January 31, 2022: The Trenches

On this last day of January 2022, let’s finish up the offensive side of the ball for my all time NFL team. It’s time to head to the trenches; the offensive line may be the hardest group of guys to select. There aren’t really a ton of stats to pull for these guys; most of these guys you really don’t get to know their names. We don’t select any for our fantasy football teams. These guys don’t get any glory. Of course, for the Bears, it’s a lot easier. The names Van Horne, Thayer, Hilgenberg, Bortz, and Covert just roll off my tongue; I think of Olin Kreutz and Big Cat Williams to name a couple others… I can go on. I’m sure all serious fans can do the same for their respective teams over the years. But how am I going to select my all time offensive line?

First requirement is that they must be a Hall Of Famer. I think this will be true for most of the guys I select, but may not be true for every single guy, like my 3rd WR Hines Ward; he may be in there one day. The second data point that I will be using is the # of all pro and pro bowl selections. It’s something that I have and will reference for all my selections, but it’s a little more weighted for these guys. Finally, I’m looking at physical size; of course, this will create a recency bias, because today guys are bigger and stronger than before. We will get one old guy in there though… So there’s my thought process; let’s see the results.

If there is any guy that I’ve seen play that feels like a no brainer, it’s Anthony Munoz. He’s a Hall of Famer, check. His 9 All Pro selections and 11 Pro Bowls are tied for the most among Tackles, check, check. At 6’6″ 278, he may not be the biggest tackle, but definitely no slouch, check. I’m sure he’s not only proud to see his Bengals reach the Super Bowl again, but to be selected for this high honor… haha. There was only one offensive lineman that had MORE All Pro selections than Munoz, and that guy was C Jim Otto. I thought I had the Center position figured out; it would be either Mike Webster or Dwight Stevenson, or even Olin Kreutz if he was in the Hall… maybe one day. Then I looked closer at the stats. Jim Otto is the ONLY offensive lineman to have double digit All Pro selections with 10. In fact, only one other player has 10, ever; it’s Jerry Rice who has already been selected to this team. I just can’t look past that. He’s got 12 Pro Bowls also. He will be the smallest offensive lineman at 6’2″ 255lbs, but that’s comparable with the rest of the centers I was looking at. I feel like I have to sprinkle in some “old guys” too; there was a whole lot of football played before the 1980s… haha. Otto’s career with the Raiders spanned from 1960 to 1974. OK, need 3 more guys.

For the other tackle, I looked at that guy that was tied with Munoz with 9 All Pro selections, Ron Mix; never heard of him? Yeah, me either. He had 8 Pro Bowl appearances to go along with that as well; certainly no slouch. However, at 6’4″ 250… yeah, I’m going to need my other tackle to be a little bigger. Can’t get much bigger than Jonathan Ogden. At 6’9″ 345, ain’t too many people going to be pushing him around. Although only 4 All Pro selections, he is tied for the most Pro Bowls with Munoz (and Willie Roaf, who I also considered) with 11. Dude was a beast; he will play the other tackle position. That leaves only the Guards… Another guy that pops in my head right away when thinking offensive lineman is Bruce Matthews; he will be at one of the Guard positions. At the other, will be another “household name” among offensive lineman, and that’s Randall McDaniel. 7 All Pro selections each. 14 and 11 Pro Bowls, 6’5″ 305 and 6’3″ 276 respectively, I’m feeling pretty good about the completion of my all time offensive line.

So there you go: Anthony Munoz, Jonathan Ogden, Bruce Matthews, Randall McDaniel, and Jim Otto. My all time offensive line that will be blocking for Montana, Payton, Rice, Moss, Ward, and Gonzalez. Not too shabby. Ready to head over to the other side of the ball now.