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Modern Positional Average
O.K.. This is tricky. Originally we were ironclad on positions in regards to how they appear on a stat sheet, but we were kidding ourselves. The front seven on any defensive corps are a rotating group of roles that are far more complicated to define than any offensive position. We made a significant change, focuing on pass rushers and interior lineman, but even then the myriad of roles renders it difficult especially when we are looking at matching current players with their ast five counterparts.
Take a look at Richard Seymour, who could do it all, but stat-wise does not fit into a category of either. This plays with the stat-line, but don't we know a Hall of Famer when we see it?
Here are the statistics that we are using based on the last group of Defensive Lineman/Linebackers/EDGE to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
- Games Played: 206.8
- Approximate Value: 129.6
- Approximate Value per Games Played: 0.6267
- Games Started: 187
- Approximate Value per Games Started: 0.6930
- Approximate Value per Five-Year Peak: 61.8
- Approximate Value’s Best Five Results: 67.0
- Top Five Defensive Player of the Year Finishes**:4.6
- Pro Bowls: 7.2
- First Team All-Pros*: 2.8
- Quarterback Sacks: 114.1
- Quarterback Sacks Five-Year Peak: 52.8
- Top Five Quarterback Sacks Finishes: 6
- Tackles for Loss: 129.5
- Tackles for Loss Five-Year Peak: 65.4
- Top Five Tackles for Loss Finishes**: 7.2
- Combined Tackles: 570.2
- Combined Tackles Five-Year Peak: 248
- Forced Fumbles: 30
- Forced Fumbles Five-Year Peak 12.4:
- Super Bowl Wins 1.2
- Super Bowl Appearances 2.0
*This is an aggregate of the Top Five finishes (5th = 1, 4th = 2, 3rd = 3, 2nd = 4th, 1st = 5)
**This is a reminder that the All-Pros we use are from the AP.
We told you this is not perfect!
#6 Overall, Trent Williams, San Francisco 49ers, Offensive Tackle, #2 Offensive Lineman
2023 Pre-Season Rank #6, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #20, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #33, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #35. 2018-23*
Aging like wine, we love the story of Trent Williams, who was one of the better Offensive Linemen in Washington history, who wanted out after he felt that the team misdiagnised a dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a growth that was determined to be a type of cancer in 2019, but was dismissed by the Redskins medical team in 2013. He did not play at all in 2019 and wanted out, landing in San Francisco in 2020, where he has been a First Team All-Pro the last three years and now has the most Pro Bowls (11) of any active Offensive Lineman.
What Williams has accomplished in San Francisco has cemented a bronze bust.
*Williams sat out in 2019.
#4 Overall, Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys, Right Guard, #1 Offensive Lineman
2023 Pre-Season Rank #6,2022 Pre-Season Rank #11, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #19, 2021 Pre-Season Rank #30. (Peak considered 2018-19/21-23)
Martin began his pro career going six for six in Pro Bowls, but a seventh consecutive one eluded him in an injury-plagued 2020 where he missed six Games. Over the last two seasons, Martin proved that 2020 was a blip, as he returned to Pro Bowl and First Team All-Pro form over the last three years, giving him nine Pro Bowls and seven First Team All-Pros, both of which are over the MPA. Furthermore, Martin's AV/G is also well over the MPA, and we think he has the best Hall of Fame resume of any active Offensive Lineman. The All-Decade Guard is a Hall of Famer now and is making a case for the first ballot.
#22 Overall, Tyron Smith, New York Jets, Offensive Tackle, #4 Offensive Lineman
2023 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2022 Pre-Season Rank #16, 2021 Pre-Season Rank: #23, 2020 Pre-Season Rank #27. Peak Period: 2013-17
For multiple reasons, Tyron Smith intrigues us the most among the Offensive linemen we have ranked in 2024.
From 2013 to 2019, Smith was considered the best (or close to) Left Tackle in the business, attending every Pro Bowl and earning four All-Pros (two First Team and two Second Team). However, his performance has been marred by injuries in the 2020 and 2022 seasons, raising questions about what he has left, though he did answer with a nice bounce back in 2023.
Now the Tackle has moved on from Dallas after 13 years to join the New York Jets, but is doing so at a time when the Jets are a questionable squad. It is getting harder for Offensive Linemen to enter the Hall, and eight Pro Bowls and multiple First-Team All-Pros don’t always cut it (ask Richmond Webb who has seven Pro Bowls and multiple All-Pros). Longevity might be his key.