NFC North rankings: 5 best offensive tackles

The NFC North is not exactly brimming over with great offensive tackles, so picking the top five is a bit of a chore.

Welcome to part two of an on-going series where we will rank the five best players in the NFC North at each position. Last time we looked at edge defenders but this time we’ll turn our attention to the offensive side of the ball and look at the men blocking on the edge.

Or should I say, trying to block on the edge.

It’s an understatement to say we are not exactly living in a golden age of offensive tackle talent in the NFC North. Picking the top five won’t be easy but I’ll give it a go.

5. Andre Smith – Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings picked up Smith on a one-year deal and have penciled him in as their starting right tackle. I emphasize “penciled him in” because there’s still a very good chance Minnesota could choose Phil Loadholt to start at that position. Smith is not exactly a Pro Bowler but he is a former first-rounder who played some good ball at times in Cincinnati and should at least somewhat improve the pass protection on the right side. It would be hard for him to be a worse pass blocker than T.J. Clemmings was last year.

4. Matt Kalil – Minnesota Vikings

Kalil was somewhat better in 2015 than 2014, thanks in large part to better health, but he still wasn’t close to the player the Vikings expected him to become when they took him #4 overall in 2012. Now Kalil is in the last year of his deal and is working for the first time under offensive line coach Tony Sparano. The hope is that Sparano’s approach will allow Kalil to find a level he never found consistently under Jeff Davidson.

3. Bryan Bulaga – Green Bay Packers

Bulaga is the epitome of the generic offensive tackle. Not bad. Not great. Just goes out and does his job. The Packers drafted Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy this year and we’ll have to wait and see how those rookies fit into the picture down the road.

2. Riley Reiff – Detroit Lions

Not a lot went right for the Lions offensive line last year. Actually, let’s not mince words: the Lions’ offensive line was hot garbage. Probably their best O-lineman from 2014, Riley Reiff, was a big letdown in 2015 and a lot of Lions fans would like to see draft pick Taylor Decker get a shot at the left tackle spot. All that being said, Reiff was a solid player two years ago and there’s every possibility he could bounce back and play well in 2016.

1. David Bakhtiari – Green Bay Packers

Not a ton went right for the Packers offense in 2015 but if there was a bright spot, at least according to the analytics crowd, it was their pass blocking. The Packers got pretty decent pass protection marks all season and Bakhtiari was a big reason why. Nobody is calling Bakhtiari a top-flight offensive tackle overall, but in this division, pretty good is good enough for #1.

Next: Vikings options at C and RG

As we can see from the above underwhelming list of players, there’s a reason the Lions, Bears and Packers all targeted offensive line in the draft this year. The Vikings chose to address their own O-line issues by signing a couple free agents, shuffling a couple players around and drafting a project in the fourth. We’ll see how that works out.