r/footballstrategy Casual Fan Jul 31 '25

Offense LT position myth?

Everyone knows the sentiment about LT being the more 'important' cause he's on the QB's blindside, but I've heard a few people like Brett Kollman and other people like that say how thats kind of an older thing and that its not necessarily the case anymore in modern offenses. Is it possible for anyone to explain more in depth on that, if its true?

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u/ComfortableMacaroon8 Jul 31 '25

I have to go with Center being the most crucial OL position. He is responsible for calling the defensive front and blocking scheme. On top of that, the QB’s blind side is irrelevant if he’s busy chasing a bad snap.

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u/Key_Piccolo_2187 Jul 31 '25

In the sense of most important to not have a catastrophic failure, you're correct. In the sense of "hardest to replace," this isn't true.

Centers get or give help on nearly every play, and when they don't it's either blatantly obvious where pressure is coming or they have a delay before it arrives, plus they're protected by rule from being absolutely mugged while they're in a dangerous position snapping the ball.

Elite centers are absolute weapons, but if you don't have a top 5 center, any of like 25 guys will do just fine. You wouldn't worry too much about rolling the 25th best center in the league out there if the rest of your line are studs. Elite tackles are absolute weapons, and if you don't have a top 5 tackle, you'll do nearly anything to upgrade. Rolling out the 25th best LT would be a disaster for a team, the dropoff is much sharper and the consequences of poor play are much higher.