If you were to ask a number of offensive skill players around the NFL just how important offensive guards are, you may get a selection of different answers. One skill position player who may have a stronger take on that than others is Tom Brady. Brady has been to nine Super Bowls in his estimable career, willing six and losing three. In the two the Patriots lost to the Giants, one player made as much of a difference as any other, and that was New York defensive lineman Justin Tuck. Tuck was able to get past New England’s interior offensive linemen and force Brady to deal with the one thing that drives him nuts — pressure up the middle that prevents him from stepping up in the pocket.
More mobile quarterbacks can benefit from great guards who can get up to the second and third levels, and running backs with top-level guards in front of them are obviously going to have a better go of it. Guards are no longer the anonymous guys who toil away without recognition, and here are the best in the NFL to do it right now.
More Top 11 lists: Slot defenders | Outside cornerbacks | Safeties | Linebackers | Edge defenders | Interior defensive linemen | Offensive tackles
Honorable Mentions
Brandon Brooks of the Eagles would have been in the top three on this list, and perhaps the second guard overall… because no matter what, nobody was replacing my top guy on the list. Last season, Brooks allowed just one sack and 19 total pressures on 647 pass-blocking snaps, and he was also a top-shelf run-blocker. Sadly. Brooks will miss the entire 2020 season with a torn Achilles’ tendon, which has the Eagles trying to switch Jason Peters from left tackle to guard — an interesting experiment. Also, had Baltimore’s Marshal Yanda not announced his retirement, he would have been in the top half of this list, as well.
Beyond that, there were some tough calls as to who to leave off this list. While Joe Thuney of the Patriots was an easy add. But Shaq Mason, his battery-mate, just missed the cut, as there were a few guys who were slightly better run-blockers in 2019, and Thuney’s pass pro was simply on a different level. Gabe Jackson of the Raiders had some great tape as usual, but was a bit too prone to allowing sacks. The same could be said of former Panthers guard Trai Turner, who’s been one of my favorite interior offensive linemen since he came into the league in 2014. Perhaps a change of scenery (Turner was traded to the Chargers in March in exchange for tackle Russell Okung) will put him back on the right foot. And Larry Warford, who the Saints released in May in a cap-cutting move, should find himself on a roster sooner than later.
Now, onto the top 11.