Who’s the best Left Tackle you have ever watched?

[boyst]

57 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

Blocking rules have changed, too.  

I remember being taught to block in high school.  Our coaches instructed us to hold onto our own jersey's with our hands to avoid illegally using hands on the defender. 

 

In the mid 1970s and before, NFL lineman had to keep their hands to their chest in closed fists when blocking.  In 1978, the NFL began allowing blockers to extend their arms and use open hands.  While this was a huge win for offensive linemen in general, it was especially helpful for pass pro and contributed to the NFL becoming a "passing league."  

 

 

And with the Open hands you can cleverly have your hands come up to get leverage underneath the pads of the defender. You could essentially hold them by their shorter pads or grip their jersey. As long as you weren't talking or pulling and constantly had pressure pushing you could hide the hold. 

[Sojourner]

48 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

Jonathan Ogden

 

6'9" 345 and moved like a Tight End.

 

He would completely erase elite pass rushers and was a battering ram in the run game.

 

Despite being humungous, was nearly always healthy as well. 9-time All Pro. First ballot hall of famer. 😳

Yeah. I think it’s Ogden for me. While I remember Munoz, I only watched football attentively as a child at the end of the 80’s and caught the last 4 seasons of his. 
 

There’s been quite a few dominantly elite LTs in the league the last 35 years…

 

Orlando Pace

Walter Jones

Tony Boselli

Joe Thomas

Jason Peters

Tyron Smith

Trent Williams

 

 

 
Different bread, different butter. Still makes a sandwich. All preference. A lot of excellent players named in this thread. 

 

Edited November 14 by Sojourner

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

Anthony Munoz was at the tail end of his career when I watched so Walter Jones and Jonathan Ogden were the 2 most dominant that I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t go wrong with either imo.

[NoName]

I pains me to say this but Tony Boselli owned Bruce Smith. For that reason alone, I have to put him #1.  I didn't see Munoz enough. 

[DrBob806]

3 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

he was the anchor of what was one of the worst O-lines every year he was playing.   A career of futility, zero impact.

Zero impact?

 

Ask the defensive linemen he blocked against.

[Mr. WEO]

20 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

Zero impact?

 

Ask the defensive linemen he blocked against.

 

Those D linemen were running wild on the other O-linemen and lighting up the all the Browns crappy QBs. 

 

From 2008-2017, that team won 38 games.  Other than one season at 24th, their Offense ranked 27th to 32nd in scoring.  In facgt, in his rookie year, they were ranked 8th in points scored.  For the rest of Thomas's career, they went straight to the basement on Offense.  He did not have a positive impact on their outcomes.  Drafting AP probably would have been far more important as far as impact, as he was a dominant RB for years and the Browns had a bunch of bums/flashes in the pan.  AP certainly would have helped that Offense a far more than any single O-line HOFer.  This is intuitively true.... 

[HamSandwhich]

Mike Williams

[Bill from NYC]

My choice is Orlando Pace in his prime. He was big, as strong as an ox, brutal, and very agile. He would open holes for Marshall Faulk that trucks could drive through.

On 11/13/2024 at 11:10 PM, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Reggie had guys he couldn't beat too.   And they were RT's not the stud LT's of the day.   The great Erik Williams used to beat Reggie like a rented mule.  He pitched a full shutout.....zero tackles even........against Reggie in a playoff game once.   

Erik Williams was the most dominant RT I ever saw. Bob Brown was also scary good but Williams was flat out great. Nobody was going to out muscle him, and he was also very agile for a RT. If he was on the Bills they are a different team, and there are not that many RTs who could make that much of a difference.

 

And while we are talking about Tackles, when Leon Lett was healthy, he might have been the best DT I for one ever saw.

Edited November 15 by Bill from NYC

[BigdaddyinOrlando]

Munoz

Ogdon

webb seemed to give Bruce fits when they played

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

Jonas Jennings 😂

[Solomon Grundy]

16 hours ago, NoName said:

I pains me to say this but Tony Boselli owned Bruce Smith. For that reason alone, I have to put him #1.  I didn't see Munoz enough. 

If I remember correctly, it was one game that Boselli had a good game against Bruce. The tackle that Bruce Smith said gave him the most problems was Bruce Armstrong of the Patriots 

[klos63]

On 11/13/2024 at 4:51 PM, drummernut74 said:

Anthony Munoz ... no question about it ... period ... end of story.  He is the Gold Standard.  I actually just saw / heard him do a Private Speaking engagement at a work related convention last month.  Truly fascinating.  His collegiate career was marred by injuries, and he was still drafted 5th overall in his class.  Was ranked the 12th best player in NFL history.  Boselli was dominant ... but Munoz was SPECIAL!  He OWNED Bruce Smith in his prime

Bruce had 2 sacks in the first qtr against Munoz in the 1989 playoff game.

He also had a 3rd sack in the first qtr taken away by a phantom facemask penalty. 

Then,  Bruce got hurt and was ineffective.  But until the injury, Smith made Munoz look like a HS tackle. 

[MikePJ76]

All those 80s 90s  guys were pretty amazing.

 

Munoz, joe Jacoby, Bubba Paris, Jumbo Elliot, jackie slater.

 

Loved those redskins lines.

[njbuff]

1 hour ago, klos63 said:

Bruce had 2 sacks in the first qtr against Munoz in the 1989 playoff game.

He also had a 3rd sack in the first qtr taken away by a phantom facemask penalty. 

Then,  Bruce got hurt and was ineffective.  But until the injury, Smith made Munoz look like a HS tackle. 

That 1988 AFC Championship game STILL burns me up.

[CookieG]

On 11/14/2024 at 8:45 AM, DrBob806 said:

Joe Thomas.

 

Imagine playing your entire 11 year career, 166 straight games for a team that stunk (except for 1 season). All pro every season, voted on by his peers. That's how great he was. 

You see lists like this and you forget just how many good LT's there were in the past.  Most are deserving to be on the list.

 

Joe Thomas def. belongs there.  He also gets the gold medal for the best location when getting the call that he was drafted.

 

No limo ride to Radio City;

No custom made suit;

No bear hug of the Commish;

 

Nah, when he gets the call, he's out on a boat on Lake Michigan, fishing with his dad.

 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2790897101213721

 

"Joe, this is the Cleveland Browns, we just drafted you with the 3rd pick in the draft"

 

"yeah?  That's great, can't wait to get started.  Oh, gotta go, FISH ON!"

 

Somehow, I think they could have recreated that scene in the movie Draft Day.

 

 

[Logic]

I was too young to see guys like Munoz and Boselli other than in highlight clips.

The guys that set the gold standard at LT when I came up watching football were Walter Jones, Jonathan Ogden, and Joe Thomas.

Of those, my pick would be Walter Jones. He just seemed unbeatable to me. He seemed like the perfect left tackle. Strength, agility, consistency. You couldn't beat Walter Jones. It was like he was built in a lab to play left tackle.

[Sierra Foothills]

1 hour ago, MikePJ76 said:

All those 80s 90s  guys were pretty amazing.

 

Munoz, Joe Jacoby, Bubba Paris, Jumbo Elliot, Jackie Slater.

 

Loved those redskins lines.

 

All great players but they also played at a time when the speed rush was in its advent. There was no such terminology as "edge rusher."

 

I might be forgetting someone but I believe the first pass rusher who combined speed, explosiveness, and power was Lawrence Taylor.

 

The above O-linemen didn't have to deal with a speedy edge player on a weekly basis... for the most part defensive ends were different back then.

 

23 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Bruce Armstrong and House Ballard

 

I'm pretty sure you're mostly facetious but it opens the discussion to others that were in the next tier.

 

22 hours ago, Rock'em Sock'em said:

Specifically against Bruce Smith: Richmond Web

 

3 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

If I remember correctly, it was one game that Boselli had a good game against Bruce. The tackle that Bruce Smith said gave him the most problems was Bruce Armstrong of the Patriots 

 

Yes, Bruce Smith had high regard for Bruce Armstrong and for Richmond Webb. He played them twice per year so I'm sure they developed a great mutual respect. Bruce also had respect for Lomas Brown who also was a borderline HOFer.

 

3 hours ago, BigdaddyinOrlando said:

Munoz

Ogden

Webb seemed to give Bruce fits when they played

 

FWIW, my top 2 are Ogden and Jones.

 

 

 

[LewPort71]

Years  (decades) ago when  TV coverage was limited, I saw a lot of Cleveland Browns games.

The  long time LT was Doug Dieken and  his guy rarely touched a Browns QB.

He turned a great playing career into an exceptional broadcast career.

 

[MikePJ76]

20 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

All great players but they also played at a time when the speed rush was in its advent. There was no such terminology as "edge rusher."

 

I might be forgetting someone but I believe the first pass rusher who combined speed, explosiveness, and power was Lawrence Taylor.

 

The above O-linemen didn't have to deal with a speedy edge player on a weekly basis... for the most part defensive ends were different back then.

 

 

 

 

 

I assure you those guys I mentioned played against some great pass rushers.  The edge rusher term really came from the amount of teams playing multiple fronts on defense....is he a 4-3 end or a 3-4 OLB.....turned into Edge or Edge rusher.

 

Taylor is the greatest to ever rush the paser but there were a lot of guys who were great at it in the 80s and 90s the era of the guys I posted.  Jacoby for instance played his entire career blocking LT twice a year and then a few times again in the playoffs.  

 

Bubba paris had to play against all the greats with the niners winning so many titles and being in the playoffs every year but in the regular season he had to play rickey jackson and pat swilling twice a year and kevin greene once he showed up in LA.

 

I could go on about pass rushers in the 80's most of whom played olb in a 34 front and some who were the exact size of todays tweeners who played in a 4-3.

  

Mark Gastineau, Charles Mann, Charles Haley, Richard Dent, Clay Matthews, LT, Pat Swilling, Rickey Jackson, Karl Mecklenburg, Kevn Greene etc.

 

 

[Sierra Foothills]

10 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

I assure you those guys I mentioned played against some great pass rushers.  The edge rusher term really came from the amount of teams playing multiple fronts on defense....is he a 4-3 end or a 3-4 OLB.....turned into Edge or Edge rusher.

 

Taylor is the greatest to ever rush the paser but there were a lot of guys who were great at it in the 80s and 90s the era of the guys I posted.  Jacoby for instance played his entire career blocking LT twice a year and then a few times again in the playoffs.  

 

Bubba paris had to play against all the greats with the niners winning so many titles and being in the playoffs every year but in the regular season he had to play rickey jackson and pat swilling twice a year and kevin greene once he showed up in LA.

 

I could go on about pass rushers in the 80's most of whom played olb in a 34 front and some who were the exact size of todays tweeners who played in a 4-3.

  

Mark Gastineau, Charles Mann, Charles Haley, Richard Dent, Clay Matthews, LT, Pat Swilling, Rickey Jackson, Karl Mecklenburg, Kevn Greene etc.

 

The point I was making is that it is more a matter of degree... meaning that the prevalence of speed pass rush specialists is greater than it was then.

 

Back then you still had guys more in the traditional mold, Ray Childress, Howie Long, Joe Klecko, LeRoy Selmon... these guys that didn't have a speed aspect to their games.