The Running Back position is an obvious and vital tool in winning Fantasy Football championships. When drafting RB’s for fantasy leagues, most people only look at the skill/potential of that RB, while ignoring one important piece of information. That is, the talent of the offensive line. Take a look at last season’s Top Run Blocking Teams.
| 2013 Run Block Rank | |||||
| Rk | Tm | Stuffed | Stuffed Rk | Tot Rush Yds | Tot Rush Yd Rank |
| 1 | NE | 16% | 4 | 2065/470 | 9 |
| 2 | KC | 16% | 7 | 2056/442 | 10 |
| 3 | SD | 12% | 1 | 1965/486 | 13 |
| 4 | DAL | 15% | 2 | 1504/336 | 24 |
| 5 | GB | 16% | 5 | 2136/459 | 7 |
| 6 | HOU | 20% | 17 | 1743/414 | 20 |
| 7 | NO | 21% | 23 | 1473/391 | 25 |
| 8 | DEN | 16% | 3 | 1873/461 | 15 |
| 9 | SEA | 19% | 15 | 2188/509 | 4 |
| 10 | MIN | 20% | 20 | 2081/423 | 8 |
*These rankings are adjusted based on the Down, Distance, Formation, Opponent, Times rushing 0-10 yards, Times rushing 10+ yards, Rushing TDs, Red Zone Rushing TD’s, RB YPC & Stuffed Percentage
Stuffed: When the Running Back is tackled behind the line of scrimmage or at the line of scrimmage. The higher the percentage, the worse. This is ranked as being stuffed the least (#1) to the being stuffed the most (#32).
What Legion Report takes away from the numbers above. The rankings only somewhat separate the RB’s from the O-Line. Comparing the stats, you can see that teams with Good RB’s and lesser O-Lines tantalize this stats (MIN). Teams with great offensive lines, like New England, show us how great they can make players like LaGarrette Blount. Don’t expect another season like last year out of Blount, especially in Pittsburgh’s 22nd rank O-Line. An inconsistent Philadelphia Eagles Offensive Line last season didn’t plague LeSean McCoy’s production. Look for an improvement under another year with Chip Kelly. An improved Chargers line lead RB Ryan Mathews to a career year rushing for 1255 yards and 6 TDs on 285 attempts. The consistency of the Seattle Seahawks O-Line has enabled Marshawn Lynch to rush for 1,000+ yards in 3/4 seasons with Seattle. Surprisingly, Seattle was stuffed 19% of the time in goal line, 3rd down and 4th down situations last season. We still love RB Christine Michael as a dynasty pick. If Bronco’s Orlando Franklin can manage/handle the move to right guard, Montee Ball should have no doubt running for 1,200 yards. Green Bay Packers RB, Eddie Lacy, ran the ball 285 times in his rookie campaign. He ran the ball 20+ times in 11 games. It was evident by his lack of production to end the season last year that they over-used him. Green Bay wants to lessen the load on Lacy this year, but at the same time feature him more in the passing game. It’s safe to say he’ll be a top 5 RB, especially under a Top 10 Offensive Line. A healthy Arian Foster should prosper again as the Texans remain an Offensive Line within the Top 10 for consecutive years. With the departure of Ben Tate, Foster is going to be a main feature in Bill O’Briens new “passing back” offense. Andre Brown should primarily be an early down back while Foster is used heavily in both the running and passing game. Expect a potential 335 total touches from Foster and about 55 catches through the air.
Taking a look at the other end of the spectrum. The Giants, Jaguars and Ravens finished 30, 31 and 32 in terms of run blocking rank last season. This directly correlates to their “Stuffed Rank” all being in the latter three. The RB Yards Per Carry were also in the latter three. The Giants finished the season with RB’s running the ball 3.48 YPC, Jacksonville 3.43 YPC and Baltimore a league horrendous 2.96 YPC. It’s an obvious indicator on the lack of production from these teams’ RB last season.
A look at 2014’s Top Offensive Lines:
Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles O-Line was often great and often bad last season. LeSean McCoy helped camouflage the bad weeks, but look for an extremely talented and athletic line lead by left tackle/left guard/center Jason Peters, Evan Mathis and Jason Kelce to have a consistent season in Chip Kelley’s exciting offense. The 5 starters combined to play 5,426 of the Eagles’ 5,520 snaps last season.
Denver Broncos – Manny Ramirez had his best season last year, but the Bronco O-Line will be lead by Ryan Clady. The Bronco’s have a very talented group, but have two question marks heading into the season. Orlando Franklin will be making the move to right guard with the departure of Zane Beadles. This shouldn’t be an issue, assuming he plays the right and left side the same. The second question is, who takes over Franklin’s spot at right tackle? The Bronco’s O-Line has depth – expect another top 10 season out of the O-Line and Montee Ball a beneficiary of it.
New England Patriots – An O-Line plagued by injuries last season and still performed outstanding. Solder, Vollmer and Mankins will lead this group in 2013. Both Center Ryan Wendell and Right Guard Dan Connolly will both try to hold off talented Marcus Cannon from taking their spots. If healthy, expect this deep experienced O-Line to have an outstanding year.
San Francisco 49ers – Left Tackle Joe Staley and Left Guard Mike Iupati make up one of the best left ends in football. The left side is accompanied with Alex Boone at Right Guard and first pick Anthony Davis at RT. The only question mark for the 49ers O-Line this season is Kilgore at Center, with the departure of Goodwin due to Free Agency. Marcus Martin is one to replace Kilgore if he under-performs. The 49ers only ran the ball to the left side 22% of the time last season. I’d expect this percentage to increase with Carlos Hyde being a major contributor in this trench dominating Offensive Line.
Dallas Cowboys – Lead by LT Tyron Smith another year under the young Dallas Cowboys O-Line’s belt is only good news for Cowboy fans. Doug Free will take the RT position, while Travis Frederick will look to build off an impressive rookie season. Rookie Zack Martin will take the right guard spot after becoming Dallas first round pick last year. Left Guard is still up in the air. Regardless, an improved and more experienced O-Line will put Demarco Murray back on fantasy owners radar this season.