FanPost

Spielman vs NFL on resources allocated to OL




Read LengbyVike's article on drafting offensive linemen, thought it was interesting, brought up some questions about different strategies teams use to build an offensive line. So I decided to look at how different NFL teams allocate resources to their offensive line.


I looked at the last 6 years (the years that Spielman has been GM) for each team, counted up the offensive line picks in each round for each team, included salary cap spent on OL (and where that ranks in the league), then included Pro Football Focus's ranking for each unit.


Here's the chart. Salaries are from Over The Cap's Positional Spending.

PFF rank is from their post-Week 17 rankings.





Looking at the chart, there appear to be roughly five different strategies being employed by NFL teams. Broken down by strategy,

1. "Draft linemen early, draft them often, and pay the men their money. Make a team strength stronger."

KC, LARM, NO, Oak, SF, Was

Washington and SF were hit by a sizeable truckload of injuries this year, Oakland was hit by a $100m idiot, KC, New Orleans, and the Rams have some of the best lines in the league. All 6 teams have offensive-minded coaches, and all of them except for Andy Reid worked for Mike Shanahan and/or use his system.

Three of those teams are three of the best in the league, Washington would be 4-12 without its line, SF is in the middle of a remarkably fast rebuild... and ...well ...poor Oakland.


2. Hey, kid, could you stop those bad men from killing our QB? ...what? You want to get paid for that?
Low salary, lots of premium picks, lots of OL picks overall

Cin, Det, Den, Hou, Ind, LACH, NYG


Indy's an exception here. Their very young, very highly drafted line finally gelled this year. That's why they're cheap.
Cincinnati would have been in Group 1 during most years of this study, except they let Zeitler and Whitworth go, and replaced them with picks that look an awful lot like busts.

Despite nine first round picks, 24 picks in the first three rounds, and 48 total OL picks, Detroit, Denver, Houston, the Chargers, and the Giants might not be able to field a good offensive line if you combined all their players together.

Busting on first-round linemen really hurts, and really hurts more than just the OL.



3. "We just want the good ones."
Teams that have invested a lot of premium picks, but have not invested heavily in low-middle round linemen

3a. Our line's already good (and well-paid); we just need one extra piece to make it dominant or to replace an aging or departing starter.
Atl, Cle, Dal, Pit, Tenn. Yep, some pretty good lines here, doing some pretty logical things.

3b. Low-midrange salary commitment "We'll get by."
Car, Chi, Jax, Mia.
Chicago has some very good players on some very good deals. Carolina and Jacksonville seem to be comfortable with a middling line. They try to plug their holes cheaply when they pop up. I'm pretty sure Miami just wings it. "What? We need a guard? Okay, that guy."

3c. "We're tanking, we're looking for stars to build around, not fix problems or pay people."
Buf, TB.
The Bills have $7.9m devoted to their offensive line. Total. That's it.

4. "Our line's already good (and well-paid), we're just drafting for depth." Minimal premium pick investment, moderately heavy late-round investment, heavy salary cap investment.
Phi, GB.
Philly hit on Lane Johnson and already had Peters, Green Bay hit on Bakhtiari in the fourth round. In the last six drafts, these two teams have only spent three total picks in the first three rounds on linemen. They have, however spent 15 late-round picks between them on linemen.

Their lines have consistently been two of the best in the league.

5. "Cheap Shotgun Approach" -
Light (but extant) early-round investment, very heavy mid-late round/total number of picks, minimal salary cap committed to the OL.
Ari, Bal, Min, NE, Sea.

This is Spielman's approach that is excoriated here so frequently. He shares it with Belichick, Ozzie Newsome, John Schneider, and Steve Keim. That's some pretty damn good company to be in.

Crazy thing is, Baltimore, New England, and sometimes Arizona have had consistently solid offensive lines. Baltimore and New England are both usually top-ten offensive lines. So it appears that this strategy - can - produce a top-notch line.

Spielman (and Schneider) just haven't hit their picks, though Spielman did hit on John Sullivan and Loadholt earlier in his tenure.

...I said "roughly" five, because there appears to be one more strategy.

Addendum. "Whatza blocker?"

NYJ.

The Jets have not drafted an offensive lineman, in ANY round, since 5th rounder Brandon Shell in 2016. They have made 20 picks - nearly an entire football team - since they last drafted a lineman. Then they picked a punter the next pick, to kind of give you an idea of their priorities.

They have not drafted a lineman in the first three rounds in half a decade - since third rounder Brian Winters in 2013.

The only drafted Jets lineman that appears to be starting is Brian Winters, though Dakota Dozier, their 2014 fourth round pick, appears to be their swing tackle. They have $22m tied up in Kelvin Beachum, Winters, and center Spencer Long, which is more than the Vikings have tied up in their entire offensive line.

Seriously. How did Bowles get fired, and GM Mike Maccagnan kept his job?

Anyway, here's what came out of looking stuff up. Interested in any takeaways that people have.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.