On commiting to the offensive line, Part Two

In Part One of this series, we saw that when a team commits to rebuilding its offensive line, good things can happen.

Now we’ll see what can happen to a team which does not make a commitment to its o-line.

Since the year 2000, the Tennessee Titans have selected 41 players in the first three rounds of the draft. Only one of those 41 players was an offensive lineman (Michael Roos, second round, 2005.) To phrase that in a slightly different way, the Titans have committed only 2% of their top resources to address that position group.

The results of the Titans’ repeated and continuous neglect of the line can be seen in the charts following the jump.

These rankings are by Adjusted Line Yards from Football Outsiders, which measure o-line run blocking.

**10-year Football Outsiders run-blocking rankings (Adjusted Line Yards)**
Rank	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
1	DEN	MIN	NYJ	IND	SD	NE	DEN	MIA	NE	NO
2	MIN	GB	IND	KC	JAC	CLE	NYJ	NO	JAC	NE
3	OAK	KC	KC	DEN	PHI	NYG	NE	DAL	NYJ	PIT
4	WAS	PHI	PIT	CIN	NYG	IND	NYG	BAL	HOU	HOU
5	KC	IND	NE	WAS	IND	PHI	WAS	NE	KC	CAR
6	JAC	BAL	ATL	SEA	SF	TB	NO	DEN	NO	BAL
7	MIA	JAC	SEA	ATL	CHI	NO	SF	PHI	NYG	NYJ
8	BUF	SF	DEN	HOU	STL	HOU	CAR	NYJ	ATL	SD
9	SF	DEN	MIN	SD	CIN	ARI	ATL	GB	BAL	DAL
10	CIN	OAK	STL	NYG	DAL	CIN	HOU	ATL	PHI	WAS
11	GB	SEA	NYG	MIA	NO	TEN	BAL	JAC	MIN	DEN
12	NE	CAR	BAL	PIT	NE	SF	MIN	BUF	DAL	BUF
13	PHI	WAS	GB	CAR	MIN	MIN	BUF	NYG	SF	JAC
14	BAL	TB	TEN	DET	WAS	DAL	DAL	PIT	SD	OAK
15	ATL	NYJ	PHI	CHI	KC	DEN	TEN	HOU	OAK	ARI
16	TEN	SD	SD	BUF	GB	OAK	JAC	ARI	MIA	GB
17	SD	NO	WAS	OAK	ATL	WAS	GB	CAR	CLE	MIA
18	NYG	BUF	CIN	TB	DEN	JAC	SD	SD	CIN	MIN
19	ARI	CLE	HOU	NO	HOU	CAR	CLE	CHI	PIT	SEA
20	SEA	ATL	TB	TEN	BAL	PIT	PHI	MIN	BUF	CIN
21	PIT	CIN	OAK	NYJ	MIA	MIA	MIA	CLE	ARI	SF
22	NYJ	NE	DET	DAL	PIT	DET	TB	TEN	IND	TB
23	CLE	NYG	BUF	STL	ARI	NYJ	IND	OAK	GB	CLE
24	NO	CHI	CAR	CLE	CAR	BUF	PIT	CIN	WAS	CHI
25	TB	DAL	JAC	PHI	NYJ	SD	CHI	WAS	TB	IND
26	CHI	PIT	DAL	NE	BUF	GB	OAK	IND	STL	PHI
27	STL	STL	NO	JAC	TB	BAL	SEA	SEA	CAR	ATL
28	IND	MIA	CHI	BAL	TEN	STL	STL	STL	SEA	NYG
29	CAR	HOU	ARI	SF	OAK	SEA	KC	DET	CHI	KC
30	DET	TEN	CLE	GB	SEA	CHI	ARI	KC	DEN	STL
31	DAL	ARI	SF	MIN	CLE	KC	DET	TB	TEN	DET
32	HOU	DET	MIA	ARI	DET	ATL	CIN	SF	DET	TEN

That should clearly illustrate that the Titans have not had a top ten run-blocking line for the last ten years. Five times they were mediocre, middle of the road. Five times they were in the bottom tier. Disturbingly, they’ve been in the bottom ranks three years in a row, including 31st two years ago and worst in the league last year.

Next are the rankings in a different format, where you can see where each team ranked for each of the last ten years. This chart is sorted by best (highest average ten-year ranking) to worst.

**10-year Football Outsiders run-blocking rankings (Adjusted Line Yards)**
Rank	Team	Avg Rk	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
1	NE	8.9	12	22	5	26	12	1	3	5	1	2
2	DEN	10.2	1	9	8	3	18	15	1	6	30	11
3	NO	12.0	24	17	27	19	11	7	6	2	6	1
4	NYG	12.1	18	23	11	10	4	3	4	13	7	28
5	NYJ	12.7	22	15	1	21	25	23	2	8	3	7
6	JAC	12.7	6	7	25	27	2	18	16	11	2	13
7	PHI	12.8	13	4	15	25	3	5	20	7	10	26
8	MIN	13.0	2	1	9	31	13	13	12	20	11	18
9	WAS	13.4	4	13	17	5	14	17	5	25	24	10
10	BAL	13.7	14	6	12	28	20	27	11	4	9	6
11	IND	14.1	28	5	2	1	5	4	23	26	22	25
12	SD	14.2	17	16	16	9	1	25	18	18	14	8
13	HOU	14.8	32	29	19	8	19	8	10	15	4	4
14	ATL	15.1	15	20	6	7	17	32	9	10	8	27
15	KC	15.2	5	3	3	2	15	31	29	30	5	29
16	GB	16.3	11	2	13	30	16	26	17	9	23	16
17	PIT	16.5	21	26	4	12	22	20	24	14	19	3
18	DAL	16.6	31	25	26	22	10	14	14	3	12	9
19	CIN	16.6	10	21	18	4	9	10	32	24	18	20
20	SF	16.8	9	8	31	29	6	12	7	32	13	21
21	BUF	17.2	8	18	23	16	26	24	13	12	20	12
22	OAK	17.4	3	10	21	17	29	16	26	23	15	14
23	MIA	17.5	7	28	32	11	21	21	21	1	16	17
24	CAR	17.8	29	12	24	13	24	19	8	17	27	5
25	SEA	20.4	20	11	7	6	30	29	27	27	28	19
26	CLE	20.9	23	19	30	24	31	2	19	21	17	23
27	TB	21.0	25	14	20	18	27	6	22	31	25	22
28	TEN	21.9	16	30	14	20	28	11	15	22	31	32
29	ARI	22.5	19	31	29	32	23	9	30	16	21	15
30	CHI	22.7	26	24	28	15	7	30	25	19	29	24
31	STL	23.5	27	27	10	23	8	28	28	28	26	30
32	DET	27.5	30	32	22	14	32	22	31	29	32	31

I also ran two additional sorts, in five year increments, 2002-06 and 2007-11. After looking at the two charts above, you won’t be surprised by the Titans’ rankings in either of the five-year windows.

**2002-2006 Football Outsiders run-blocking rankings**
Rank	Team	Avg Rk	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
1	KC	5.6	5	3	3	2	15
2	DEN	7.8	1	9	8	3	18
3	IND	8.2	28	5	2	1	5
4	WAS	10.6	4	13	17	5	14
5	MIN	11.2	2	1	9	31	13

28	TEN	21.6	16	30	14	20	28
29	DAL	22.8	31	25	26	22	10
30	CLE	25.4	23	19	30	24	31
31	DET	26.0	30	32	22	14	32
32	ARI	26.8	19	31	29	32	23

**2007-2011 Football Outsiders run-blocking rankings**
Rank	Team	Avg Rk	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
1	NE	2.4	1	3	5	1	2
2	NO	4.4	7	6	2	6	1
3	HOU	8.2	8	10	15	4	4
4	NYJ	8.6	23	2	8	3	7
5	DAL	10.4	14	14	3	12	9

27	TEN	22.2	11	15	22	31	32
28	KC	24.8	31	29	30	5	29
29	CHI	25.4	30	25	19	29	24
30	SEA	26.0	29	27	27	28	19
31	STL	28.0	28	28	28	26	30
32	DET	29.0	22	31	29	32	31

There you have it. The Titans have been one of the worst run-blocking teams in the league for the last ten years. They haven’t drafted offensive linemen in the first three rounds and they haven’t been able to coach up the ones they drafted in later rounds, as Tom wrote here.

I’ll have more to follow in the next article in this series.

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On commiting to the offensive line, Part Two

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper