Doug Farrar of USA Today’s TouchdownWire put together a list of the NFL’s 11 best offensive guards yesterday and No. 11 on the list? Former Badger and current New York Giant Kevin Zeitler.
The NFL's 11 best offensive guards https://t.co/MgfeSrJSjo
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 21, 2020
Here’s what the piece had to say about the former Badger:
Cincinnati’s first-round pick in the 2012 draft out of Wisconsin, Zeitler was a stalwart force on the inside for the Bengals through the 2016 season, and was then the same for the Browns until he was traded to the Giants as part of the Olivier Vernon trade in March of 2019. While Zeitler can still get it done in nasty fashion as a run-blocker, he’s given away a bit of agility over time — not that agility was his primary attribute before, and he’s still got enough to make this list. Zeitler allowed three sacks in the 2019 season on 686 pass-blocking reps, as well as three quarterback hits and 16 quarterback hurries. That total of 22 pressures is the second-most the veteran has allowed in a season, behind the 29 he gave up in 2017. Zeitler did lower his penalty total from seven in 2018 to just two in 2019, though there were times when he seemed to get a bit of veteran love from the officials. Regardless, Zeitler is one of the most consistent guards of his era, and he’s still got a lot left to offer at age 30.
ProFootballFocus gave the veteran guard a grade of 76.4 for his 2019 season–one during which he played 93 percent of the Giants’ offensive snaps and only committed one holding penalty.
Sometimes, blocking is about survival. Kevin Zeitler gets bulldozed by Fletcher Cox here, but keeps the big man off his quarterback with a little veteran sauce at the end. pic.twitter.com/9kRR2R2QbY
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 18, 2020
Zeitler will be 30 this season and is set to be the Giants’ starting right guard as they look to keep their young quarterback Daniel Jones clean in the pocket and healthy throughout the season.
The former Badger is getting up there in years–now with eight NFL seasons under his belt–so this ranking may not stand for much longer, but if history tells us anything it’s that Wisconsin products on the offensive line stay around for a long time and are annually ranked as some of the best linemen in the league.