Over at Pride of Detroit, our sister blog for the Lions, writer Kent Platte took a detailed look at NFL offensive lines. He was searching for answers as to why Detroit is struggling up front. Seeking an analytic indicator, he examined a number called Raw Athletic Score (RAS), which uses combine and pro day numbers to try and quantify the talent of the players. He built a chart of the starting offensive line for every NFL team in 2015, which I have reproduced here. And you may notice some things that are rather surprising.

Rank TM Left Tackle Left Guard Center Right Guard Right Tackle AVG 1 PHI Jason

Peters, 8.32 Allen

Barbre, 8.75 Jason

Kelce, 9.35 Brandon

Brooks, 10.00 Lane

Johnson, 9.92 9.27 2 CLE Joe

Thomas, 8.29 Joel

Bitonio, 9.36 Cameron

Erving, 9.09 John

Greco, 5.59 Alvin

Bailey, 8.56 8.18 3 IND Anthony

Castonzo, 8.62 Jack

Mewhort, 5.69 Ryan

Kelly, 9.29 Hugh

Thornton, 9.26 Denzelle

Good, 6.99 7.97 4 TAM Donovan

Smith, 6.94 J.R.

Sweezy, 9.46 Joe

Hawley, 4.81 Ali

Marpet, 9.8 Demar

Dotson, - 7.75 5 ATL Jake

Matthews, 8.89 Andy

Levitre, 3.36 Alex

Mack, 7.79 Chris

Chester, 9.43 Ryan

Schraeder, 9.11 7.72 6 NYJ Ryan

Clady, 8.13 James

Carpenter, 7.25 Nick

Mangold, 8.57 Brian

Winters, 7.48 Breno

Giacomini, 6.67 7.62 7 ARI Jared

Veldheer, 9.97 Mike

Iupati, 4.60 A.Q.

Shipley, 6.69 Evan

Mathis, 9.97 D.J.

Humphries, 6.07 7.46 8 GNB David

Bakhtiari, 4.82 Josh

Sitton, 9.33 Corey

Linsley, 8.7 T.J.

Lang, 9.19 Bryan

Bulaga, 4.96 7.40 9 LAR Greg

Robinson, 9.02 Rodger

Saffold, 8.83 Tim

Barnes, 7.92 Jamon

Brown, 9.26 Rob

Havenstein, 0.92 7.19 10 CIN Andrew

Whitworth, 8.16 Clint

Boling, 7.15 Russell

Bodine, 6.28 Kevin

Zeitler, 6.51 Cedric

Ogbuehi, - 6.74 11 KAN Eric

Fisher, 9.67 Jarrod

Pughsley, 7.49 Mitch

Morse, 9.03 Laurent

Duvernay-Tardif, - Mitchell

Schwartz, 0.68 6.72 12 CHI Charles

Leno, 5.39 Cody

Whitehair, 7.38 Hroniss

Grasu, 6.82 Kyle

Long, 9.53 Bobby

Massie, 4.28 6.68 13 DAL Tyron

Smith, 9.19 La'El

Collins, 5.94 Travis

Frederick, 1.17 Zack

Martin, 8.22 Doug

Free, 8.73 6.65 14 TEN Taylor

Lewan, 10.00 Quinton

Spain, 8.76 Ben

Jones, 2.99 Chance

Warmack, 1.31 Jack

Conklin, 8.54 6.32 15 NEP Nate

Solder, 9.76 Shaq

Mason, 8.83 Bryan

Stork, 1.49 Tre'

Jackson, 0.47 Sebastian

Vollmer, 9.95 6.10 16 SNF Joe

Staley, 9.86 Zane

Beadles, - Daniel

Kilgore, 5.34 Joshua

Garnett, 6.78 Trenton

Brown, 1.87 5.96 17 NOS Terron

Armstead, 9.43 Tim

Lelito, 7.02 Max

Unger, 3.38 Andrus

Peat, 8.76 Zach

Strief, 1.17 5.95 18 MIN Matt

Kalil, 8.02 Alex

Boone, 6.99 Joe

Berger, 4.61 Brandon

Fusco, 7.99 Phil

Loadholt, 1.33 5.79 19 HOU Duane

Brown, 7.37 Xavier

Su'a-Filo, 7.75 Nick

Martin, 5.71 Jeff

Allen, 2.51 Derek

Newton, 4.91 5.65 20 BAL Eugene

Monroe, 2.68 Ryan

Jensen, 6.11 Jeremy

Zuttah, 7.83 Marshal

Yanda, 8.29 Ricky

Wagner, 2.93 5.57 21 WAS Trent

Williams, 9.32 Spencer

Long, - Kory

Lichtensteiger, 2.34 Brandon

Scherff, 9.63 Morgan

Moses, 0.89 5.55 22 SEA Garry

Gilliam, 9.02 Rees

Odhiambo, 2.95 Patrick

Lewis, 1.88 J'Marcus

Webb, 5.85 Germain

Ifedi, 7.62 5.46 23 CAR Michael

Oher, 2.66 Andrew

Norwell, 3.62 Ryan

Kalil, 8.51 Trai

Turner, 5.5 Mike

Remmers, 5.55 5.17 24 DEN Russell

Okung, 6.75 Max

Garcia, 3.44 Matt

Paradis, 3.51 Robert

Myers, 2.82 Donald

Stephenson, 8.94 5.09 25 NYG Ereck

Flowers, 4.39 Justin

Pugh, 8.03 Weston

Richburg, 4.74 Bobby

Hart, 0.97 Marshall

Newhouse, 6.64 4.95 26 SDC King

Dunlap, 5.04 Orlando

Franklin, 5.69 Matt

Slauson, 7.47 D.J.

Fluker, 2.71 Joe

Barksdale, 3.28 4.84 27 BUF Cordy

Glenn, 3.77 Richie

Incognito, 8.56 Eric

Wood, 8.12 John

Miller, 2.25 Jordan

Mills, 1.36 4.81 28 MIA Branden

Albert, 5.53 Dallas

Thomas, - Mike

Pouncey, 3.18 Laremy

Tunsil, - JaWuan

James, 5.66 4.79 29 JAX Kelvin

Beachum, 0.7 Mackenzy

Bernadeau, 7.79 Brandon

Linder, 4.03 A.J.

Cann, - Luke

Joeckel, 5.93 4.17 30 OAK Donald

Penn, - Gabe

Jackson, 3.99 Rodney

Hudson, 0.45 Kelechi

Osemele, 5.69 Austin

Howard, 5.37 3.88 31 PIT Alejandro

Villanueva, - Ramon

Foster, 0.5 Maurkice

Pouncey, 2.86 David

DeCastro, 7.32 Marcus

Gilbert, 2.82 3.38 32 DET Riley

Reiff, 3.55 Laken

Tomlinson, 3.39 Travis

Swanson, 2.92 Larry

Warford, 1.28 Taylor

Decker, 5.45 3.32

Yes, that is the Dallas Cowboys offensive line coming in as only the 13th overall in the league using this metric. Also of note, the most athletic line in the NFL belongs to our beloved rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.

That seems odd, but the article explained that this number was much better at predicting failure than success. That seems fairly clear in the case of the Cowboys. While Tyron Smith, Doug Free, and Zack Martin all had very good scores, La'el Collins was just a little better than average. And Travis Frederick had a very poor number.

This is something of a cautionary case about measureables. As Fredbeard illustrates, there is a lot more to playing in the NFL than just how you stack up against others when running set drills. Frederick has a reputation as being a superb technician more than any kind of athletic freak. His low score is not a big surprise (although just how low it is was a bit unexpected). This may have had something to do with how everyone else in the league and just about all the draft gurus sorely underestimated his worth when he was drafted. The numbers alone can't gauge skill, or the nasty attitude that he brings to the middle of the line. And things like speed and agility play a bigger role for almost all positions other than center. He is not going to be running pass patterns or even be expected to pull and lead a running back. That very low RAS in the middle of the line has not kept it from being regarded as the class of the NFL.

The fact the Eagles' line has the best composite score in the league also demonstrates that there is much more to success than looking good at the combine. You would think such a talented group, when paired with the previous year's rushing champion, would produce quite the formidable ground game. But they were just middle of the pack, and DeMarco Murray was turned into a compete non-factor in another example of how the towering genius of Chip Kelly totally ruined that team.

Okay, that was a bit of a cheap shot (not that it results in even a scintilla of regret), but the basic principle holds true. The fact the Cleveland Brows have the second most athletic line also supports how this stat is unreliable in predicting any kind of success. Athleticism is not the be all and end all, especially in a position that is so dependent on technique and teamwork. One of the ironies of football is that members of the offensive line are not considered "skill positions", but there may be more need for technique and precision there than anywhere else on the field. And those are things that are not going to be evident at the so-called "Underwear Olympics".

Fortunately, they are very much so on the Dallas offensive line.

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