A few years ago, long before a career change that brought me to this moment, I was doing what probably everyone reading this piece was doing: Watching the NFL Draft. It was the 2013 NFL Draft to be exact, and the Miami Dolphins had just made their first-round selection: Dion Jordan, a pass rusher out of the University of Oregon.
It was a bit of a shocking move, in that Jordan was considered a first-round prospect but maybe not someone worthy of a Top Five selection. He also tore his labrum that February and would be sidelined for three to four months as he recovered from the surgery to repair the injury.
When the pick was made Mike Mayock, covering the draft for the NFL Network, said something that has stuck with me since. He talked about how the Jordan pick was more evidence that the most important spot on a football field is the seven yards behind the center. I’m paraphrasing now, but he said that teams need guys who can “throw from that spot, protect that spot, and attack that spot.”
When you are going to pay the guy throwing from that spot somewhere in the vicinity of $500 million dollars, the guys protecting that spot better be darn good at what they do.
Here are some of the best the league has to offer at protecting the spot from the tackle position.
More Top 11 lists: Slot defenders | Outside cornerbacks | Safeties | Linebackers | Edge defenders | Interior defensive linemen
Honorable Mentions
Two names are going to be glaringly absent from this list, so we need to address them right out of the gate. First up is Trent Williams, who found a new home this offseason with the San Francisco 49ers. Williams is usually a lock for lists like this, but as he missed all of 2019, he failed to meet the snap threshold for this piece. Then there is Jason Peters, another mainstay at the offensive tackle position. Part of the criteria for these lists is a bit of forward-thinking, and since Peters is actually kicking inside to guard this year for the Philadelphia Eagles, it is hard to consider him a tackle for this exercise.
Other names that just missed out include Bryan Bulaga, who is sliding into a tackle spot for the Los Angeles Chargers this season, and Jake Matthews, who continues a long lineage of NFL success. Then there is Trent Brown, a massive human who locked down Tom Brady’s blindside two seasons ago, and now handles the right tackle spot for the Las Vegas Raiders. A few more years of success from Brown probably slides him onto future such lists. Finally Braden Smith is worthy of consideration after just two years in the league, and perhaps he’ll crack the Top 11 in next year’s edition.
Best Tackle Pair
As we will discuss in a few minutes, you need bookends at the tackle position in today’s NFL. Gone are the days when the best pass rusher was going to be attacking your left tackle on down after down. Now defenses are attacking from every possible angle, and some of the best pass rushers in the game (such as Von Miller and Khalil Mack) are working against your right tackle in large part. So the teams that have a pair of bookend tackles are in good shape.
Those teams include the Baltimore Ravens, who get to roll out Ronnie Stanley and Orlando Brown Jr. on Sundays. Then there are the Dallas Cowboys, and we will see both La’el Collins and Tyron Smith on this list. Indianapolis has a solid pair as well, with Anthony Castonzo and the previously-mentioned Braden Smith. Some good pairs were broken up this offseason, such as Bavid Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga, as well as Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin. Lane Johnson and Jason Peters are still teammates, but no longer the pair of bookends they once were.
That brings us to the top duo, the combination of Ryan Ramczyk and Terron Armstead in New Orleans. Both players make this list and they are both elite talents at the position. Sean Payton and company have assembled a talented offensive line group and these bookend tackles are a huge part.
Now, the Top 11.