Grading on Salary-Cap Curve: Offensive Line
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Player grades have long been a staple of postseason analysis. Ours are different. So much of building a team is doing it within the constraints of the salary cap. Teams need their big-money players to come up big and some bargain players to outplay their contracts. Thus, our annual grades are done on a salary-cap curve.
OFFENSIVE LINE
LT DAVID BAKHTIARI
Cap: $14.2 million (seventh among offensive tackles, according to OverTheCap.com.)
Season: Bakhtiari collected his fourth consecutive All-Pro honor and was voted to the Pro Bowl for the first time. It wasn’t his best season by his lofty standards. Of 57 offensive tackles to play at least 50 percent of his team’s offensive snaps, Bakhtiari ranked 20th in ProFootballFocus.com’s pass-protection metric, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-protection snaps. PFF charged him with two sacks but 35 total pressures. He allowed 37 pressures in 28 games the past two years combined. STATS charged Bakhtiari with 3.5 sacks, only slightly above his 2.75 average from the past three seasons. His six holding penalties, however, were only one less than the combined total the past three years and his 12 total penalties were a career high. However, he played his best when it counted. PFF charged him with six pressures in the regular-season game against San Francisco. In the last seven games, PFF charged him with seven pressures, including zero in the rematch vs. the 49ers. He played almost every snap in his 18 games and has built himself into a quality run blocker. He gave up two stuffs, defined as a tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage in the run game, according to Sports Info Solutions. Bakhtiari is a fantastic player and a luxury for any coach when he starts building his game plan on Tuesday. He will be entering his final season under contract.
Grade: B.
LG ELGTON JENKINS
Cap: $1.23 million (62nd among guards)
Season: A second-round pick this year, Jenkins couldn’t quite beat out veteran starter Lane Taylor. Taylor wound up injuring his bicep during the Thursday practice before Week 3, which opened the door for Jenkins. Jenkins was superb in earning all-rookie honors. Of the seven rookie guards to play 200 pass-protecting snaps, Jenkins was the only one to not allow a sack, according to PFF. Of 62 guards to play at least 50 percent of the snaps, he finished 12th in PFF’s pass-protection metric with zero sacks and one hit but 22 total pressures. He was excellent in the run game, too. Sports Info Solution charged Jenkins with one blown block in the run game, tied for fewest among all guards, and zero stuffs. (A “blown block” is failing to execute the block and giving the opponent a chance to negatively affect the play.) All of that SEC competition created a battle-tested player who wasn’t fazed by any player or any setting. About the only ding on his resume were his eight penalties (five for holding). After the season, general manager Brian Gutekunst praised Jenkins in the strongest possible terms. “He has a chance to be one of the guys like we’ve had here in the past – the Josh Sittons, T.J. Langs, Marco Riveras, Mike Wahles. We’ve had a long history of really good inside players and Elgton has a chance to be one of those.”
Grade: A.
C COREY LINSLEY
Cap: $8.15 million (ninth among centers)
Season: Linsley’s a rock in the middle of the lineup with three consecutive seasons of 16 starts. After playing every snap in 2017 and 2018, injuries limited him to “only” 88.1 percent of the snaps in 2019. According to STATS, Linsley allowed 1.5 sacks and was flagged once (for holding). PFF wasn’t as kind. PFF charged him with five sacks, and he ranked 22nd of 29 centers to play 50 percent of the snaps in its pass-protection metric. Run blocking has always been a strength, and that didn’t change with the schematic changes. He allowed three stuffs, down from four last year despite a more run-centric offense. The 2020 season will be his final one under contract. With durability and performance, he should be a bedrock of the unit.
Grade: B-minus.
RG BILLY TURNER
Cap: $4.25 million (27th among guards)
Season: Gutekunst knocked it out of the park in free agency with the signings of Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos. The jury remains out on Turner. Turner, a part-time starter for Miami and Denver, inked an eye-popping four-year, $28 million contract. He’s intelligent and athletic but got beat far too often in the passing game and was overpowered at times in the running game. Of 62 guards to play at least 50 percent of the snaps, he finished 57th in PFF’s pass-protection metric with six sacks, six hits and 45 total pressures. That pressure count was the worst in the league among guards. STATS charged him with 3.5 sacks. Sports Info Solutions charged him with 12 blown blocks in the run game, second-most among all guards. On the bright side, he was flagged only once (zero holding). After a low cap hit in 2019, he’ll count a bit more than $8 million the next three years. Maybe he’d be better at tackle.
Grade: D.
RT BRYAN BULAGA
Cap: $8.26 million (21st among tackles)
Season: In his final season under contract, Bulaga started all 16 games for the first time in his 10-year tenure. Facing perhaps the best slate of pass rushers in his career, Bulaga was excellent. Of 57 offensive tackles to play at least 50 percent of his team’s offensive snaps, Bulaga ranked 17th in ProFootballFocus.com’s pass-protection metric. It charged Bulaga with four sacks and 26 total pressures. According to STATS, Bulaga allowed 3.5 sacks and was flagged twice for holding. In 14 games last year, it was 4.5 sacks and five holding penalties. He’s a tremendous run blocker. Sports Info Solutions charged him with one stuff and three blown blocks in the run game. The blown-block total tied for 13th-fewest among starting tackles. How important is Bulaga? In 10 seasons, he’s played 950-plus snaps four times. In 2010, the Packers won the Super Bowl. In 2014, 2016 and 2019, they reached NFC Championship Games. His will be the most fascinating of free agencies.
Grade: B-plus.
G LANE TAYLOR
Cap: $5.475 million (21st among guards)
Season: Taylor replaced Josh Sitton just before the start of the 2016 season. After allowing two sacks in 2016, he was signed to a three-year, $16.5 million contract extension. He repaid the team in 2017 by allowing three sacks but not drawing a single penalty. However, he allowed 5.5 sacks in 2018 and missed most of 2019. His cap number for 2020 is almost $5.5 million; releasing him would save $4.2 million.
Grade: F.
G/C LUCAS PATRICK
Cap: $761,667 (40th among centers)
Season: Patrick made a surprisingly strong transition to the team’s zone blocking scheme. So much so that the Packers handed him a modest contract extension through the 2021 season. In extensive action in place of Linsley at Dallas in Week 5 and Detroit in Week 17, Patrick neither gave up a pressure nor was penalized. However, Sports Info Solutions charged Patrick with five blown blocks in the run game, worst by percentage among all linemen with at least 45 run-blocking snaps.
Grade: C.
OT ALEX LIGHT
Cap: $571,000 (106th among tackles)
Season: Light replaced an injured Bulaga in Week 4 against Philadelphia and Week 12 against San Francisco and was torched. While he didn’t allow a sack, PFF charged him with 10 total pressures in those games. Of 91 tackles to play at least Light’s 85 pass-blocking snaps, Light ranked 82nd in PFF’s pass-blocking metric. The perfect backup is one that can enter the game and allow the play-caller not to change his plan. Light, an undrafted free agent in 2018, isn’t nearly to that level.
Grade: D-minus.
OT JARED VELDHEER
Cap: $519,301 (118th among tackles)
Season: Apparently, pass protection is like riding a bike. After sitting out most of the season in retirement, Veldheer joined the Packers for the stretch run. He replaced Bulaga against Detroit in Week 17 (concussion) and Seattle in the divisional playoffs (illness) and didn’t allow a single pressure in 53 pass-protecting snaps. It’s perhaps not an exaggeration to say the Packers wouldn’t have reached the NFC Championship Game without Veldheer. After the season, Veldheer sounded like a man who wants to play again but he’ll take his time making that decision. He is scheduled to be a free agent.
Grade: A.
EXTRA POINT: Offensive tackles Jason Spriggs ($1.59 million; 68th among tackles) and Yosh Nijman ($131,823) and guard Cole Madison ($534,789) ended the season on injured reserve and did not play a snap all season. Offensive tackle John Leglue ($58,235), who was added just before Christmas, did not play, either.
