The Evolving Positions of Offensive Guard and Tackle

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THE EVOLVING POSITIONS OF OFFENSIVE GUARD AND OFFENSIVE TACKLE

Hunter Steward, a first round draft choice of our B.C. Lions, was selected as an offensive left tackle in 2013 and joined us in 2014, after completing his second season at Liberty.

Steward began his college career as a defensive lineman but was converted to offensive left tackle at Liberty. Steward only gave up one sack as a left tackle over his last two seasons of football there before joining our Leos.

In 2014, Steward overcame a knee injury in training camp and eventually earned the starting left tackle position that season. Steward was enjoying a remarkable run as a National starting left tackle, over seven games, until suffering a season-ending foot injury against Saskatchewan.

Steward battled through another foot injury in camp in 2015, to eventually appear in 3 regular season games as well as the Western Semi-Final.

Steward has been converted to left guard from left tackle. He has been our starter at left guard since our season opener but was benched and not given the start in our last game. He entered the contest as our left guard part way through the second half.

Steward's ability to switch to tackle in a game, if one of our Internationals got hurt, is a real bonus. There are very few National offensive lineman who are capable of doing that at a high level of play.

Hunter Stewart, at 6' 7" and 315 pounds, is a very strong, athletic, long armed offensive lineman who has the body type designed for offensive left tackle. Playing a position that he has not played before is more of a challenge than some Leos fans many realize.

The coversion of Steward to left guard and his benching triggered me to write this post about the offensive guard and tackle positions on a football team.

PLAYING OFFENSIVE LINE IS COMPLEX

For the uneducated fan, offensive lineman are just expected to block a defender to one side or the other or to knock him on his ass to create a hole for the running back. In passing situations the expectation is that he will block the player lined up opposite him and provide adequate time for the quarterback to throw the ball. Simple stuff right?

The answer is NO! Playing offensive line is the most complicated position to play, other than the quarterback position. The guard and tackle positions are also very different positions to play. Playing offensive left tackle often means playing in space. Playing offensive guard is sometimes like playing in a phone booth.

THE DIFFERENT BODY TYPES OF THE TWO POSITIONS

Offensive left tackle is the glamour position for offensive lineman because its the highest paid and because the left tackle position protects the quarterback's blind side. The position requires athletic ability (agility, technique) in order to deal with one on one pass rushers.

Offensive center is the leadership position of the offensive line.

The body type to play offensive tackle and offensive guard are very different. Offensive left tackles are expected to be quicker and longer than guards. Tackles are expected to be tall and lanky, with long, strong arms. Quick feet, the ability to slide laterally, and athleticism are more valued than body mass and a low center of gravity.

The body type to play offensive tackle is more rare than the body type to play offensive guard. Offensive tackles most often moving their feet backward to pass block. They also need to be able to move laterally very quickly to pass block speed rushing defensive ends.

Guards are usually denser, in terms of body type. They have a lower center of mass. They deal with larger defenders (defensive tackles) who can go over 300 pounds and can effectively bull rush. The offensive guard's primarily passing game responsibility is not to move backwards at all. |If a guard gets knocked back a couple steps, it can disrupt the pocket for the quarterback.

THE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES OF THE TWO POSITIONS

Picking up blitzes in the passing game is more difficult for the offensive guard position because picking up assignements for interior blitzes is much more complicated than picking up outside blitzes for an offensive tackle.

Run blocking can be very different for an offensive tackle and an offensive guard. Its a completely different scenario to be taking a couple of steps and run blocking against a quick, 245 pound defensive end than it is to run block a powerful, low center of gravity, 300 pound defensive tackle.

Quite often an offensive tackle who lacks enough quickness and athleticism will be converted to offensive guard. However, its rare to see an offensive guard converted to the left tackle position.

DIFFERENT OFFENSIVE SYSTEMS IMPACT TYPE OF LINEMAN

For most of time, in football, offensive tackles were bigger than guards. Guards were required to be quick and mobile, to pull for sweeps and counters, and to trap block. Offensive tackles were required to be bigger to block off-tackle for the power running game.

Man blocking vs. zone blocking also determines, to a degree, the weight, body type, and skill sets of offensive lineman. Man blocking schemes usually want bigger offensive lineman to drive block whereas zone blocking tends to focus on offensive lineman who are athletic so they can angle block quickly and effectively.

The offensive scheme also plays a very important role in the type of offensive lineman desired for the offensive tackle position. A team using a fullback and tight end will tend to go for more powerful offensive lineman than a spread passing offence that does not use tight ends or a fullback. Spread offences tend to favor pass blocking abilities, quickness, and athleticism in their offensive linem

OFFENSIVE LINE - WHERE IS THE FUTURE GOING IN THE CFL

I believe the future will see the opposite of what we have seen in the past in the CFL. While offensive lineman are getting bigger, defenses are preferring lighter, faster defensive ends to rush the quarterback. That is necessitating that offensive tackles are quicker and more athletic. The days when the offensive tackles were the biggest offensive lineman could soon be over.

Defensive tackles in the CFL are geting bigger and stronger. That has been done to stop the inside run that predominated spread offences and to get penetration against the pocket passing that spread offences utilize so often. This is necessitating that guards become bigger and stronger, in order to move these massive tackles in the run game and to prevent bull rush penetration to thwart the pocket passing game.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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