Ranking The NFC South: Offensive Tackles

Every Wednesday from now until preseason I’ll be going through each position group in the NFC South. I’ll rank them from worst to first. Here is a list of the positions already covered:

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Now we turn our attention to a position where the Bucs rate very well: offensive tackle.

Offensive Tackle

Bucs

Tristan Wirfs

Luke Goedeke

Justin Skule

Brandon Walton

It should come as little surprise that the Bucs lead the NFC South in tackle rankings. Although it may be a bit of a surprise that the second-place team was very close in the grading. The biggest reason the Bucs take the top spot is due to All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs. After establishing himself as a top-two right tackle in the NFL from 2020-2022 Wirfs made the difficult transition to the left side.

And unsurprisingly he continued to dominate. Wirfs regularly shows up as a top 2-4 left tackle among evaluator lists despite having played extremely limited snaps at the position in college and none over the first three years of his NFL career. Among all qualifying tackles, Wirfs ranked tied for sixth in pass block efficiency and fifth in pass block grade last year per Pro Football Focus

Now entering his fifth season Wirfs is angling to become the highest paid offensive tackle in the NFL.

Behind Wirfs is the unlikely ascension of Luke Goedeke. After an abysmal rookie campaign where he was asked to change just about everything, he knew in terms of playing offensive line, Goedeke returned to his natural position last year and excelled. He himself had a pass block efficiency rating of 96.5 last year and graded above a 70 as both a pass blocker and run blocker per PFF. He also joined Wirfs on a recent list compiled by PFF of the 32 best offensive tackles in the NFL headed into 2024, ranking 25th overall.

Goedeke will look to build on last year’s strong campaign, but it should be noted that he has a small sample size of good play and the concerns about him surviving at tackle coming out of college will continue to be present for the rest of his career. For those penciling him in to just continue to improve I caution that growth is not linear and NFL pass rushers could give him more trouble in year two as they get more tape on him as a tackle. Nevertheless, he is one of the more promising young tackles in the division.

Behind the two starters is Justin Skule, a former starter for the 49ers who excels on the move using his agility and athleticism to maximize his strengths in a mid-zone/wide zone blocking scheme. Skule looks to operate as the primary backup for Goedeke on the right-side while 2020 undrafted free agent Brandon Walton looks to be Wirfs backup on the left side. Walton did not play at all in 2023 as Wirfs went wire-to-wire, but he played solidly over 234 snaps in 2022 as Wirfs dealt with some injuries throughout the season.

Falcons

Jake Matthews

Kaleb McGary

Storm Norton

Tyler Vrabel

The Falcons continue their trend of solid roster building at yet another position group. Jake Matthews is entering his 11th season as the Falcons starting left tackle and continues to deliver good-to-great seasons one after another. Matthews has recorded a PFF blocking grade of at least 71.0 in each of his last nine seasons and a pass block grade above 80.0 in seven of those nine seasons. Those grades are bolstered by his having allowed less than 30 quarterback pressures in each of his last six seasons and only 34 sacks since 2015. Matthews is the definition of consistency and should provide a lot of help to Kirk Cousins as he comes back from a torn Achilles this season.

Across from Matthews is a similarly consistent tackle in Kaleb McGary. The Falcons right tackle recorded an elite 2022 season on the back of his strong run blocking. McGary has never been known as a great pass blocker, but he has worked hard to improve in that area of his game. His pass blocking efficiency has improved almost linearly throughout his professional career and he allowed a career-low 17 pressures in 2023.

Storm Norton was re-signed for 2024 after filling in admirably for McGary at times last season. Norton is probably best known for struggling as a starter for the Chargers in 2021 and then getting lit up by Jacksonville in week three of 2022 as he a was a mid-game injury replacement before giving up eight pressures, five hurries and three quarterback hits in just 25 pass-block reps. Still, Norton is a veteran who can provide above-average play for a backup behind McGary who misses a little time in most years.

Tyler Vrabel looks to be the backup left tackle for Atlanta. The 2022 undrafted free agent has played just one game in his career. He allowed 0 pressures to the Bucs in week 14 last year.

Panthers

Ikem Ekwonu

Taylor Moton

Yosh Nijman

Ricky Lee

Ikem Ekwonu saw a bit of a sophomore slump in 2023 after a promising rookie season. His 44 pressures allowed were 12th most in the NFL by a tackle and his 11 sacks allowed were third most. Ekwonu was still a quality run-blocker, but Carolina needs him to take a step forward as a pass protector if quarterback Bryce Young has any hope of developing into even a league average signal-caller.

Ekwonu’s struggles can be chalked up to a lost 2023 season for the entire franchise as they lost their head coach and were plagued by organizational ineptitude last year. One of new head coach Dave Canales’ biggest priorities this year will be getting the 2022 first round pick back on track.

Taylor Moton, much like Jake Matthews and Kaleb McGary is a quality veteran tackle that makes up much of the NFC South. The 29-year-old right tackle has been a consistent pass blocker over the course of his seven years in the NFL, although he did allow a career-high 41 pressures last year. Moton represents one of the more stable parts of Carolina’s offense as they look to completely reset in 2024.

Yosh Nijman is a quality swing tackle with over 500 snaps at right tackle and 1,000 at left tackle. He is a league average tackle who is in a backup role. That’s a win for any team to have that kind of stability ready to come off the bench at any time. Ricky Lee is entering his second season in the NFL after signing as an undrafted free agent out of North Carolina A&T in 2023. He has yet to log an offensive snap but played 24 special teams snaps last year.

Saints

Taliese Fuaga

Ryan Ramczyk

Trevor Penning

Landon Young

The Saints used to regularly top the NFC South in offensive tackle rankings for years. But Terron Armstead is now gone, and Ryan Ramczyk has serious health concerns related to his knee. The deterioration of the cartilage in his knee has even put whether Ramczyk could continue his career in jeopardy. If he can play a full season at anywhere close to his career level of play Ramczyk can still be a quality tackle. While 2023 was his worst season from a grading standpoint, Ramczyk still posted a blocking grade of 73.5. But the odds that he can continue that level of play without missing significant time is a bet most people would not make.

The Saints were hoping 2022 first-round pick Trevor Penning would be the heir-apparent to Armstead. That experiment has gone so poorly that Penning was benched week seven last year, playing just 13 snaps the rest of the year. New Orleans then went out and spent the 14th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft on Taliese Fuaga out of Oregon State and are going to ask him to make the Wirfs switch from right tackle to left.

Fuaga is a massive man, at 324 pounds with short arms, not unlike Goedeke of the Bucs. He was a better run blocker in college than a pass blocker but played well in both facets of the game in his final year for the Beavers.

Penning will now serve as a swing tackle for the Saints, backing up both Fuaga and Ramczyk. Given Ramczyk’s injury concerns there is a good chance Penning will see time on the field. He is still a good athlete and bring a nasty (sometimes too nasty) demeanor to the position. But unless he can clean up his aggressiveness and footwork, he may continue to be a liability for New Orleans.

Landon Young is a former sixth round pick in 2021 who has provided replacement level play over 487 career snaps.