2024 Offensive Line Rankings: 32-22

Jun 18, 2024

Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

As I’m sure you have hypothesized in the past, the play of a team’s offensive line impacts the fantasy points that each NFL team can produce, and now we have statistical proof. By using the knowledge of good and bad units, we can better attack (or avoid) skill position players on a given team; another edge we can use against our league mates. With that caveat understood, it’s time to figure out exactly where a team’s offensive line compares to the rest of the league.

More Offensive Line Rankings: 21-11 | 10-1

Below, I’ll be counting down the bottom-11 offensive lines heading into the 2024 season, with an accompanying “key stat” from last year’s unit, plus new faces coming to the team. The offseason movement will denote either the most recent team that player played for or the round of the draft in which they were selected. Additions and subtractions will be relegated to players believed to be immediately starting or at the least an immediate backup and/or players selected in the first four rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft. Let’s dig in.

32. New York Giants

Key 2023 Stat: 14.3% Adjusted Sack Rate (32nd)

Offseason Movement

Additions: Jon Runyan (Packers), Jermaine Eluemunor (Raiders), Austin Schlottmann (Vikings), Aaron Stinnie (Buccaneers)

Subtractions: Ben Bredeson (Buccaneers), Shane Lemieux (Saints), Matt Peart (Broncos)

Daniel Jones and Tommy DeVito, who had identically terrible pressure-to-sack rates of 31.9% (league average: 19.5%), exasperated the already-present issues along the Giants' offensive line. The ineptitude of the team’s quarterbacks doesn’t excuse the front five, though, as the line finished dead last in Pressure Rate Over Expectation (18.06%), a metric that measures how often pressure should occur given a QB’s time to throw. The gap between New York’s line and the 31st-ranked Denver Broncos (9.31%) was as wide as the gap between the Broncos and the 8th-ranked Los Angeles Rams (0.73%).

The front office reacted to this poor performance by spending in free agency (the fourth-most net money spent in the NFL) but didn’t spend a single selection on the issue through the NFL Draft. To their credit, they have spent a first-round selection (seventh overall) on a tackle as recently as 2022, but Evan Neal has had performance and injury issues (his left ankle kept him sidelined for half of last season). Former Patriots and Raiders tackle Jermaine Eluemunor gives them some insurance if Neal can’t get up to speed, but he had been slotted in at left guard throughout OTAs.

Tied with eight teams for the least amount of year-to-year OL continuity, this team needs someone outside of left tackle Andrew Thomas to play above replacement level before we consider them anything but a major hindrance to their fantasy pieces.

31. New Orleans Saints

Key 2023 Stat: 1.31 RB Yards Before Contact (25th)

Offseason Movement

Additions: Lucas Patrick (Bears), Shane Lemieux (Giants), Taliese Fuaga (first round)

Subtractions: Ryan Ramczyk (Likely Retirement), James Hurst (Retirement), Andrus Peat (Raiders)

As evidenced by their projected Vegas team total for 2024 (379 - 25th), the Saints' offense has a lot to work on despite having a very serviceable quarterback in Derek Carr. They also have good-to-great offensive weapons in Alvin Kamara, Taysom Hill, and Chris Olave. It’s not amazing, but it should, in theory, be enough to vault them closer to the middle of the pack unless handicappers have significant concerns with the state of the team’s offensive line. Which they should.

Coming out of a below-average 2023 season, the team now has more questions than answers with the double-retirement of RT Ryan Ramczyk and LG James Hurst. While the Ramczyk retirement isn’t locked in stone at this point, it seems extremely unlikely that he will be in pads at any point during the 2024 season, regardless of his ultimate decision.

Dennis Allen said they decided the best thing was for Ryan Ramczyk to rehab at home. Said they havent seen the progress they hoped. I said he said that a few months ago, is it trending in a negative direction? Allen said it’s not trending in any direction. No timetable for return

— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) June 11, 2024

What’s more, long-time starting LG/LT Andrus Peat was lost in free agency. Though his return to tackle (started 12 games at LT from 2016-2017) wasn’t as clean as the Saints had hoped, it just leaves them with one more hole to fill. Does first-round selection Taliese Fuaga fill that hole? Does 2022 first-rounder Trevor Penning kick the dust off of his first two disappointing seasons and fill that hole?

What does left guard look like? Nick Saldiveri, a fourth-round selection in last year’s NFL Draft, looks like the best option, but he notched only 18 snaps in his rookie season, with four of those coming as the sixth lineman in jumbo sets.

Erik McCoy has developed into one of the better centers in the league, but it might not be enough to lift the entire unit out of the cellars of these rankings.