As the 2018 regular season progressed, the Patriots perfected two strategies that helped Bill Belichick win his sixth Super Bowl as a head coach. First, they put together a power-based run game that was very difficult to stop, and it was based on the talents of guards Shaq Mason and Joe Thuney. Second, they set opposing offenses up with six-man fronts that taxed offensive guards with principles based on Buddy Ryan’s old 46 defense. In those 46 gaps, defenses go head up on the center and on the outside shoulders of both guards to force single-team blocks, which New England did very well with linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy against those guards.
Other Top 11 lists: Offensive tackles | Edge defenders | Interior defensive linemen | Linebackers | Safeties | Outside cornerbacks | Slot defenders
If you want to know how important guards are in the NFL, consider that the smartest team in the league used the position on both sides of the ball in key ways to win yet another championship.
Guards are asked to do more than ever now—through the season, in games, and even from drive to drive and down to down. You might be working a combo block on a 330-pound defensive tackle and heading up to take care of a 230-pound speed linebacker on one play, and you could be asked to pull outside the tackle and put a perfect pin in a safety on the next play. From power to speed to agility, it’s a position that’s very hard to execute at a Pro Bowl level.
Here are the 11 best guards in the NFL today.
11. Rodger Saffold, Tennessee Titans
The Titans signed Saffold to a four-year, $44 million contract after the nine-year veteran helped the Rams get to the Super Bowl as a fully-formed left guard, after an early NFL career as an undefined offensive tackle. He’ll be a big part of new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s system, in which more is expected of quarterback Marcus Mariota. In the 2018 season, Saffold allowed just three sacks, five quarterback hits, and 21 quarterback hurries in 1,277 snaps, and he was a force multiplier in Los Angeles’ run-blocking as the team transitioned from Todd Gurley to C.J. Anderson.
Though he can block with power quite easily, it’s Saffold’s intelligence and agility that sets him apart from his peers. He’ll occasionally get beaten with power moves, but there are few guard in the league who are better able to transition from in-line blocking to second-level targeting.
10. Ali Marpet, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I first encountered Marpet at the 2015 scouting combine, where I was entertained by his tales of his 9,000-calorie diet, and intrigued by the chip on his shoulder he carried as a small-college star. Marpet had no issue transitioning from Hobart College to the demands of the NFL—he allowed just two sacks, three quarterback hurries, and 17 quarterback hurries in his rookie campaign, and last season, he gave up three sacks and just 31 total pressures.
Marpet’s primary calling card is his run-blocking, where he takes technique and a serious nasty streak to every defender he faces. And if he gets his base set by the time you engage him in pass protection, you’re not going to win any power battles. He’ll occasionally lose contain to quicker linemen from side to side, but not consistently. As a power-based blocker, Marpet is hard to top.
9. Joe Thuney, New England Patriots
No offensive guard played more snaps in the 2018 season than Thuney’s 1,371, and few guards regardless of playing time were more consistent. Whether he was pulling to seal the edge or dominating defensive tackles on straight-up fullback wham stuff, Thuney gave several master classes throughout the season on how a power-based left guard is supposed to go about his business. In 2018, he allowed just five quarterback hits and 21 quarterback hurries, and he didn’t give up a single sack in New England’s quick-passing game.
One of the most assignment-correct players at his position, Thuney is an absolute mauler in the run game, and he’s more than credible as a pass-protector. He and right guard Shaq Mason have perfected their roles in Dante Scarnecchia’s system, and Thuney’s refusal to let anyone take Tom Brady down on his watch is testimony to that.
8. Brandon Scherff, Washington Redskins
Scherff missed half the 2018 season with a torn pectoral, and when he went down, Washington’s offense did the same, going from 15th in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metrics in the first half of the season to 22nd thereafter. Other injuries factored into the team’s offensive decline (certainly Alex Smith’s didn’t help), but it says a lot about Scherff’s value to the team that things were so much better when he was on the field. The fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft, Scherff has allowed just seven sacks in 3,553 career snaps, and in 2018, he gave up nine total pressures in 506 reps.
Scherff is perfectly capable of power-blocking a defender out of the picture, but it’s his technique that stands out. He can run the edge as you’d expect from a right tackle in pass-protection, and few guards are more agile and effective at the second and third levels.
7. David DeCastro, Pittsburgh Steelers
My first encounter with DeCastro came in 2012, when I was watching Andrew Luck’s Stanford tape and I kept losing track of the quarterback because the right guard was blasting defenders all over the place. Selected 24th overall by the Steelers in the 2012 draft, DeCastro has suffered through injury issues in his career, but when he’s healthy, he’s tremendously effective in all areas. In 2018, he allowed no sacks, two quarterback hits, and 19 quarterback hurries in 958 total snaps—an impressive feat when protecting a quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger who often extends the play.
Throughout his career, DeCastro has balanced strength, agility, and technique in a Pro Bowl package. He’s just as effective when he needs to change direction at the linebacker level to block in space as he is when asked to wrestle a defensive tackle to the ground. The Steelers have had a lot of transitioning to do on offense over the last couple years with the losses of Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, but in DeCastro, they have one constant they don’t have to worry about.
6. Kevin Zeitler, New York Giants
The Browns were able to add to an already stacked defensive line when they acquired pass-rusher Olivier Vernon and a fourth-round pick from the Giants in exchange for Zeitler—but in doing so, they also broke up what may have been the league’s second-best guard tandem in Zeitler and left guard Joel Bitonio. We’ll get to Bitonio on the next slide, but Zeitler will give the Giants the kind of stability they’ve long hoped for in their interior offensive line. In 2018, the seven-year veteran, who has excelled for the Bengals and Browns throughout his career, allowed three sacks, one quarterback hit, and seven quarterback hurries—impressive when protecting a rookie quarterback in Baker Mayfield who had no qualms about running around to extend his opportunities.
And while he’s a great pass-protector, Zeitler is best known as a top-notch power-blocker in the run game. Few guards can match his strength, agility, and technique when it comes to paving the way for his runners—something Saquon Barkley will certainly appreciate.
5. Joel Bitonio, Cleveland Browns
An unfinished offensive tackle at Nevada, Bitonio has become one of the best and most consistent guards in the NFL—actually, he was that from his rookie season of 2014, when he allowed just one sack and 14 total pressures despite a Browns quarterback situation that was, to put it kindly, a total disaster. Bitonio played at a high level even when the Browns went 0-16 in 2017 with DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler, and Kevin Hogan throwing passes, so you’d expect an uptick in performance when Baker Mayfield took over and Freddie Kitchens replaced Hue Jackson in 2018. That’s what happened—Bitonio allowed just one sack and 13 pressures last season. That’s what he tends to do.
Cleveland’s left guard proved highly effective even when Mayfield went outside of structure—he can wrestle larger defenders to a draw with his root strength, and he kick-steps as well as your average left tackle. Agile and smart enough to handle line stunts and hit the second level with authority, Bitonio has become a blue-chip player at his position.
4. Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens
A third-round pick out of Iowa in the 2007 draft, Yanda has been a tremendous player for a long time—seven Pro Bowl nods and two First-Team All-Pro nominations tell that story—and he made a tremendous comeback from a 2017 season in which he played just two games due to a broken ankle. He was reported to be thinking about retirement at that time, but he came back and put forth his usual outstanding performance, allowing no sacks and just 15 total pressures in 1,222 total snaps despite a midseason change in quarterback and overall scheme that would test the best offensive linemen.
Yanda excels no matter the situation because he’s as experienced and technique-perfect as any blocker, and he has more than enough gas in the tank at age 34 to put younger, quicker defensive linemen on their butts. He can race around them just as well. The Ravens signed Yanda to a one-year extension that will keep him on the team through the 2020 season, and it’s an important transaction as the team continues to work out the kinks in the Lamar Jackson era.
3. Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys
There wasn’t much question about Martin’s ability to dominate when he came out of Notre Dame; that’s why the Cowboys took him with the 16th overall pick in the 2014 draft, and Martin has proven the wisdom with Pro Bowl berths in every one of his NFL seasons, along with three First-Team All-Pro nods. In 2018, he missed two games with a knee injury but put forth his usual strong work, allowing three sacks and 21 total pressures in 1,009 snaps.
Martin comes off the snap low and with aggressive intentions, and he’s great at bulling defensive tackles and getting up to the second level to deal with linebackers. Few defenders can match his strength at the line of scrimmage. And in pass protection, he’s agile enough to hand off assignments in zone schemes, and even if he gets bent back to the pocket, he has the power to recover and give it right back.
2. Quenton Nelson, Indianapolis Colts
There are those who believe it’s unwise to select a guard in the first 10 picks of a draft no matter how good that player may be. Those people may want to revise their opinion based on Nelson’s 2018 tape. Taken sixth overall by the Colts in the 2018 draft out of Notre Dame, Nelson immediately took a skill set that had me thinking he was the most talented player in his draft class regardless of position right to the NFL. In his rookie season, Nelson gave up two sacks early in the season and none thereafter, with 24 total pressures.
It doesn’t matter how aggressive the defender is Nelson’s facing; he can match that aggression and force a draw with a solid base and aggressive hand movement. He’s also great at the second level, and when he engages a defender and starts bulling an opponent back, things can get weird for the defender in a big hurry. Ask Jadeveon Clowney about that.
1. Shaq Mason, New England Patriots
One of the things that makes Mason such an effective player is that he doesn’t defer to anybody—in Super Bowl LIII, he did a job on Aaron Donald that most guards could only dream of. This jibed with his performance all season long, when he was the primary wrecking ball in a Patriots run game that became a major part of New England’s sixth Lombardi Trophy under Bill Belichick. In 2018, Mason allowed one sack and 20 total pressures in 1,202 total snaps. Not bad for a fourth-round pick in the 2015 draft.
Mason strikes out with low pads and heavy leverage in the run game, pushing defenders back as a matter of course. A good hand strike from him can push a defender back a few yards, and Mason can follow up by moving that defender clear out of the play. And as a pass-blocker, he does a great job of stabbing with his hands, moving tackles off their landmarks. Mason is the NFL’s best guard because he uses technique and power in a package that makes it nearly impossible for defenders to beat him on a consistent basis—no matter how good they are.
