PFN ranks Taylor Lewan as a top-10 tackle…and it is still too low

Taylor Lewan remains one of the most underrated offensive linemen in the NFL.

Taylor Lewan’s stellar play is only eclipsed by his unique personality and honesty on his podcast, Bussin’ with the Boys (shoutout Will Compton as well).

I hate laying out blatant facts like that at the top of an article, but I needed to get that out of the way at the top because readers need to understand why I am choosing this bone to pick.

Pro Football Network has been a great follow and a great resource over the last year, so when they posted their top-25 offensive tackles you can bet that I carved out time in my day to really dig in and read that article.

It was really well thought out, but I have one problem with this list and that is Taylor Lewan is too low.

I can hear detractors say that being ranked in the top-10 is good enough, but it really isn’t. I want to take a quick look at some of the players in front of him who need to be moved down and then get into why Lewan isn’t given enough credit for the incredible job he has done so far.

Who is ranked ahead of him

There were four names that stood out ahead of Taylor Lewan that really irked me. Now, all of these players are top-10 on this list, so you aren’t going to find a lot of slouches. Still, these players could all be argued as worse than Lewan based on incorrect rationale or tape that disagrees with their legend.

9. Laremy Tunsil, Houston Texans

-Tunsil was a liability for the Texans last season before the snap with one of the highest presnap penalty totals in the NFL. If you are going to do that and get away with it, you need to be perfect after the snap and that just isn’t what Tunsil showed.

8. Ryan Ramczyk, New Orleans Saints

-This is more of a technicality, but this was a big chunk of the argument for Ramczyk

"The Saints are the only team in the NFL to have two tackles appear in the top 10. They’re my pick for the best line in the NFL and Ryan Ramczyk is a major reason why. Ramczyk was dominant in 2019, allowing zero sacks all season."

That is a stat pulled from PFF, and just to show you that this is AT BEST, extremely subjective here is Titans UDFA Derick Roberson beating him for a sack.

Again, I don’t even know if I have a problem with him being ranked ahead of Lewan in a vacuum but throwing around this stat is crazy and it has inflated the value of his name a lot.

Combining that with the fact that Drew Brees makes everyone look good, especially his offensive lineman and receivers, and the difficulty of playing left tackle on an island as frequently as Taylor Lewan does, and I don’t think I would have had him ranked higher.

6. Trent Williams, San Francisco 49ers

-We will talk about this more in a second, but Williams gets a lot of credit for his reputation and his “what about when he is healthy” argument. However, Trent Williams has struggled with health issues and the last time that he played a full season, Peyron Manning won MVP and Eddie Lacy won rookie of the year.

He will be 32 years old this season and he didn’t take a snap last season. I don’t know how you can look at all of that and put him in the top-10 like nothing happened.

3. Tyron Smith, Dallas Cowboys

-Smith is really good when he is on the field and 100% healthy, but the problem is that those moments have been incredibly rare over the last four years. In that span, Smith has missed nearly an entire season’s worth of games (12) and just hasn’t been the same when he has rushed back.

These two guys certainly have the career resume to be listed ahead of Taylor Lewan for now, but at the end of the day if this is a list for 2020 then they can’t be ranked ahead of Lewan.

Analysis on Taylor Lewan

So, now that we know who I wouldn’t put ahead of Lewan, let’s look at what PFN actually said about the Pro Bowler:

"Taylor Lewan gets a lot of attention for his off-field attention-seeking antics. However, his play for the Titans down the stretch was undeniable last year. He possesses excellent length and is an incredible athlete for someone of his size. He paved the way for Derrick Henry to lead the league in rushing yards, while also protecting Ryan Tannehill’s blindside as he would go on to lead the NFL in quarterback rating. Lewan has dealt with injuries and a suspension over the past two seasons, but if he can play a full season this year, he should continue to be a top-10 tackle in the NFL."

All of that is good insight, but again I don’t see how being injured for one game over the last four seasons is comparable to anything that guys like Tyron Smith or Trent Williams have struggled with over the last 4+ seasons.

What Lewan really is

It is so difficult to describe where an offensive lineman thrives in the NFL without relying on clips and GIFs. Since I can’t really do that, let me rely on the accolades he has gotten over the course of his career to help remind everyone why Lewan should be respected.

-Lewan was drafted to the Tennessee Titans as a future replacement for Michael Roos, and over his six-year career, he has only had five as a starter and he has only had four where he was eligible for the Pro Bowl. Over those four seasons he made the Pro Bowl three straight times despite several coaching changes and some horrible records.

-He is one of only 4 active offensive tackles who made 3+ Pro Bowls in his first five seasons: Trent Williams, Jason Peters and Tyron Smith are the only others.

-This tweet basically says all you can say about his athleticism:

-Over the course of his career he has blocked for three of the most potent rushing offenses in Titans history: 2016, 2018 and 2019. And last year he reminded everyone that he could be one of the best pass protectors as well.

So you have a player with elite athleticism, a resume of dominance as a pass blocker and as a run blocker and a personality that has made him arguably the most recognizable offensive lineman in the NFL.

All I am saying is that a guy like that should be a lot closer to top-3 than #10. Even if it is splitting hairs, it is a hair that someone needs to split sooner or later if Lewan is going to get the credit he deserves.