Oline is the most important positional group in the NFL outside of QB. They also have the highest hit rate in the 1st round of the NFL draft. I have always argued that an NFL team should draft oline in the 1st round every single year until they have an absolutely elite line and then you start filling out the rest of the team. We have seen so many good QB prospects ruined because they have 0 time due to a bad oline. Having one of the best olines in the league is the best place for a young QB to be learning.

Let’s see what our line would like if we had been doing this since RG3. I’ll assume that instead of whoever we got in the 1st, we go with the next drafted olineman instead.

2012

Original pick: RG3 plus we traded 1.06 and our next two 1sts.

New pick: Riley Reiff (80.8 PFF grade in 2014) who ended up going at 1.23. Hopefully we could have traded back to get some more value but who knows.

2013

Original pick: None.

New pick: Travis Frederick (91.7 PFF grade in 2018). Assuming we still had our 1.22 from the RG3 deal.

2014

Original pick: None.

New pick: Greg Robinson (66.3 PFF grade in 2019). Assuming we still had the 1.02 from the RG3 deal.

2015

Original pick: Brandon Scherff

New pick: Brandon Scherff (84.1 PFF in 2020). We made the right pick here, but didn’t handle his contract situation correctly.

2016

Original pick: Josh Dotson

New pick: Joshua Garnett (63.9 PFF in 2018).

2017

Original pick: Jon Allen

New pick: Garett Bolles (90.6 PFF in 2020).

2018

Original pick: Daron Payne

New pick: Colton Miller (84.1 PFF in 2022).

2019

Original pick: Dwayne Haskins

New pick: Garrett Bradbury (61.4 PFF in 2020).

2020

Original pick: Chase Young

New pick: Andrew Thomas (89.1 PFF in 2022).

2021

Original pick: Jamin Davis

New pick: Christian Darrisaw (90.3 PFF in 2022)

2022

Original pick: Jahan Dotson

New pick: Zion Johnson (64.8 PFF in 2022).

Not including 2023 because it’s too early to say anything of meaning.

In summary, our starting oline this year would be

Andrew Thomas, Christian Darrisaw, Colton Miller, Garrett Bolles, not as clear on #5 it could be a few different players.

4/5 of those starters are the best lineman on their current teams. We would have the best starting unit in the league and depth would be insane. Maybe even the Trent situation would have played out differently if we had a unit like this

We’d be missing a few of our key players, but I would trade all of those guys for this oline in a heartbeat. It’d be so fun to watch. Imagin Sam developing behind a line like this