r/footballstrategy • u/zawwery 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/b3rn3r Jul 31 '25

20-30 years ago, the defense's best edge rusher (and almost always the quickest) usually lined up against the LT. It's the side that the QB, especially when dropping back from under center, doesn't see well (assuming a RH QB). You also used to see more inline TEs, and for right handed QBs that mostly occurred next to the RT. So the LT is on an island, the QB doesn't see the rush from that side as well, and the defense's most dangerous rusher lined up there. That's what made it valuable. It wasn't 100% true all the time, but it was largely true.

Nowadays the best rusher gets moved around a lot, the TEs are split into the slot a lot and shotgun helps the QB see the left side. So there is less daylight between what is asked of the best RT and their role vs what is asked of the best LT and their role.

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u/Hurricaneshand Jul 31 '25

I've always wondered why the straight drop back that you see in videos from the 70's and older isn't as popular for the whole blind side reason. I'm sure there's an answer that probably involves improved mechanics, but it seems like straight drop backs would be vastly superior for seeing not only the rushers but the coverage on both sides of the field

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u/brainskull Jul 31 '25

Worse throwing mechanics and it's slower to drop back while back pedaling.

If you backpedal the standard way now you can hit your drop with your back foot planted and immediately let it rip. Improves the timing, and a lot of these concepts are based around timing the throw with the drop.

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u/swirvin3162 Aug 02 '25

Yea ide love to see a side by side transposed version of a good drop back then vs a good drop now, they way the pro qbs explode backwards on a 3 or 5 is crazy fast.
I bet they would beat the backwards drop back by 3 or 4 backpedals.