Tag: Trent Williams

The NFL’s top 12 offensive tackles

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best offensive tackles.

Things have changed a lot in the NFL’s offensive tackle hierarchy of late, and sadly, for all the wrong reasons. On last year’s list of the league’s best tackles, David Bakhtiari of the Packers ranked first overall, and Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley ranked third. Then, Bakhtiari missed all but one game last season due to an awful knee injury he suffered late in the 2020 season, and word is that he might be ready for training camp this season.

As for Stanley, he missed all but six games in 2020, and all but one game in 2021 with an ankle injury that required multiple surgeries. As is the case with Bakhtiari, the hope is that Stanley will be ready for training camp.

We do not like this. We would prefer to see the best tackles in the business dealing with the best pass-rushers on a regular basis, but this is where it is.

The… well, not “good news,” but the thing this allows, is new names to discover and analyze. In many cases, the new guys on our list this year are players who needed time, patience, and coaching to reach their full potential. You’ll see a few players who came into the NFL, looked like open gates early on, and then figured it out. We always like to see that, at any position.

We have also seen an increasing blurring of the lines in the importance of left tackle and right tackle. As the NFL becomes more of a quick-game league, the front-side protector had best be on point. Five of our tackles this year ply their trade on the right side, including our second- and third-best.

As for the best offensive tackle, outside of Aaron Donald’s place atop our list of interior defensive linemen, no choice was easier than this. If you’re a 49ers fan, you can skip right ahead and start gloating.

Here are Touchdown Wire’s 12 best offensive tackles heading into the 2022 NFL season — along with links to our position lists to date, which lead to our list of the 101 best players overall.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

The NFL’s top 12 centers

The NFL”s top 11 offensive guards

Cardinals’ edge rushers to face 8 of NFL’s top tackles in 2022

Markus Golden and the other edge defenders for the Cardinals will face tough challenges. They face 8 of the league’s top 12 tackles in 2022.

The Arizona Cardinals no longer have Chandler Jones on the roster to be their top pass rusher. Now it is Markus Golden and a bunch of guys vying for playing time opposite Golden.

Arizona’s edge rushers will need to produce against some of the best tackles in the league in 2022.

Based on Doug Farrar’s rankings of the top tackles in the league for Touchdown Wire, the Cardinals will face eight of the league’s best 12 tackles.

Check them out.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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LOOK: The NFL’s best tackles entering 2022, per Touchdown Wire

Trent Williams of the 49ers tops the list. Neither of the Cardinals’ starting tackles makes the cut.

The Arizona Cardinals have two offensive tackles they trust to protect the edge for quarterback Kyler Murray. D.J. Humphries and Kelvin Beachum have been more than competent.

However, neither makes the list of the 12 best tackles entering the 2022 season by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.

Who makes the list? Check out below and read Farrar’s full post for complete analysis.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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49ers’ Trent Williams is NFL’s standard at offensive tackle

Turns out Trent Williams is like, really good. #49ers

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Trent Williams is good. Like, really good. He might wind up going down as the best left tackle to ever play in the NFL, and at Age 33 he’s still setting the standard at perhaps the second most important position on offense.

Both ESPN and its group of more than 50 executives, scouts, coaches and players voted Williams the top tackle in the NFL. Our very own Touchdown Wire did the same in their OT rankings.

Here’s what ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler wrote about the 49ers’ star LT:

Pro Football Focus gave him an outrageous 97.8 rating in 2022, his 92.3% pass block win rate was ninth among tackles, and he didn’t allow a single sack. One knock on Williams is he occasionally misses in the open field — his seven run-game whiffs last season were the most among the tackles who made the list — but that’s a small toll for his splash playmaking.

“He’s the most talented for sure, but he is a true student of the game with great passion for improving and an extremely smart player as well,” an NFC executive said. “He’s the total package.”

The 49ers landing Williams for a 2020 fifth-round pick and a 2021 third-round choice during the 2020 draft helped them quickly move past Joe Staley’s retirement. While there was a hope Williams could return to form after missing all of the 2019 campaign, he’s exceeded even the loftiest expectations set.

While San Francisco struggles to find consistency on the interior of its offensive line and at right tackle, Williams’ presence and dominance on the left side will always give the 49ers an advantage in the trenches.

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Best player from each team on Chargers’ 2022 schedule

Here is the best player from the Los Angeles Chargers’ opponents in 2022 who could be the ultimate difference-maker.

The Chargers look to make a deep run after coming short of the playoffs. The team is equipped with talent from top to bottom, but they will face stiff competition that will be looking to hold them back from having success.

Here is the best player from Los Angeles’ opponents in 2022 who could be the ultimate difference-maker.

The NFL’s top 12 offensive tackles

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best offensive tackles.

Things have changed a lot in the NFL’s offensive tackle hierarchy of late, and sadly, for all the wrong reasons. On last year’s list of the league’s best tackles, David Bakhtiari of the Packers ranked first overall, and Baltimore’s Ronnie Stanley ranked third. Then, Bakhtiari missed all but one game last season due to an awful knee injury he suffered late in the 2020 season, and word is that he might be ready for training camp this season.

As for Stanley, he missed all but six games in 2020, and all but one game in 2021 with an ankle injury that required multiple surgeries. As is the case with Bakhtiari, the hope is that Stanley will be ready for training camp.

We do not like this. We would prefer to see the best tackles in the business dealing with the best pass-rushers on a regular basis, but this is where it is.

The… well, not “good news,” but the thing this allows, is new names to discover and analyze. In many cases, the new guys on our list this year are players who needed time, patience, and coaching to reach their full potential. You’ll see a few players who came into the NFL, looked like open gates early on, and then figured it out. We always like to see that, at any position.

We have also seen an increasing blurring of the lines in the importance of left tackle and right tackle. As the NFL becomes more of a quick-game league, the front-side protector had best be on point. Five of our tackles this year ply their trade on the right side, including our second- and third-best.

As for the best offensive tackle, outside of Aaron Donald’s place atop our list of interior defensive linemen, no choice was easier than this. If you’re a 49ers fan, you can skip right ahead and start gloating.

Here are Touchdown Wire’s 12 best offensive tackles heading into the 2022 NFL season — along with links to our position lists to date, which lead to our list of the 101 best players overall.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

The NFL’s top 12 centers

The NFL’s top 12 offensive guards

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Sports Info Solutions, Pro Football Focus, and Football Outsiders unless otherwise indicated).

Where does 4-star OL commit Cayden Green rank among Oklahoma’s best OL recruits all-time?

Taking a look back at where 2023 four-star commit Cayden Green ranks among Sooners all-time according to the 247Sports composite ratings.

For years, the Oklahoma Sooners have been a hot spot for talented offensive linemen. With Bill Bedenbaugh leading the position, Oklahoma’s developed a reputation for putting together some of the best offensive lines in college football over the last decade.

And Bedenbaugh hopes to take this next crop of linemen and turn them into the next great Sooners’ offensive line.

The Oklahoma Sooners 2023 recruiting class got a jolt over the last week and a half, picking up six recruits (three along the offensive line) since June 27. Heath Ozaeta kicked off, but since they’ve added Cayden Green and Logan Howland to the mix.

Green was one of the more highly anticipated commitments for the Oklahoma Sooners and his pledge had social media buzzing. Green is a talented prospect that gives the Sooners a huge boost in their team recruiting ranking, which has risen to No. 13 in the wake of his commitment.

With Green’s commitment, let’s take a look at where he ranks among Oklahoma Sooners’ offensive linemen all-time in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

More evidence Trent Williams might be an Avenger

Trent Williams might actually be a superhero. This story is wild. #49ers

There aren’t many NFL athletes like Trent Williams. The 49ers’ All-Everything left tackle is the rarest combination of size and athleticism that allows him to do things like go in motion on a run play to bulldoze defensive ends and linebackers.

His athletic feats aren’t limited to the gridiron though. 49ers tight end George Kittle told a story on Bussin With the Boys about a time Williams got after it in the weight room.

“We had a night game and we flew back, I think we got home at like 3:00 or 4:00 AM and we work out at like 12:00 the next day. He shows up, and you can do what you kind of wanna do on Mondays – lift, sweat a little bit, get all the kinks out,” Kittle said. “He got upset about something like they wanted him to do a little bit more, and he was like, ‘okay, watch what I can do.’ And he gets under the squat rack bar and he has 315 (pounds) on it, reps it for three. Puts a plate on, reps it for three. Puts a plate on, reps it for three. Gets up to like 615 or 650 or something like that, and the coach is like, ‘you don’t need to do that.’ And (Trent) looks at him and he goes, ‘for sure.’ Reps it for 10 times. 10 times over 600 pounds. I watched it live. 600 over 10 times … Racks it and goes, ‘I’m good, right?’ and he just walked out.”

This is particularly wild given that Williams played a full NFL football game the night before this.

There are a handful of logical conclusions to how Williams is able to accomplish what he does in regards to speed and strength for a person his size, but the one we keep falling back on is that he’s actually an Avenger.

Williams is in hiding and needs an outlet for his skills, so he chooses professional football where he can use some of his powers to be the best player at perhaps the second-most important position in the sport. Then every once in awhile he reaches a little deeper into his bag to show up a coach that might’ve irked him less than 12 hours after they landed from a flight home.

Of course, he might also just work super hard to maintain that high level of athleticism. While this is the more reasonable, unquestionably correct answer, we’re not taking Avenger off the table.

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Trent Williams regrets playing hurt in NFC championship game

Trent Williams says he shouldn’t have played on an ankle injury in the NFC championship game. #49ers

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Trent Williams battled through a high ankle sprain to play for the 49ers in their NFC championship game loss to the Rams in January. If he had it to do over again though, he would’ve handed the keys to the left tackle spot to his backup, Colton McKivitz.

Williams on Tuesday spoke with reporters and said he shouldn’t have suited up for San Francisco’s biggest game of the year.

”Colton would’ve done a better job on two healthy ankles than I did on one,” Williams said via NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco.

Pro Football Focus gave Williams a 52.5 grade that day — by far his worst mark as a 49er. He also allowed five pressures, the most he’s allowed since Week 17 of the 2018 season.

McKivitz’s only start of 2021 came in Week 18 against the Rams in Los Angeles. He allowed two sacks and four pressures, but held his own as San Francisco clinched a spot in the playoffs with a victory.

It’s admirable that Williams is willing to step up and say in hindsight he should’ve had McKivitz take his spot. At the same time, the veteran’s competitiveness should also be lauded since playing on a high ankle sprain is exceedingly rare and presumably very painful. Williams was noticeably favoring his ankle during the game.

It ultimately might not have mattered who played left tackle for the 49ers in the NFC championship game. There were a lot of plays that didn’t go their way that had little or nothing to do with the offensive line.

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49ers LT Trent Williams wishes Aaron Donald would’ve retired

#49ers LT Trent Williams wishes Aaron Donald would’ve retired.

The Rams and star defensive tackle Aaron Donald agreed to a new three-year deal that made Donald the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. That contract may have been the impetus behind Donald’s decision to continue playing football instead of hanging up his pads and retiring. His decision to return to the gridiron wasn’t a welcome one for 49ers left tackle Trent Williams.

“I wish he would have retired, but he deserved a new contract” Williams told reporters after Tuesday’s practice.

There might’ve been a hint of a joke in the first part of Williams’ statement, but a lot of truth is said in jest. While the 49ers have had some luck with containing Donald over the last few years, he’s still a nightmare on the interior. He didn’t post a sack against San Francisco the regular season last year, but he did have 15 tackles and three tackles for loss. In the NFC championship game he had three tackles and two quarterback hits, including the one that forced an interception from Jimmy Garoppolo on San Francisco’s final offensive play. In the three games Donald posted seven total pressures per Pro Football Focus.

Williams and Donald will face off plenty over the next three years, even if they don’t match up one-on-one very often. San Francisco hosts the Rams in Week 4 on Monday Night Football this season. They’ll visit Donald and the Rams at SoFi Stadium in Week 8.

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