The Offensive Line Continuity Landscape Ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft
Image Credit: Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire. Pictured: Mekhi Becton.

Patrick Mahomes can make up for a lot, but that shocking day in Tampa confirmed the existence of limits, as both his stalwart protectors at offensive tackle yielded to their understudy. Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz bookended an offensive line that had returned a majority of starters in every season since the Chiefs traded up for Mahomes in 2017. Now both free agents recover from season-ending injuries.

Now Kansas City lands at the bottom of the league in offensive line continuity — only out-shuffled by the Chargers, who end up in this position just about every year. I would trust Mahomes and Andy Reid to deal with this challenge as successfully as anyone. However, as my work over the years and at RotoViz indicates, OL continuity is a meaningful layer in offensive production.

This article is the first in my latest offseason series on projected offensive line continuity. In this metric, incumbent starters qualify by taking a majority of snaps the previous season or entering that previous season as a starter. Through my past articles and ongoing tweets on the subject, we can compare across the league since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement.

My first 2021 post on the matter will look at the pre-draft landscape and then identify starting spots that are still likely to see change this offseason. Here’s the current offensive line continuity outlook:

Please subscribe For Full Access to all RotoViz content and tools!

 

What’s included in your subscription??

  • Exclusive Access to RotoViz Study Hall
    • A treasure trove of our most insightful articles that will teach you the metrics that matter, time-tested winning strategies, the approaches that will give you an edge, and teach you how to be an effective fantasy manager.
  • Revolutionary Tools
    • Including the NFL Stat Explorer, Weekly GLSP Projections, NCAA Prospect Box Score Scout, Combine Explorer, Range of Outcomes App, DFS Lineup Optimizer, Best Ball Suite,and many, many, more.
  • Groundbreaking Articles
    • RotoViz is home of the original Zero-RB article and continues to push fantasy gamers forward as the go-to destination for evidence-based analysis and strategic advantages.
  • Weekly Projections
    • Built using RotoViz’s unique GLSP approach.
  • Expert Rankings
  • And a whole lot more…

Evaluating Offensive Line Continuity Against Market Perception Entering the 2023 Season

We’ve had to white-knuckle through the end of training camp with injuries to skill position players, so it can be easy to take our eyes off the trenches. Though as I lay out in my annual summer series for RotoViz, there is a correlation worth exploring between starting offensive line continuity entering the season and the offensive production that ensues. My most recent piece put…...

Derrick Henry’s Big Shakeup in the Trenches and the Offensive Line Continuity Picture for 2023

Offensive line continuity is one slice of the giant onion in projecting the NFL. A quarterback can overcome a lot and it’s more important to fill gaping holes up front than it is to have continuity just for continuity’s sake. But all things equal, there’s an edge in having the dance line get in sync. This does especially come in handy with a weak-link system…....

Offensive Line Continuity Updates Entering NFL Week 1

Earlier this offseason, I wrote about how the Chiefs’ and Chargers’ massive offensive line overhauls were quite extraordinary, both in how quickly they yielded success and how uniquely equipped they were to do so. Still, the top offenses tend to return more than three offensive line incumbents on average, while the bottom 10 mostly don’t. The Bengals hope to see immediate results from their offensive…...

Evaluating Offensive Line Continuity Against Market Perception Entering the 2023 Season

We’ve had to white-knuckle through the end of training camp with injuries to skill position players, so it can be easy to take our eyes off the trenches. Though as I lay out in my annual summer series for RotoViz, there is a correlation worth exploring between starting offensive line continuity entering the season and the offensive production that ensues. My most recent piece put…...

Derrick Henry’s Big Shakeup in the Trenches and the Offensive Line Continuity Picture for 2023

Offensive line continuity is one slice of the giant onion in projecting the NFL. A quarterback can overcome a lot and it’s more important to fill gaping holes up front than it is to have continuity just for continuity’s sake. But all things equal, there’s an edge in having the dance line get in sync. This does especially come in handy with a weak-link system…....

Offensive Line Continuity Updates Entering NFL Week 1

Earlier this offseason, I wrote about how the Chiefs’ and Chargers’ massive offensive line overhauls were quite extraordinary, both in how quickly they yielded success and how uniquely equipped they were to do so. Still, the top offenses tend to return more than three offensive line incumbents on average, while the bottom 10 mostly don’t. The Bengals hope to see immediate results from their offensive…...

The Blitz

Connect
Support

rotovizmain@gmail.com

Sign-up today for our free Premium Email subscription!

Data provided by

© 2021 RotoViz. All rights Reserved.

Welcome Back to RotoViz...

– IF YOU HAVE ISSUES LOGGING IN PLEASE CONTACT ROTOVIZMAIN@GMAIL.COM

– PLEASE NOTE THAT ROTOVIZ USES WORDPRESS FOR ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT. IF RESETTING YOUR PASSWORD YOU MAY BE FOWARDED TO A WORDPRESS PAGE.