Why the NFL has an offensive problem.

Why the NFL has an Offensive Problem!

The engine behind offensive production is the offensive line. Yet, the NFL is way behind developing offensive line play. As good as Tom Brady is or as good as Christian McCaffrey is as an athletic talent, these all pro players aren’t passing or rushing or scoring without the big uglies upfront.

Let’s be honest, the player who plays offensive line is the most unathletic player on the football field. The guy is huge, has to have great feet, but is not a fast player. The player needs good hips to get his huge body around to shield or block very athletic defenders from getting to their desired goal. Size matters to take up space to create creases for running backs to run and to keep the pass rush from crushing the star quarterback. The offensive linemen have to work as a unit. No mistakes. Mistakes get players tackled and stops the offense from moving forward.

The offensive line is like synchronized swimming. Each player has a particular job and must make athletic moves to get themselves in position for each type of blocking scheme dreamed up by the Offensive line coach and offensive coordinator. In order for a particular play to be successful, all five guys have to act in unison. No mistakes.

So what is the problem? There are tons of massive guys who played offensive line in college. College offenses are putting up 30, 40, 50 even 60 points in a game. The college offense has the ultimate advantage in creating offense. The head coach can keep over 15 offensive linemen on their roster. The cohesion between players becomes obvious when college coaches get creative in their play calling and schemes.

Time. College programs get offensive lineman for 5 years. College programs get to work with their players all year round. Offseason conditioning programs put these players in the best shape possible to be successful. The NFL players have limited practices and have zero conditioning time together per the collective bargaining agreement. The college lineman spends time together. All that time together creates a bond. 15 to 20 guys bonding, watching film and practicing together.

Pro football? Pro football keeps about 9 guys on their 53 man roster. Not enough. The Pro level has constant turn over. No way they are building years of continuity. Plus the NFL restricts the time the players can practice together- at the players request by the way. If a team only keeps 9 guys, then they don’t even have a second team offensive line to work together as a scout team in practice. So obviously, teams are keeping a couple guys on their practice squads to make sure they have enough guys to run two offenses at once.

The next problem the NFL has is the reliance on an offensive scheme that is so different from the college game. In High School and College, most offensive linemen are running a version of the RPO hurry-up offense. Pro systems center around power running and passing. Two different systems. Quarterbacks are coming to the pros and going under center for the first time in their lives. Offensive lineman is getting in 3 point stances for the first time. Offensive line is running different schemes and working in a non-pro system for 5 years before going to the pros. The change between leagues makes the time necessary longer to develop the techniques necessary for the pro game.

Another problem, as I said, is that the offensive lineman is the most unathletic player on the field; therefore, the problem is these players don’t play special teams except of course field goal team. Less plays equals less time on the field equals less spots on a roster. Since each team can make up their roster as they see it, and Offensive lineman is one dimensional, the NFL should mandate the offensive lineman numbers. The 53 man roster should be expanded to 55, so each team carries at least 10 offensive linemen on the active roster. Then the practice squad should get a raise to 15 players with 5 of the 15 being offensive lineman. This would bring the total to 70 players, which is the same as the college travel roster.

With these numbers, each team can keep 3 active units of 5 together. They can learn the system together. The can become a unit together learning all the schemes and techniques needed to create offensive success on a team level.

What kills a team’s offense? 1. Lose your star quarterback. Another position where one spot should be a mandatory keep on the practice squad for future development. 2. Offensive line injuries.

I was an offensive coordinator for many years, and I would love to try to convince you that my creative genius is why we had awesome production in certain years. Nope, can’t do it. We succeeded and failed with offensive line play. The better the offensive line, the more creative the offensive coach can be scheming plays. High school is a lot like the NFL with practice times with players. I can tell you we were way better week 5 versus week 1. We needed time to get better.

The NFL needs to address this problem with an easy fix. Mandate roster spots for Offensive line. Plus the collective bargaining agreement needs to be amended to give extra time for the offensive line to work on skills and schemes. NO offensive line = no scoring. Watch the Denver Broncos in 2018, and I am still not convinced the situation has been addressed in 2019 when watching the preseason this August.