Johnson LT Williams RT ?

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(05-10-2020, 11:48 AM)YorkshireBengal Wrote: Question here for someone who doesn't quite fully understand this. Is a different skillset required to play LT compared to RT? I get that the LT protects the QBs blindside which gives it the edge in terms of importance, but are different skills/attributes required for each position?

Then a follow up question, based on the above questions, do you think Jonah Williams would make a better LT or RT.

Ok, so the majority of QBs are right-handed (as you know), thus indeed, their blind side is to the left, due to arm angle when throwing the ball; this is a given due to physics and the like.

Now that the obvious is out of the way, before Lineman became HUGE and fast enough to protect the blind side, they were always smaller, thus you could put a big strong guy on the left side and they could just maul the LT back into the QB. Then, the league got bigger at LT and thus negated this. Then, Lawrence Taylor happened...

L.T. was blindingly-fast, but also had the strength of a guy 2+ inches taller and 40-50 pounds heavier than him; he single-handedly changed the pass-rush strategy around the league, as the Giants would line him up on the right side, due to being the blind side.

The league simply couldn't keep up, but there was one team who had a LT that was big-enough to handle the bigger guys, but fast-enough to deal with players like L.T.; Anthony Munoz, of course.

Munoz was truly the first modern LT that ever played in the league and that's why he was SO good; he literally was head and shoulders above the rest of the league, ability-wise and that's why teams are looking for LTs that have the same size/speed combination that Munoz had.

As the game was very run-oriented, you had your bigger, more-plodding OT at RT along with a blocking TE in order to run to the, "strong side."

That's why there was a major importance put on the Left Tackle position, for so long. Fast-forward nowadays and things aren't shoehorned into one or two schemes anymore; everyone is looking to exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities, thus the best pass rusher no longer sits on the blind side and as such, you need a RT as good as your LT, basically.

For your prototypes, Jonah is the better LT and Fred, the RT... but Jonah was the best OT coming out of college last year and probably would've been the first to come out this year as well AND you drafted him to play that position.

Thus, stick the guy at LT.

Sorry for the history lesson, but background is necessary :)

The Blind Side (the book), basically says what I said above in greater detail and has good background behind the oline concepts/schemes/etc.