Transcription
Know that offensive line play is one of the most important things in football and fantasy football. However, not many of us know a lot about offensive lines. That's why I did a ton of research for this video with the help of people that know way more than me.
Starting off by finding what the composite grade is for offensive lines coming into this season. We did this by finding this tweet from Football Insights that compiled offensive line rankings from Mike Clay, Sharp, 4for4, FTN, USA, and Fantasy Points, averaged them all out so we actually have a concise tier list to present you for this next 2026 season. And I actually took it one step further. I went over to PFF and I took the run blocking grades and the pass blocking grades of these offensive lines from 2025. So we're not just going to see what offensive lines are supposed to be the worst and best, but we're also going to see what offensive lines are supposed to be the most improved. And also, which ones got worse this off season.
Now, starting off with the S tier, we are going to be led off with the Denver Broncos as well as the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, it's pretty much consensus that both of these offensive lines are set up with just absolute studs across the board this next season. With both of them, they really didn't have many changes, right? In terms of the five starting offensive linemen that they had going into last season versus this one, it's almost identical. Now, the Eagles did get a new offensive line coach, which is going to be something important to note because the previous coach for Philadelphia was one of the best offensive line coaches that the league's ever seen. Now, if we go through and look at where these offensive lines graded out last season, the Broncos was the best passing offensive line according to PFF, and Philadelphia was a little bit lower when it comes to their run blocking.
Now, if we're looking at where the running backs are being drafted in these respective backfields, I'm going to be honest, I've actually found myself drafting a decent amount of RJ Harvey specifically. And the reason is is if we go over and look at the consensus ADP sheet on flockfantasy.com right now, we'll see that among all three Denver Broncos running backs, none of them are expensive. While JK Dobbins is priced in to be the starting running back, you currently have JK Dobbins going off the board at an average pick of about 95. And you have RJ Harvey going off the board at an average pick of 89. Both running backs are after pick 100 in ESPN drafts. And for me personally, if I can draft RJ Harvey as a low-end running back three knowing the Broncos are supposed to have the best offensive line in the NFL, it's a unit that doesn't really have many changes in comparison to last season, I think we are drafting RJ Harvey at a very reasonable cost for upside. Cuz if we were to see a Dobbins injury, which we've seen over and over and over again throughout history, um RJ Harvey would respectively still be splitting this backfield with Jonas Coleman, but I think the efficiency, even for a bad running back, could look really good behind this offensive line.
Now, as we move over to the A tier, we are going to have the Los Angeles Rams leading us off, then the Chicago Bears, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Buffalo Bills. In terms of massive changes on offensive lines here from 2025 to 2026, the Rams, they had a good offensive line last year. The Bears, they had a good one. The Buffalo Bills did as well. The big change that we are going to have is with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, it's the same starting offensive line unit. However, they had an insane run of injuries last season. This group that's supposed to be the starting offensive line for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year never played a snap together in 2025 due to injuries. And what this led to is this led to, according to PFF, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having the 25th graded run blocking unit last season and the 12th graded pass blocking unit? So, I think the big jump that we can see from an offensive line perspective here is going to be with Tampa, Tristan Wirfs, and other names managing to stay healthy.
And if we go through and look at how the Buccaneers running backs are being priced at the moment, obviously, you have a lot of injury doubt with Bucky Irving himself. Where Bucky is currently going off the board as the running back 20. Of course, we are using the ADP consensus sheet on flockfantasy.com. Now, this is going to be wildly dependent on different league formats. In Sleeper leagues, Bucky Irving's going off the board as a third-round pick. There you're not getting nearly enough of an injury discount. However, in Yahoo drafts, he's going off at the five-six turn. So, if you're using our draft sheets on flockfantasy.com, they're probably going to suggest that in your Sleeper league, you avoid Bucky Irving. However, in that Yahoo format, you really should be targeting him in the fifth.
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Now, I don't want to spend too much time talking through the Rams, the Bears, and the Buffalo Bills because again, these offensive lines um don't really change much with how they graded from last season to this year. So, I think it's just going to be status quo.
Now, moving over to our B tier, this is where things start to get a little interesting because the Carolina Panthers project to have the seventh best offensive line in the NFL. And again, continuing to go back to the prices when we look up these players. Currently, Jonathan Brooks has an ADP of the running back 37 across platforms. I mean, right now he is a massive value in your sleeper drafts at pick 138. He's more expensive in Yahoo at pick 100, Underdog 101, CBS 103. So, it'll be a little bit tougher to take him there, but in Sleeper, a phenomenal pick. And then going over to Chuba Hubbard, Hubbard's recently fallen down to being like the 99th pick in ESPN leagues, the 71st in Yahoo, and the 78th in Underdog. So, while both of these Carolina Panthers running backs are being drafted well outside of the top 24 names, if the Panthers have an offensive line that projects to be a borderline top five unit, um one of these running backs can end up being a massive value. Like we can go back and look at Chuba Hubbard in 2024, where he was the RB13 in points per game with over 16 points per contest, but almost more importantly, how we can see that they had the fourth graded out run blocking unit according to PFF last season, we can see a massive spike with Rico Dowdle, where Dowdle in week five had 32 fantasy points, and in week six he had 34 fantasy points. And I think looking back, hindsight being 20/20, how much of that had to do with Rico Dowdle being some elite level talent, or how much did it have to do with the Carolina Panthers just having a phenomenal offensive line? So, a big mistake that I have probably made in drafts so far this off season, is I think I downplayed the upside of Jonathan Brooks too much. I still think that there's a ton of risk, but the people that were drafting him, especially in those best ball drafts early in the very end of their drafts, if he can somehow be the starting running back for the Carolina Panthers, its offensive line's incredible, especially as they go through and run block.
Now, moving over to the other offensive lines that stand out, I mean the 49ers good offensive line last year, they don't project to be that different this season. However, the Indianapolis Colts actually graded out to have a top three offensive line in both pass blocking and run blocking last year. And according to data providers for this next season, they are ranked at ninth. Now, I went through, tried to do some research on why this may be. What I got is Jaylon Travis is going to replace Braden Smith at right tackle. Smith left Indy after years as it starting right tackle. And Travis gained useful experience by starting the final four games of 25. So, I guess the Colts losing a right tackle pretty big deal here. And maybe if we see the Colts no longer be a top three offensive line in the league and instead they fall down here closer to 10th, we don't get the Jonathan Taylor league-winning experience. Where I mean obviously if we go back and look at Jonathan Taylor in the first 10 weeks of last season, I'm truly nobody could touch him in fantasy. So, uh that is a slight red flag that we have with Taylor, which maybe just maybe if you're in a full PPR format, you prefer to go ahead and take McCaffrey for that reason.
Now, another super interesting note that we have here is going to be the Los Angeles Chargers. The Los Angeles Chargers had the 32nd offensive line in run blocking grade last season. They had the 31st offensive line in pass blocking grade. Now, even a raging casual like myself, I understand, yeah, the Chargers they were absolutely screwed. They have some of the best tackles in the NFL and before the season and then right at the beginning of the season, um the Chargers lost those tackles. Not only did that happen, but they went through and they replaced the interior side of the offensive line, bringing in a new center and bringing in a new right guard. Um, left guard remains a competition, but again, the big big thing is going to be getting back Rashawn Slater and getting back Joe Alt. And if we go and look at what this Los Angeles Chargers offense was like last season. Um, last year we had Live McCaffrey as the wide receiver 37. We had Quinton Johnston as the wide receiver, um, 26. Obviously, with Amari and Hampton dealt with injuries himself, but Hampton dealt with injuries himself and ran behind the league's worst offensive line, and he finished the RB 13 as a rookie. So, what this has led to for me is I see Amari and Hampton going pretty early in drafts, right? Where if you're in Underdog drafts, he goes to the one-two turn. If you look at the flockfantasy.com rankings for Amari and Hampton, his expert average ranking has him at 13, but it still looks to be a value because in ESPN sleeper and Yahoo drafts, he's a mid-second round pick. Again, a reminder, I posted all the sports book data on flockfantasy.com, including where these offenses scored in 25 and 26. And right now the Chargers project to be one of the most improved offenses in the entire league. Where last year they averaged 21.6 points per game, they're projected to score 23.8 points per game. Obviously, some of that has to do with the change with the offensive coordinator, but I think primarily it's they're going from the league's worst offensive line to possibly a top 10 unit, which is just massive and probably the biggest takeaway in this video so far.
Now, the Atlanta Falcons had a decent offensive line last year, borderline top 10, and that looks to be the case again this next season. So, no massive changes there.
Now, dropping down a tier, the Detroit Lions obviously have some straight-up studs on the offensive line like Penei Sewell, and they went through and they drafted another tackle in round one of the NFL draft this season. So, like I wouldn't use this data here to make some like massive determination between Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs in your fantasy drafts this season cuz ultimately the Chargers and the Lions, they are back-to-back here at 11 and 12. The Minnesota Vikings were a middle-of-the-road offensive line last year. That's how they project out to be this season. No big change. The Dallas Cowboys really interesting here. Of course, I'm not smart enough to figure out exactly why this would be the case, but last season they had a top 10 offensive line in PFF run blocking grade at nine and they had the 30th offensive line in pass blocking grade. Um so, I guess that would average out to be about a middle-of-the-road offensive line, which is what they project to be this season. The Seattle Seahawks had an average offensive line last year, projects to be average this year. The New England Patriots had about an average offensive line last year. It's what it projects to be this year. Now, of course, I understand this offensive line looked like the worst O line in football when they had to go up against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, but I don't think we can have that massive takeaway just from one game. So, Patriots offensive line should be just fine.
Now, as we go down, this is where things become a little more interesting. The Saints, not so much. Um the Jets, not so much. Their offensive lines are supposed to remain about the same. But, the Kansas City Chiefs actually had the 17th graded offensive line in run block last year and ninth in pass block according to PFF. And current projections have them down here at 19 in terms of offensive line rankings for this season. So, the Chiefs offensive line is supposed to be worse. I went through and tried to figure out exactly why this is. Uh apparently right tackle is completely open. Um Jawaan Taylor again no longer with Kansas City, um leaving Jaylen Moore and Essa Puldo competing for the competition. But, they are going to get Josh Simmons back healthy at left tackle. But, um interesting note to see the Chiefs offensive line supposedly supposed to grade out a little bit worse.
And now, as we go down to our next tier with the New York Giants, I would say this is where these offensive lines maybe start to become a little bit concerning if we're just talking straight out projections for 26. The New York Giants are at 20th. I'm not going to overreact to this because the price with Giants in drafts this season not super high, right? Like I'll go through and look at the Cam Skatabu ADP. Um right now Skatabu's going off the board at RB 19. He's like an late fourth, early fifth round pick in sleeper drafts. I mean, I guess he goes at like the end of the third, beginning of the fourth on CBS, but almost regardless of whatever platform you're playing on, Cam Skatabu looks to be a fourth round pick at this point, and I think so much of that price is going to come down to how healthy is he coming back from the injury. I Again, I don't think the Giants offensive line um is too concerning given the fact is a fourth round pick.
Now, the Arizona Cardinals graded out horribly last year. Um according to PFF, they're at 29 for run block, 27 for pass block, and this year they project to be 21. Um so we have a three position overhaul here. They added a left guard. Um they have Elijah Wilkinson projected at right tackle, and they have a competition at right guard. So, it is interesting to see the Arizona Cardinals offensive line supposed to be better than what it was last year. Now, of course, not supposed to be a great offensive line by any stretch of the imagination, but they're supposed to be improved. They invest significantly into Jeremiah Love, which you would think those two things coming together um does mean that the Cardinals at least have a chance to go ahead and run the ball this next season.
Now, the Pittsburgh Steelers are supposed to drop off pretty far here. So, the Steelers were a 16 run block, third pass block PFF grades, and now they project at 22. I'm just reading through what changed with the Steelers. They moved their right tackle to left tackle, um which apparently is going to make a bunch of different things shuffle around. Uh I don't know how true this is. Supposed to be moving their right guard to left guard, um while right guard and right tackle remain competitions involving a couple of rookies here. So, a lot shuffling around with the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line. Um if we go through and look at the price for the Steelers though, very similar to what we have when it comes to like the New York Giants. Right now, DK Metcalf's off the board as the wide receiver 36. This is of course using the consensus sheet. This is across ESPN, Sleeper, Yahoo, Underdog, flockfantasy.com, etc. etc. Um going through and looking at Jaylen Warren, Jaylen Warren's off the board at RB 28. And Anthony McFarland as well is off the board at RB 31. So, nobody going super high here that I think this is like a glaring red flag for. Um but, it is an important note that the Steelers are supposed to regress a bit.
And the Jacksonville Jaguars is something that stood out to me because I've been wondering why when sportsbooks put out their data, they were projecting the Jacksonville Jaguars to be one of the top offenses in the entire NFL when it comes to regressing year-over-year. Last season, the Jacksonville Jaguars averaged 27.9 points per game. Um this season, they project at 23.3. So, they're supposed to drop off by about four and a half points year-over-year. Very similar to the Colts are supposed to drop off four points. And I guess maybe it has to do with this offensive line play. Because again, um they were a top 15 unit in both pass and run block last season. Projections have them pretty damn low this year. But, I truly am not smart enough to figure out what I'm missing here for where the Jags offensive line is supposed to be this much worse. And um according to sportsbooks again, the Jacksonville Jaguars supposed to just be a much worse offense overall in comparison to what they were. So, um there's probably something going on that I'm not aware of. Maybe Jags just ran hot last season. I I have no idea.
Um Baltimore Ravens down here at 24. It's not like the Ravens offensive line was elite last year. So, no massive massive changes. But, I will say I mean if the Ravens O line does get worse in the run-blocking category specifically, that could be very bad for Derrick Henry. I mean, even a casual like myself, I know who Tyler Linderbaum is, and I know he is in a phenomenal center that the Raiders actually just paid. So, what's interesting is the Ravens are supposed to become a worse run-blocking unit, while the Raiders are supposed to be a better offensive line overall. Not only do the Raiders go through and they change the entire coaching staff, right? But, they also invest significantly. Starting by paying the number one center in the NFL the most amount of money possible. So, this is great news for Asim Zendejas himself. Again, going back over and looking at that sports book data, the Raiders were the worst offense in the NFL last season, averaging only 14.2 points per game, but they project to score 19.2 points per game this season. So, I think there are a lot of things here on why the Raiders are going to be so much better. The offensive line's going to be better, but obviously quarterback and coaching staff, too.
I'm going over and looking at the Commanders. The Commanders are supposed to be a worse offensive line year over year. Um looks like they had to replace a center who left, and they haven't really figured out who's going to be playing guard, either. So, I've been drafting Jayden Daniels aggressively, to be honest. Like, in round six, I think Daniels is a phenomenal click on the board just because the rushing upside that he presents, but maybe this is a risk in doing so. In terms of like avoiding the Washington running backs because of this, I wouldn't take it that far because the running backs are so damn cheap, right? Like, I mean, we can go through and we can look at Rashad White. Rashad White off the board is the RB 38 on average. I mean, he's going after the 10th round in Sleeper drafts, and he's going after pick 100 on every platform. Now, I will say, flockfantasy.com, we're a little bit higher on him. The expert average ranking has him at 92. So, if you're in your Sleeper draft, the flockfantasy.com draft assistance for sure going to tell you to take Rashad White. Um and then also Jacory Cross can be written off the board as the running back 40. So, both of these running backs are so cheap that I wouldn't be like uh erasing the red flag that like, "Oh, you can't draft these guys. The O line supposed to be bad." Right? I mean, you're taking them after pick 100.
Now, moving over to something that I need to think through. The Green Bay Packers are supposed to have an offensive line that gets worse year over year and they are supposed to be in this bottom tier. Now, I will say very similar to Cam Akers, Josh Jacobs currently is very much all over the place with his draft cost. ESPN, he's like a second round pick right now. And for me, looking at this data with this offensive line play, I would say Jacobs is a very clear avoid if you have multiple red flags. One, obviously with the off-the-field stuff, maybe he gets suspended. And then two, the offensive line play for the Green Bay Packers. Where I would be less concerned about it would be your Yahoo drafts where he goes at the three-four turn or your Underdog drafts where he goes in the fourth round because there I can very easily explain away, "Okay, yes, he has risk, but there is upside. There is juice left to squeeze at this cost." But in sleeper going at the two-three turn and ESPN going in the second, you combine the off-the-field stuff with the O line problems, um Jacobs would be a tough pick for me.
Going over and looking at the Houston Texans offensive line, um Texans are supposed to be pretty bad as well. They had a major overhaul, um traded people away, added guys at tackle and guard. Um they have a rookie that's supposed to be competing for an interior offensive line role. So, massive overhaul for the Houston Texans. And this is one of the reasons I've avoided David Montgomery cuz how I view Montgomery specifically is a running back that's not going to be a phenomenal receiving option. Um so if he's not going to be a massive receiver and at this point of his respective NFL career, I don't think he has like big play upside for long rushing touchdowns and you're running behind a poor offensive line and you're 29 years old. There are a lot of red flags here that scare me away from Montgomery. I wouldn't be scared from him on every platform. Like ESPN, he's a sixth-round pick. I'm fine taking him as the sixth player on my team. But like in Underdog drafts, he goes to the four-five turn. Sleeper Yahoo, he's both a fifth-round pick.
Now going over to Chase Brown, the Cincinnati Bengals had an offensive line that graded out very poorly last season and the Cincinnati Bengals project have a very bad offensive line yet again this season. But there's no meaningful starter change. So it does seem like it's just status quo with Chase Brown specifically. And if we go through and look at what Chase Brown did with the same really bad offensive line last year, he was the running back seven in points per game and that included a Joe Burrow injury which limited Chase Brown severely at the beginning of the season. Where is Chase Brown getting drafted? The RB 10. So definitely worrisome that the offensive line supposed to be bad, but it was bad last year. Chase Brown still managed to overcome. And if he can just repeat what he did last season, he's going in the second round on pretty much every draft platform and I think he can return value.
Moving over to the Miami Dolphins, I have drafted a ridiculous amount of Devon Achane so far this year cuz he is a mid second round pick in Underdog drafts. The Miami Dolphins had a bad offensive line last season and it's supposed to yet again be a bad offensive line again this year. Um they go through and they take a first-round rookie that is expected to be the new left guard and the four other starters are returning. So the big concern in my mind with Achane isn't the bad offensive line because it's been something that he's dealt with very similar to Chase Brown, and he was the running back five in points per game, and currently his cost, at least in Underdog drafts, is like the RB8, and even in your ESPN Sleeper Yahoo drafts, he's still going later than the RB5. So, it all comes down in my mind to what's the check-down rate going to be like with Malik Willis, and will this be the worst offense in the league?
Now, the Tennessee Titans, it surprised me to see that they grade out this poorly. Cuz last year, Tennessee they didn't have a great offensive line, but according to PFF grades, it was a decent pass-blocking unit. It was a middle-of-the-road run-blocking unit, and right now they're supposed to be near the bottom. I don't know what to make of this. I would love to hear what y'all have to say in the comments section, cuz if I go over to Sportsbook data with the projected points scored for this next season, like the Tennessee Titans, very similar to some of these other offenses we've discussed, like the Las Vegas Raiders, are supposed to be one of the most improved offenses in the league. Last year, they averaged 16.7 points per game. This year, they're projected to score 20.7. So, I think that's very interesting. But, the offensive line that's supposed to be the worst in the league, and I think it's very easy to understand why, is going to be the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland lost everybody. Now, don't get me wrong, they invested a ton into the offensive line this off-season, including first-round picks, like including high-profile rookies. But, I would say with those rookie tackles, typically rookie tackles are going to start slow. It's going to take a little bit of time for this offensive line unit to get on the same page. And for me, as I go through and try to figure out if I'm going to draft Quinshon Judkins, the difference between me viewing the Cleveland Browns having a bottom-tier offensive line, and weighing the decision to draft Judkins versus like the Chase Brown dilemma in Cincinnati or the Achane dilemma in Miami, is Chase Brown and Achane, they're going to catch the ball a ton. And if you're going to catch the ball, I'm less concerned about the offensive line play for you cuz you're less reliant on rushing touchdowns. But with Quinshon Judkins specifically, he's not going to catch the ball. And >> [sighs] >> I don't know how many rushing touchdowns are going to be available in Cleveland. So, I think if you're going to get any big Judkins games, it's going to have to be off of long rushing TDs. And Judkins was the RB 26 in points per game last season. So, we haven't seen him be able to overcome a poor offensive line before. Um so, I'm not taking a ton of Quinshon Judkins at his current cost. Like at the Like currently he's going alongside Bucky Irving, De'Von Achane, Swift. Like these other running backs that I personally would rather take in better offenses. And at the same time that I think have a higher receiving ceiling.
But I think that's all I got for you. Please correct me in the comments if I said anything horribly wrong here. I really wouldn't be surprised if I did. And also, if you want to win your fantasy football league this year, my bread and butter, it's with those running backs, it's with the wide receivers, it's with those QBs, it's with those tight ends. The season pass on flockfantasy.com is still only 34 bucks. It's not a monthly payment. It's one time for the entire season. You're going to get those real-time draft assistance, those draft sheets. And on top of that, if you use code flock, you're going to get free questions that you're able to ask me in the live streams that I'm going to be doing every single night until Christmas. But I really appreciate you, and I really hope I get to see you in the live stream later tonight.