Rams, Saints, Chiefs and Patriots know how to build offensive lines

[purplefaithful]

On the NFL: The last four teams standing represent the top seeds in each conference for the first time since 2015. Each team is different, yet all have much in common, including perhaps the most essential strength in football: offensive line.
It was March 14, 2018, and the Patriots were doomed.
Again.
Well, maybe not doomed. But surely they were making a grave error in letting left tackle Nate Solder walk out the door via free agency.
Right?
Solder was 29. The 17th overall draft pick in 2011. Protector of the GOAT Tom Brady’s blind side through six seasons and four Super Bowls.
No matter. Too expensive. Nice knowing ya, Nate. Next affordable Patriots puzzle piece up! Pat Shurmur’s Giants swooped in, guaranteed Solder $34.8 million on a four-year, $62 million deal and smiled all the way from the bank.
Fast forward 10 months.
The Giants went 5-11 while paying Solder $21.9 million in 2018 with another $12.9 million guaranteed coming in 2019.
The Patriots?
All they did was go 11-5 and maul the Chargers in last week’s conference semifinals en route to their eighth straight AFC Championship game Sunday at Kansas City.
Total out-of-pocket expenditure for New England’s ENTIRE starting offensive line: $8,344,000.
Left tackle Trent Brown’s share of that loot: $1,907,000 — or $20,007,000 less than Solder was paid in 2018 in salary and signing bonus.
The Patriots have led the way again. In this case, they have shown the league how to build a wall when the choices aren’t so obvious.
They went into the 2018 draft after losing Solder to the Giants and Cameron Fleming to the Cowboys. First, they did the obvious, using the 23rd overall pick to select Georgia tackle Isaiah Wynn, who tore an Achilles’ tendon and missed the entire season.
Then they pulled an under-the-radar move that barely was mentioned. On Day 2 of the draft, they dealt a third-round pick to the 49ers for the 6-8, 380-pound Brown and a fifth-round pick.
Brown was a seventh-round pick of the 49ers in 2015. He had started 28 games, but mostly as a right tackle.
The Patriots’ eye for talent saw starting left tackle potential in the feet of a body that’s bigger than even most right tackles. Naturally, they weren’t wrong.
http://www.startribune.com/rams-saints-c...504607321/

[Guest]

This year’s four finalists are a combined 53-15 and represent the top two seeds in each conference for the first time since 2015. Each team is different, yet all have much in common, including perhaps the most essential strength in football:
Offensive line.
According to PFF, each team ranks in the top 11 in pass-blocking efficiency. The Chiefs are sixth followed by the Patriots (seventh), Saints (ninth) and Rams (11th).
Each team also can run the ball when it wants or needs to. And that makes each team’s play-action attack all the more formidable.
The four finalists also have shown that not all lines have to be built by following Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest first-round mock draft.
Only four of the 20 starting linemen still playing were first-round picks. Only three of them are with the team that drafted them.

[Guest]

Rams: Despite having the two oldest linemen — 2017 unrestricted free-agent signings Andrew Whitworth, 37, and former Vikings center John Sullivan, 33 — they have the only fivesome that didn’t miss a start in 17 games. Spent second-round picks on LG Rodger Saffold (2010) and RT Rob Havenstein (2015).
Saints: All five starters were drafted in the top three rounds, three by the Saints, including first-rounders LG Andrus Peat (2015) and RT Ryan Ramczyk (2017). The only starter older than 27 is center Max Unger, 32.
Chiefs: They start former first- and second-round picks of the Browns in LG Cameron Erving (trade) and RT Mitchell Schwartz (free agency), respectively. LT Eric Fisher was drafted No. 1 overall in 2013. RG Andrew Wylie went undrafted in 2017 and was on three practice squads, including five weeks in Cleveland, before being signed off the street late last season. He became a starter in Week 7 this season.
Patriots: The only finalist without a starter picked in the top two rounds. RT Trent Brown, a 49ers seventh-round pick in 2015, arrived in a draft-day trade last spring. LG Joe Thuney (third round), RG Shaq Mason (fourth), RT Marcus Cannon (fifth) and center David Andrew (undrafted) began their careers as Patriots. Cannon, 30, is the only starter older than 26
http://www.startribune.com/how-the-chief...504607331/