten penalties and allowed four sacks according to PFF. Williams had talked up his right hand man, Laken Tomlinson, in the preseason last year. The 49ers chose not to extend him this offseason, which is telling to me on how they feel. He had a bit of a rocky season in 2020, but was able to play nearly one hundred percent of the snaps. Hopefully a full year building chemistry with Williams will help him get to the next level.
The 49ers Center position was a bit of a mess with injuries last year. We’ll save that spot for a little later. On the right side of the line we saw two others play nearly all the snaps in Dan Brunskill and Mike McGlinchey. I had the 49ers ranked number four in the preseason last year, mainly because I was hoping McGlinchey and Tomlinson would take that step forward. Both of them did, just not enough. Baby steps are still steps, however. Brunskill got a one-year deal for just shy of $1 million; he will provide good depth this year. McGlinchey did well in the run game, but very poorly in pass protection. He has bulked up a bit this offseason however.
Biggest Moves
The 49ers addressed the shaky Center position in a big way by signing Alex Mack. He gets to reunite with Kyle Shanahan and fits well in the zone scheme. 2020 was not a great year for him, however. He will turn 36 later this year, and the 49ers can save $5.5 million cutting him next offseason. This very well could be a one year rental. Either way, Mack being familiar with the system and him being healthy for the majority of his career is a major boost to this group.
Draft Picks
The 49ers spent two draft picks on lineman, both of which could be starters in 2022. The first one, Aaron Banks, projects to be the starter at Right Guard in 2021. The second, Jaylon Moore, should be a depth piece for 2021 with a possibility to start in 2022 should the 49ers decide to move on from Tomlinson. For now I’ll focus on Banks. This is a homecoming for Banks, as he is a Bay Area native. He has a pretty decent RAS. Banks has already slimmed down, which of course should help athleticism. My final grade for Banks is a 6.9/10, and you can read my write-up here.
Also, on his profile on the 49ers website, it mentions that he and fellow Offensive Lineman hosted pizza night every Thursday to bond. This brings back memories of my college days doing the same thing. That poor buffet.
At this time I have not finished my evaluation of Jaylon Moore, but here is his RAS and comps from MockDraftable. Definitely a lot to live up to for his comps, but he could bode very well for the 49ers future.
2021 Outlook
Admittedly, my expectations were too high going into last year for the 49ers. This year, for now at least, I have them ranked seventh. Trent Williams should continue his dominance as a top three tackle in the league. Alex Mack can run the show up front, a blessing when rookie Trey Lance gets to start. Mike McGlinchey with some added mass should improve. We have seen players make leaps and bounds in their third year, and I’m hopeful for his growth as well. If Laken Tomlinson can improve in between Williams and Mack, this group will have one of the most dominant left sides in the league. The biggest question mark for now is at Right Guard. This is Banks’ job to lose at this point, but they can still rely on Brunskill if needed. This group has a chance to be in top-three conversation by year end.
From a fantasy perspective, this is one of the hardest teams to predict. We don’t know what target share will look like with Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle on the field at the same time. We don’t know if or when Jimmy Garoppolo will get benched. The backfield is, and has always been, a mess to predict. The hot hand will get touches each week. I have thought of this backfield how I think of the Patriots backfield. Whichever running back wins the pick-the-number challenge that week gets the majority of the touches. Whichever way the chips fall, this team will be fun to watch. This group up front, coupled with the Shanahan’s scheme, will be a thing of beauty in 2021.
