Rating The Top Fantasy Football Sleeper Picks
Fantasy Football Draft Guide – Cheat Sheets & Player Rankings
Are you in the market for fantasy football draft info? Or 2009 Offensive Line Rankings + O-Line player rating cheat sheets for your 2009 fantasy draft?
Pre-season is nearly upon us, so for the next few weeks we encourage you to be checking out our fantasy football draft guide for all your rankings and analysis for the upcoming league drafts that your going to be participating in.
A pyramid is one of the strongest 3-D geometric shapes, but is only as strong as its base. The base of any NFL offense rests in its offensive line. This is not a group of athletically gifted prima donnas or glory hounds basking in the media coverage, this is the heart of a team.
These are the guys who go to battle every play because the team counts on them to win that battle, the success of every play depends on it.
These guys drive the ball down the field, plowing ahead and creating running lanes or offering pass protection for the single most important player on the team.
The offensive line is more important to a great team than the great QB or the game breaking running back because without that solid quintet up front no player on offense can succeed consistently, even a kicker.
None of these guys are drafted in Fantasy Football but they may help illuminate some guys you may want to draft so pay attention as we run down the top ten offensive lines in the league last season.
You may take note these are based on results, not the potential based on contracts or individual Pro Bowls.
- Tennessee Titans – One of the best running attacks in the NFL and giving up a league low 12 sacks makes this group a dominant force. Kerry Collins is hardly mobile so for any line to allow only 12 sacks in 453 pass attempts is a glowing endorsement of their ability to push their team down the field.
- Atlanta Falcons – A rookie QB and free agent RB that just cashed in a huge contract rarely make for a successful season in the NFL; in fact defenses dream of that combination. The Falcons O-line kept Matt Ryan upright and opened holes allowing Michael Turner to become a premier runner in the league last season.
- Denver Broncos – Seven RBs started for the Broncos last season so the running game was a little confused but in 620 pass attempts Jay Cutler was sacked 12 times. That means he was sacked once every 52 attempts. Kudos to that line for enduring a tough season and count on them this year whoever is running the ball.
- New York Giants – Top rushing team in the NFL last year. Eli was sacked 29 times which is a lot considering their running prowess but 8 came in one game so I let that adjust the scale. The running game was so dominant at times it almost seemed as though teams quit. That is a huge win for an O-line.
- Carolina Panthers – DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart. Who? Exactly. Third best running team in the NFL with two virtual unknowns, unknown no longer. The line dominated other teams so much that Carolina finished dead last in pass attempts last year with 414 but still a respectable 21 attempts per sack.
- Baltimore Ravens – Much the same as the Falcons with a rookie QB, their RB-by-committee approach was near the top in the NFL last season. For the same reason they are getting a high rank on my list mainly because 2 of the 3 RB’s were rookies (OK near-rookie McClain had 17 touches total in 07/08)
- Miami Dolphins – The Wildcat took the NFL by surprise last season but it has no success if the line can’t block for it. Pennington started and was upright for most of the season which says a lot. The line pounded Miami all the way into the playoffs ahead of the Patriots for a well-deserved 7th in my list.
- Minnesota Vikings – Hard to tell whether the line is extremely good or Adrian Peterson is an absolute monster. I think more the latter than former but regardless these guys are good. Pass blocking last season was awful but that could be a QB problem rather than a line issue so I put them in eighth despite the 43 sacks.
- New York Jets – The 2nd New York team to make this list but no less deserving. The running game is good despite Jones/Washington. I don’t think either is an exceptional back yet the line mows a path for them. They managed to be top 10 in rushing and top half of sacks allowed at18 attempts per sack, no small feat.
- New Orleans Saints – Maybe Brees makes these guys look good but he was sacked 13 times in a league high 636 pass attempts. That is an exceptional ratio for a team everyone knows is going to pass nearly 2/3 of the time. The rushing game was non-existent until Pierre Thomas took over for Bush late in the season
Just because your league doesn’t reward pancake blocks doesn’t mean the big uglies don’t count.
A good O-line turns a good runner into an All-Pro and keeps the quarterback upright and passing straight. A bad one means a whole lot of three-and-outs.
It’s not easy to judge NFL offensive linemen. They have no stats of their own — no tackles, yards or touchdowns.
They work behind the scenes, but in front of everybody.
In the 2009 CappersPicks.com Fantasy Football Guide we try to give everybody some love.
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One reply on “Fantasy Football: Ranking The O-Lines”
I think Atlanta has one of the best O-lines in the league. They basically made stars out of two players who may not have even had a chance to play if they are on a different team.