2014 AFC West Preview: Offensive Line Breakdown

This post originally appeared on Rotoback.

Denver Broncos Offensive Line

Ryan Clady's career averages are so close to NFL average because of his Jekyll and Hyde results in run and pass blocking. Who knows which Clady shows up next year?

Orlando Franklin hasn't ever played guard before, but he shouldn't have much trouble transitioning since he played RT the last three years. He was consistently good in the run game, and outside of his rookie year, he was a very good pass blocker.

Although Manny Ramirez has spent a long time in the league, it looks like he's only had two years of actual playing time. He's been pretty good in those two years, and figures to be an above-average center moving forward.

Louis Vasquez was someone I was hoping so badly would come to my Jets team. Instead, he got picked up by Denver, and we got stuck with Willie Colon and Brian Winters. Vasquez had a career year last year, and he's gotten better in pass blocking with every year in the league. His run blocking has always been above average, and in some years good-to-dominant.

Chris Clark's career averages mean nil since he's never played more than a few snaps a year up until last season. He was a surprise in 2013 as a first-year starter after five seasons in reserve, playing not only well in the passing game but very well in the run game.

Final Analysis: I'll state the obvious immediately: this is a good run-blocking line. Knowshon Moreno's season last year made that very obvious. This will probably continue to be a good run-blocking line. This season, the right side of the Broncos offensive line has a chance to be incredibly dominant in the run game. It'll likely also be a good pass-blocking line. It's hard to find a fault here, except for the inexperience at RT in Chris Clark, but when you've played against Tamba Hali twice and come out unscathed, who's going to say anything bad about your skills?

Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Line

New Starters in Bold. Rookies in Red.

Eric Fisher went first overall last year after being the subject of much debate over whether he or Luke Joeckel should be at the top of the class. In his rookie year, he struggled heavily in the passing game, grading out at an amazingly low -17.2, which put him at 68th among the 76 tackles rated in pass blocking. In the run game, he was only slightly worse than average, and for a rookie tackle that's good to see. He has all the athletic traits you want to see in a top tackle, so the potential for improvement is definitely there.

Jeff Allen has been very weak his last two years at both aspects of his game, and unfortunately he isn't much more than an average athlete. His ceiling might not be much higher than where he's already been.

Rodney Hudson had his first season of significant playing time with the Chiefs last year, and he did a decent job. Although he was worse than the average center in the run game, his pass protection was well above expectations. Like Allen, his athleticism is limited.

Zach Fulton's a sixth rounder who's currently projected as the starting RG. His tape shows a player who's actually pretty good in the run game, but very inconsistent with work to do on his skills in the passing game. There's something to like about him, though.

Donald Stephenson has been moved around from LT and RT in his last two years with the Chiefs, never becoming a full-time starter until this season. Like fellow young tackle Eric Fisher, Stephenson also has all the athleticism you want to see in a tackle, with his closest physical comparison being Washington's elite LT Trent Williams.  Last year, Stephenson was amongst the league's bottom half in pass blocking and run blocking, but there's still room to grow.

Final Analysis: The Chiefs offensive line took a major blow this season when they lost LT Branden Albert (Dolphins), RG Geoff Schwartz (Giants) and LG Jon Asamoah (Falcons). Although Schwartz and Asamoah played a few games together last year, Schwartz had the best run-blocking grade of all the Chiefs linemen, while Asamoah had the third-best. The loss of Albert might not have a huge impact on the Chiefs run blocking, but it will definitely be felt in the passing game, since Albert was their best player there. One thing that really helps this team's run game is fullback Anthony Sherman, who had the league's highest run-block rating among fullbacks across 240 run-blocking snaps. Charles's run blocking took a significant hit this year, and he is unlikely to repeat raw rushing yardage, but he has a good chance of repeating 2013's receiving totals due to the amount of check downs he's bound to receive with the added QB pressure.

Oakland Raiders Offensive Line

New starters in Bold.

Donald Penn made an entire career out of his strong and sometimes elite run-blocking skills. The same can't be said for his pass blocking.

I don't understand how Khalif Barnes has lasted in the league for 10 years. Only twice in the last seven years has he had even decent seasons, with all the others being so abysmally horrible that it's hard to understand.

Stefan Wisniewski had the best season of his career, performing well in the passing game and extremely well in the run game. He's got room to improve and is heading in the right direction.

Austin Howard is a high-potential guard who flashed once in 2013, but wasn't able to keep that going. Potential is great, but unless it's showing up on the field, there's more to be desired.

Menelik Watson is a more limited athlete than the player next to him, and last year he barely saw the field due to injury, so it's hard to take his performance very seriously.

Final Analysis: If it weren't for Khalif Barnes, the left side of the Oakland Raiders offensive line would be a real strength with potential to be dominant in the run game. Instead, Barnes is a major liability on every single play. In one game last year, he accumulated a grade worse than most players have throughout entire seasons (-7.2 against the Jets). Howard might be a better fit at guard than he was at tackle, but he's yet to show the consistency you want to see from an offensive line. Unfortunately, Veldheer will definitely be missed as he moved on to the Cardinals in the offseason. He and Penn would have made for a great set of tackles. Despite Barnes's horrific value in the run game (fourth-worst in the league out of 81 tackles), one player does not immediately ruin a line (just the runs that go towards him). Howard, Penn and Wisniewski could still open some decent holes for running backs this season, but Oakland's rushing game is not something to really buy into. As for Schaub, there's only one person on the offensive line with a positive career grade for pass blocking. He's been inconsistent when dealing with pressure (two seasons he's been in the top 10, two seasons bottom 10), and the Raiders don't seem to have a great safety blanket for him.

San Diego Chargers Offensive Line

King Dunlap came from the Eagles last year, and he had the best season of his career. Although he was below average in the passing game, he was the highest graded tackle in the league for his work in the run game. Based on his history and athleticism, it could have been an outlier, but I do believe he could be good in the run game again.

Chad Rinehart had a weak 2013, missing many games with an injury. In the one year of his career that he managed to stay healthy, he was a very dominant pass blocker and above-average run blocker. The potential is there.

Nick Hardwick's been a long time fixture on the Chargers offensive line. He's usually average in the run game, but his career run grade is dragged down by a really bad 2007. His pass blocking is as shown, near average.

Jeremy Clary's year was horrendous in run blocking and it's not that far of an outlier. Clary's abilities in the run game are normally well below average. Pass blocking isn't much better. Clary is on IR until at least halfway through the season, which might be a good thing for the Chargers, since it gives rookie Chris Watt a chance to outperform Clary. Watt looks like a player who could hold his own, and athletically he has the potential to be a worthwhile starter in the league.

D.J. Fluker had a rough rookie year as a pass blocker, but he held his own in the run game. Fluker still has the potential to get better.

Final Analysis: The Chargers run game was a huge part of their offense, and it experienced a complete renaissance after struggling for what seemed like at least two seasons. The Chargers offensive line had a lot to do with that, since four of its parts performed at average or above expectations, and Dunlap was the best run-blocking tackle in the league. Clary isn't enough to drag down the entirety of this line, but when runs were between his and Fluker's B gap, they were at their worst for the Chargers, with 3.34 average line yards (27th in the league). Dunlap repeating a monster season doesn't look very likely, so it's hard to see the Chargers run game continuing to be as good as it was last year without significant contributions from the rookie Chris Watt. Rivers, on the other hand, seems to be in a much better situation. With Fluker entering his second year, the second weakest part of the line should be improved.

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