Building the Perfect O-Line Athlete: Tackles

Welcome back to OLP Lounge. I'm Taylor Boggs. I'm here with Josh Hansen, Big Josh Hansen of the university formerly known as Humboldt State.

Formerly.

And we're going to be talking tackles today. And if you're wondering where LeCharles is, uh, this is a subject kind of close to heart, hits close to home for him. He didn't want to talk tackles. Everyone knows him as a great center, an All-Pro, Pro Bowl guard. The truth is, at 6-foot-0, Zero. He played tackle at the Ohio State. That's what they call it, the Ohio State.

The Ohio State.

He played tackle at the Ohio State and was an All-Big Ten tackle, but he was told he was too short. I personally don't like to buy into height, but in his case, he's extremely short for tackle. And I mean, at the end of the day, he was all-conference. So this is, you know, he didn't want to get emotional in here. No big deal. It's no big deal. It's just, it's impressive that he did that. Granted, the Big Ten. You know, it's not the best rushers. It's like—

It's not the Pac-12. It's not the SEC.

It's not the GNAC. Like, it's kind of similar competition to what we had at Humboldt State. If you really think about it, I mean, you taking a 20-hour bus ride and then you got to go block that guy on the edge? That is—

That's like playing at Michigan.

Yes. That is the real deal. That is the real deal. So— Oh, yeah. And you got experience at tackle, right? I saw your reps.

Played half a spring at tackle. I know I played most of my career at guard and center, but we were in kind of a shortage of tackles in the spring of my senior year. They slid me out to right tackle. Probably could have played really well, but luckily we found, uh, we found another tackle and I could move back to guard.

But hey, and make Capo look good. Make Alex Capo look good. You needed to get his pancakes up.

So I, you know, my resume has tackle in it, so I feel, you know, a little more inclined to watch tackles now. And, you know, talking about tackles, these are the this is probably the list that everyone wants to listen to. The casual fan, they know their left tackle. You could ask a casual fan who the right guard on their offensive line is and they're going to have no clue. But everyone knows their left tackle. Most people even know the right tackle. So yeah, I'm sure we won't have to caption out the names on the list this week.

Yeah, I know people ask for names.

If you don't know these tackles, you know, you're probably not a true fan of football.

And I'm not gonna lie, like, I thought LeCharles Bentley went very hard with the guards and threw some, like, Laken Thomason. That was a good one for strength. I was like, that was awesome. Uh, you know, to me, I like watching tackles kind of like a movie, because I just really respect what they do, but I really like the interior of the trenches, so, you know, I really watch, I really watch, I like the physicality, I like the noise inside. I respect the tackles, but it's an art to me. But, you know, so, I have a Mandela list.

When you're talking tackles, Most of these guys are first-round draft picks. Everyone gets the— everyone drafts the tackle in the first round, the guard, the centers. There's some more hidden gems in the late rounds, but for the most part, tackles are, you know, most of these guys in the league now, they were former first, former second-round draft picks.

Yeah, pretty famous already. Yeah, yeah. All right, unless you're playing somewhere like Cleveland or Detroit where there's no, you know, whatever. Okay, let's get into this. All right, we got strength. Who you got?

Well, I know tackles aren't normally known as the strong guys on the O-line. It's, it's not the— it's more the finesse position. But when I think strength, I think body control. I think getting out of bad positions using your relative, your body weight strength. And I think out of all the guys that I've watched, there's no one that does it as well as Joe Staley in San Francisco. Now he's been playing for a long time.

Big fan of Joe Staley.

To play that long, your body's got to be right. You got to be strong. But the way he plays, it's physical for a tackle. You know, he's, he's pretty, he's very dominant in the run game and in the pass game. He's a big jump setter.

And yes, he is.

And to jump set, you got to be strong, especially at left tackle, especially when you're going against guys like Chandler Jones in your conference. If you're jumping him, you got to get a good grip on him. You got to, you got to have that grip strength. You got to be able to, because some of these guys, they're they're throwing crazy moves, you might end up— and I mean, I hate to say it, but he's a casualty of the fake spin. You know, you see all these different things.

It didn't rattle him though. He didn't play it again.

It didn't rattle him at all. And that's why he's been such a great player is because he has that consistency too. But you have to be strong to get out of those bad positions. And that's something he does very well.

Okay. I got Dwayne Brown for Seattle.

I like it.

And I got to go back. And this is a story that LeCharles tells all the time. When Duane Brown played Deebo Harrison, not James, when it was Deebo Harrison, he worked him.

There's a difference there.

Yeah. 3.5 or 4 sacks. Duane was crying on the sideline. They played the next time, like maybe a year later, 2 years later, and he destroyed him. And we know, I mean, you just go on Instagram, you know Deebo was strong.

Yeah.

And Duane destroyed him. And I love watching him in the zone, outside zone, because he moves defenders. You know, there's some left tackles that are just good at run blocking. I think Dwayne brings a little oomph. He shows his strength.

And he gets to show it in Seattle too. All they do is run the ball and run naked. That's a perfect offense if you're that type of player.

I loved when he went up there because I was like, this is the consistency they deserved. And, you know, he was moving people. He gets to really just fly around. The dude is strong and he shows it every week.

He's one of those guys you look at him and you know he's strong. Yeah, yeah. Big forearms, big arms. Yeah.

That's, uh, jeez, you know a lot about him, bro. Oh, you're a Seattle fan, huh?

I did grow up, I grew up a Seattle fan. Okay, anyway, I keep up with their players. I keep up with them.

So, okay, I'll go first on this one.

Okay, okay.

I got Trent Williams. Nice.

I like that.

I love Trent Williams' game.

Like, oh, he, you know, when you talk about top 3 tackles of this era, he's on there. Yeah, Trent Williams is on there.

You know, there's some discrepancy where on that list, but yeah, you see him like in the offseason, like I, I hate agility drills and all that stuff, but he was smoking like running back. That's the power, bro, that he would change direction like that.

He was doing, I think it was the, uh, it was the Pro Agility Drill.

Yeah.

Where he was, he was like 2, 3 months post-surgery.

Yeah.

He's running like record-breaking numbers, and that's power right there.

Do you remember a couple years ago when they put him down at left guard?

No.

Oh boy. Because I've, you know, this is something, you know, Oldham would talk about like Oh, guys don't like the noise inside. That Trent, he can handle guard. It was nasty. He had that power and it didn't matter. I'm just a big fan of his.

Oh yeah, huge fan. I'm going to have to go back and check that film because I—

Yeah, it might have been '16 or '17. Yeah, that's Sean. Yeah, man.

See, I was in the middle of my college career then didn't have a lot of time to watch Sundays, you know?

I don't know what you're talking about. Were you on a bus ride? A long bus ride?

Yeah, that's the thing at Humboldt State. We're on the bus still on Sunday. So we get home at 1:00. So you get home and you already missed all the football games.

Yeah.

So we didn't get the chance to watch a whole lot of football back in the day, but I'm happy to watch all the football I want now. But so, so for my guy, and I think I picked— we picked very similar players.

Yeah.

I picked Jason Peters for the Eagles.

I love him.

Yeah, man. JP, when you talk about power, 2 things I'm looking at: how explosive do you get out of your stance, and how well do you move in space? And Jason Peters might cover the most ground on his first set out of anyone I've ever seen. And to be as big as he is too, I mean, you can tell he used to play tight end. You can tell he's—

I mean, you can tell he's an athlete, but that dude has got hog written all over him. Yeah, he, you know, like some of his times when he has like that wide 9, he just runs out and hits him, and then he's able to adjust and get back. I'm like, how did he do that?

I love—

it screams power. Yeah, you're right.

I love watching him pull, his ability to plant, redirect, explode through cornerbacks, safeties, linebackers, whoever it is. It's impressive, man.

That's another left tackle in this era where you're like, yeah, yeah.

And he's like, you know, he's one of those tackles who, when I was growing up in high school, even shoot, probably, probably like middle school, high school era, he was, he was playing. He's been around a long time and he's always been fun to watch. So for power, if I'm picking— if I'm making the, you know, perfect tackle of this era, that's Jason Peters.

I like that one. I like that. I mean, you talk Trent Williams or—

there's guys who could fit in multiple areas. It's just where we think they're best, right? Yeah.

You got right tackles on your list?

I got two, right? Okay. On my list, I didn't— you know, I don't want to discriminate. Yeah, there's guys who are well deserving of spots. Yeah, I agree, I agree. But, you know, um, I gotta go first for skill.

You want to go? I bet you we got the same guy. Yeah, after all these posts on social media, we got the same guy.

Well, here's the thing, man. I know LeCharles Bentley has said that he thinks Tyron Smith, greatest tackle of all time. And you know what, I agree with him, partly because I grew up watching him.

But he's only played 8 years, he hasn't played 10. You got to play 10 years.

Whatever, man. Playing long doesn't mean that you were the best, you know. Yeah, there's different, um, people are in different situations now. Contracts are different, so it's not likely that you're going to be You know, so, you know, guys can't play 20 years anymore. It's just kind of, it's just kind of how it is. But, and I didn't grow up watching Ogden as much or Walter Jones. I was too young. I was too young back then.

You missed out.

So when I think Tyron Smith, he is the best. I think he's the best. He is one of those genetic freaks though. But every left tackle today is a genetic freak.

They're a little different. You know what I mean?

Yeah, it's like What I love about him is you don't have to watch his highlights to appreciate what he does. I think that's where skill comes into play. When you think skill, it's something that you appreciate regardless of how violent it is, regardless of how explosive it is. And the principles that we stand by here at OLP, first one, stance. Tyron Smith, he is literally in our seminar presentation on what a good stance looks like. His stance is optimal. It's the same thing every time. He doesn't have to change it up based on the play. And then you talk about drive-catch method.

He does it. He takes the same set, everything recreates his stance, recreates his stance.

Yeah, replicates his stance. It's teaching tape. And then the, I mean, pressure-to-pressure phase, he's always putting himself in that best position.

You gotta love it. So, so like, you know, he played right tackle at USC, if I'm not mistaken. He did. Yeah. And then he played right tackle his rookie year, was Pro Bowl. Was awesome. I think he was like 17.5, shutting down grown men. And then, you know, a lot of guys in the league, after they start 16 or whatever, their second year there's a small drop-off. He had a very tiny drop-off, and he went from right tackle to left tackle, which we've seen that be disastrous. You know, even on that same team, Doug Free was a right tackle. They tried to make him a left tackle. He's a right tackle.

Yeah.

Tyron Smith, Goes over there, slight, small, very small, very, very, very small sophomore slump maybe in the beginning, and then he lights out. Even an injured Tyron Smith is beautiful to watch.

Yeah, man.

So I don't, like everyone's like, "Oh, what the gold standard is." Look, the guy has a great stance. He recreates that stance over and over. He locks people down. He run blocks. He's great with his hands. He doesn't get rattled. I think you posted this, but it'd be hard at which one you put him in.

Yeah, I could put him at every single one. Every single one. Yeah. And you know, I, I probably am going to get a little bit of millennial hate for being a millennial.

And oh, I thought you're generation—

I'm generation whatever. I'm young.

Yeah.

So people, people are going to assume that, you know, I picked Tyron Smith just because of that. But man, when you look at— nostalgia is great.

I've watched them all. I've watched them all. And I recognize his greatness. So I mean, I think I am a Tide Pod generation.

No, you're not, man. No, someone's a millennial. You're a millennial.

Okay, well, I've been called on Twitter Tide Pod.

Oh, no, you're—

and what's the other one?

You got to be the softest person in the world.

Participation trophy generation. Well, you know who gave me my participation trophy? All these adults. They call me soft now. I didn't ask for it. I just signed up and they gave me a participation trophy. I was out there having fun. It wasn't the kids that— we didn't have money to buy those shirts anyways. Anyways.

Okay, what's— I get too off topic there.

This is okay. Work capacity. Oh, want me to go first?

Dude, we probably have the same one again.

No, we don't. No, we don't. No, I went Jason Peters because he's a big dude and I don't know if he practices during the week, but he shows up in the game in space, screens, pulling, all that. He's just coming, coming. He's, he's probably the heaviest left tackle.

True.

Out of everyone on our list, I'm sure.

Philadelphia is one of those like really intricate offenses where they're throwing screens all the time.

He's moving. Yeah, it's not just drop back and it's not just run. It's not just outside zone. He's doing a lot and he brings it and he's a big dude. He does not get tired.

I love that.

At least it doesn't look like he's tired.

Yeah, man. And he even playing hurt too.

That's like— Yeah.

Yeah, that's— I mean, you know, I already had Jason Peters on my list, but that's another guy you could put a lot of different spots.

I mean, you might be able to put him at strength or power, even skill.

Exactly, exactly. Okay, well, let's see. We're bringing in a right tackle to the conversation now.

Okay, I hope it's my friend.

First right tackle. It is your friend. Actually, I don't know if he would call you a friend, but you call him a friend, so he's your friend.

Yeah, I'm a groupie.

Big Bobby Massey.

Bobby Massey, yes, yes.

For the Chicago Bears. And you know, we both know Bob personally, so you know.

There's OLP bias though.

There's OLP bias. Yeah, but you know, every— what? Bob just got signed to a great extension on his contract, so obviously he's not just average player. He's, you know, he is deserving of this list. And I think work capacity is a great spot for him because that guy doesn't get tired. I've never seen Bob get tired, and I'm sure you have more stories than I do because you've been around him longer and even played with him in Chicago. But He's one of the, he's one of the few players I've watched who gets better as the game goes on. And I think when you talk work capacity, being able to not only maintain a high level, but when the fourth quarter comes, everyone talks about putting the fours up for the fourth quarter. I think that's a bunch of BS.

I think you play all four quarters like that.

There is something to say about that two-minute feeling.

Yeah.

Where you gotta up the intensity, you gotta up the intent.

Well, you're gonna be, it's, it's more of an aerobic sport at that time. Yeah, exactly. It's a robust sport. You gotta be able to recreate physiologically.

Your body is is changing the way it's utilizing energy. So that you, you could be great in the first half and suck in the second half. Yeah, just because you're not in football shape.

Yeah.

And of course, you know, how do you get— how do you get in football shape? You just go, let's run gassers after practice.

No, and you can run a million gassers, you show up the first day and you're dog tired.

But anyway, but is what I'm thinking, work capacity, whether it's on the field, whether it's when we're working out. I've seen guys laying on the ground and Bob looking like he you know, just warming up. Shoot, he came, he walked in here a couple weeks ago off the season, looked like he was ready for training camp. So he's one of those guys where if you're talking about longevity and work capacity, he barely misses any games.

Bobby is a scumbag. Like, he'll go kill a workout, just dominate a workout, and then people will be lying on the ground and he'll just be smiling at them. He'll take pictures with them. I was throwing up in a bucket one time And he's like over here, trying, you know, being Mr. Funny Guy. So he's a scumbag. He doesn't get tired though. I mean, I don't either, but Bobby, you know, it's a little different.

Too bad you're not a tackle.

Yeah, I'm like, "Oh, I don't wanna be, man." Might put you on this list, man. Okay. Football IQ. I got one. This is a good one though, but it's inside info. So who you got for Football IQ?

I went a different direction, man. What do you mean?

There's one direction. It's IQ or not.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We're—

Football's a very broad term.

No, man, football the game— you can't say that on Twitter.

Football— there's foot— especially the NFL, there's football the game and there's football the business. And I think when we're talking tackles, it's not a very mentally demanding position. It's probably the most physically demanding position.

What, have you seen some of these DNs, man? You got to talk yourself out of some uncomfortable situations in that aspect.

But as far as the X's and O's, it's— you You know, I felt like it would be a disservice to try to pick out the smartest, smartest football IQ tackle. So I went with football, the business, because that's just as really even more important. And I think there's no one that understands the role and platform they have to make change in the world, to make change for players better than Russell Okung for the LA or for I almost said San Diego, but the LA Chargers. You talk about someone who really knows the game within the game, that's him. He was one of the first people to say, screw it, I don't need an agent, I'm going on my own.

Well, he's not, you know, back in the good old days, agents, their role was a little— there was a lot of guys like that.

He's going against the status quo there. Yeah, signed, uh, structured his own deal when he went to, uh, Denver. Had, you know, it ended up kind of backfiring a little bit for him there, but now with the Chargers, he's He's making a ton of money.

I'm a fan.

And players are starting to follow suit. You saw Richard Sherman's structured deal without an agent. You see even rookies now going into the draft without an agent. I think I respect that so much.

I mean, I don't want to— this is another topic though. Don't get me started on this. Don't get me started on this.

I know, I know how you feel, but when I think of Russell Okung, I love He puts out content. He writes very well. Really, I wonder if he could have been like an English major in college with how well he writes.

I'm jealous that you went that route because that is a great example. I didn't think about that because, you know, tackles, if it's a screen, they just take a set, draw, just take a set. They don't have any like rules like the interior.

I read all of Russell's content on the Player Tribune, which he writes for. He's talking about the—

Tremendous.

The anthem protests. He's talking about why players should fight for guaranteed contracts and how to do it. He's talking about his journey where he chose not to have an agent represent him. And I just really respect it. He has great dialogue on social media. It's, it's fun to keep up with. And it's really when I think about building someone who has that IQ of the game within the game, that's Russell Okung.

I agree. That's really good. That was very intelligent of you for a university formerly known as Humboldt State Education.

For a Cal State education.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was like some UC Berkeley stuff right there.

So I took the easy route.

Of course, business major.

So yeah, I'm gonna go with Jermonde Bushrod. Now he's with the Saints. I was with him in Chicago. Jermonde, you know I don't like you. When I see him, I'm gonna punch you in the face. —But he's the smartest tackle I've ever been— he watched more— he watched film like he was a center. And he even had a year in Chicago where he was the swing guy for all 5, including the backup center in the game. Then after playing over a decade of left tackle, he goes down to Miami and plays guard and plays at a really high level. So high that they signed him back. So you have to be intelligent have a high football IQ in general to go from left tackle into the interior and be a swing, you know, even be the backup center. And then this year in New Orleans, he got starts again at left tackle. He went back home to New Orleans. I think he's been on 4 teams and played at a really high level. His football IQ is through the roof. Not like the tackles I spent time with. Not saying any of them are dumb, but most of them are so worried with the pass rush that they don't think about that extra. And he mentored Charles Leno, and Charles Leno's a little bit like that. Very intelligent. Collegiate tackle, you know, so, but it started with Bushrod, so that was— that's inside info. But I mean, it's definitely inside info. But the fact that you—

the fact that he started over a decade at left tackle to go to guard and played for so many different teams, you know, when you're moving from team to team, that's a learning curve in itself, playing every position. Yeah, I definitely—

and so, so, Burrow, I'm not trying to give you too much props. I see you, I'll punch you in the face like I said, but yes, you are my Football IQ standard for the tackle position. Okay, mental resilience. Hold on, hold on.

Is attitude before mental resilience? Oh, did you not pick someone for attitude?

Dude, I ruined the whole show.

No, you didn't. We can keep going. We can—

let me hear what you got. Attitude.

And I think this should be both of our picks because I know you already, um, you already used it.

Obviously it has to be my pick because I didn't put this on the dang list.

Well, you're using someone twice because we're talking about Trent Williams. Yeah, because he's—

and it's Is it a specific one? You know, did he slap a corner?

People love to talk. Everyone likes to act tough. Everyone's, you know, pointing at people on the sidelines and, you know, making hand gestures at people.

Come on, yeah.

But if someone gets in your face and you're gonna— especially a DB. If a DB gets in your face and they try to step up and you walk away, How tough really are you? What's your attitude about it? Trent Williams? Now I got you on twice, Trent.

Yes, I would take— this is not because I forgot Adams, I agree with what you're saying.

Trent Williams, he didn't even start it. You know Richard Sherman, and I'm a Seahawks fan, and you know Richard Sherman, he was my guy for so long, but now he's—

I bet you would've loved to play with him. I bet you would've loved him as a teammate.

He would've been a fun teammate, but if I was against him, he would be one of those guys. The one you hate? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But Trent Williams, he's about that action on the field, off the field. And you know, when you're talking about, when you're talking about attitude, it's not just the persona you put out there. Yeah. It's not the persona you put out there. It's who you are. And Trent Williams, he's a guy you don't mess with.

He's not faking it.

You don't mess with him on the field. He's going to throw you on your face and he's going to slap you in the face if you mess with him off the field. So that's who I got for attitude and that's who you got for attitude.

Yeah, I appreciate it, man. I hope LeCharles is not mad that I screwed up the whole episode. You got this.

Dang it, dude. Hey, you're all right. Now talk about mental resilience.

Okay. Mental resilience. Want me to go first?

Yeah, because I went for both of us last time. I appreciate that.

That's good, man. Well, dude, I've been raising you for like 8 years now, and I didn't even ask for that. I just kind of been stuck with you. But now I'm seeing that.

The first time I met you was 2014, so it's been 5 years. How long?

5 years. I've been raising you for 5 years and I'm glad it paid off. You're welcome and you're lucky to be getting that. So, mental resilience, I'm gonna go Bobby Massey. Okay, why? I'm gonna tell you why, because this— we gotta go way back. 2012. First off, when I met Bobby, he legit had breasts, not pecs. And he's turned those into pectoral muscles and that takes some mental resilience right there. And, uh, Beyond that, he had a really bad stint in Arizona for like 3 weeks, 3, 4 weeks in a row, something like 11, 12 sacks. And then, you know, they, you know, Chuck came out, worked with him, and thank God for his relationships, but he was smart enough to have the right relationships. And he bounced back, he ended up getting the team Rookie of the Year. No sacks like the last 10 games. He played his best football that last year in Arizona. And, you know, there was like some off-field incidents maybe that prevented him from getting that big contract that we knew he deserved. But when he got to Chicago, he didn't play well. For 8 games, he didn't play well. And it was almost to the point where every pass pro was a pressure. And then he got a concussion, and Chuck talked to him again. LeCharles talked to him again. And he was lights out the rest of the year.

So you're telling me concussions make people better?

No, no, no, no, no. No, don't say that. They're not good. But I'm just saying he missed a week and then he came back from that and he went back to kind of the Bobby we had known towards the end of the Arizona career. But he got out of that hole. And the next year he played— excuse me— he played really well in Chicago. And this year he played so well that he got, you know, one of the biggest right tackle contracts. And it just shows, like, the grit, the mental resiliency, whatever you want to call it. He's got out of some really bad situations. And became one of the premier, if not the premier right tackle in the league. And he's done it, you know, I believe in 2000— ooh, shoot, what was it? '15? Yeah, 2015, he was probably the best right tackle in the league in Arizona, and then he kind of, you know, had his little hiccups and stuff, and now he's right back to where he is. And he just kept at it. So mental resilience, Bobby Massa.

Shoot, some people can't even come back from giving up all those sacks you ripped in the league.

Yeah, I'm talking about he had some bad— games, not bad plays, games, weeks, and he bounced back. That is mental resilience. That's huge.

That's huge. And that's another well-deserving pick there. Yeah, I really agree with you on that. So my guy for mental resiliency. Now, when LeCharles introduced the series, talked about Joe Thomas being mentally resilient, if I'm not correct, right?

He's a lot of things on this list too, because he was from Cleveland.

He's been on that, you know, not on the greatest teams of all time. All time.

If you could play a whole career in Cleveland, you're as mentally resilient as possible.

And I think, so, for my pick, I'm picking Dwayne Brown because for the early part of his career, being on the Texans might have been worse than being in Cleveland.

No, that is not truth. That is not truth.

You hate, you have a personal reason to hate Cleveland.

Well, maybe it's LeCharles rubs it in my face. He's sitting here 3,000 miles away from Cleveland and he tells us how great it is, then why are we in Cleveland?

But Houston was at one point just as bad. I mean, you got, got, you, you had quarterbacks who, shoot, you never even heard of before. You know, the team was a, it was an expansion team, so they were still, even back in, I think he got drafted in '08 if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, they were still building back then. And to, to go through that time in the tech with the Texans how many injuries he had. He had— he tore his quad 10 years ago. Had to come back from that. Ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, hand injuries. And to come back every year and still be a dominant player on a bad team. Yeah. Is impressive.

He came back even now going on like 10 years, came back from injury, still doing it, still playing at high level.

And now that he's in Seattle, when I, when I think of being that resilient guy, he could have— he was going to a bad situation because their O-line was not good before he got there. They— no, yeah, they, they struggled, especially in pass protection. Most people, they'll play down to the level of the people they're surrounding with. Mental resilient people, they bring everyone else up.

I think he lifted every— yeah, he definitely—

he lifted everyone up. He made that O-line better. And brought them back to the playoffs this year. And, you know, he gets to play in a fun offense now where his strengths especially get to show in the run game, moving people. And like, you picked him for strength. So, you know, he— yeah, he's definitely playing.

He's a lot of things on his list, man.

But I think his resiliency speaks for that because now he's late in his career, just signed an extension with them, if I'm not mistaken, at the beginning of this year or last season. So yeah, I like—

They're probably shocked, like, "Look at this guy pass block all these people at left tackle." Yeah, yeah.

Seattle hasn't seen that since Walter Jones. Yeah. So that's who I got for mentally resilient. OK, so—

Yeah, I agree with that too. I actually agree with all these, man. Tackle, it's— Yeah, and I appreciate the attitude one. So, linchpin. We had it for the leader for centers. We had it for the enforcer for guards. And for tackles is the Zen mindset. Now, I can tell you this, that left tackles on teams are different. They come out early, they walk around the field, they don't do anything, they got their headphones on, they're just kinda talking themselves through stuff because it's nuts out there. You see the way these defenders look? It's crazy out there.

If I had to block some of these— and at this point in the NFL, every D-end you go against is Yeah, I mean, every player in the NFL is good, but now, you know, we're finding these—

there's a lot of specimens, you know? Like you said. So the Zen mindset is that guy that just doesn't get shook. And I mean, you— to play tackle in this league, you have to have that Zen mindset. Have to. You have to. To probably play anything effectively long-term with a ton of starts, at some point you have to have a Zen mindset, like to be able to shake things off and not let things rattle you. But the tackle is a little different. And you know, you could actually see where the pressure came from on TV. You can't see, you know— You can't see on the interior.

You know, a game and one guard didn't give enough help to the center.

Yeah, and they'll just pick the O-lineman, O-line athlete that they feel is the worst and be like, "Oh, such-and-such is giving him pressure again." That wasn't even his pressure. Yeah. So who do you have?

I'm saying someone that was on your list. So— My Zen Mindset guy, and you brought up those left tackles being weird. I'm gonna flip it on you. I think right tackle at this point, with the way that defenses are schemed, right tackle just as hard. Close.

Same with right guard, you know what I mean?

Especially because we were talking about right tackles. Someone made a decision that you weren't athletic enough to play left tackle. That's why you're playing right tackle, right? That's kind of the, the stigma of being a right tackle is you're less athletic, which may be true, maybe not. Regardless of that, it comes down to skill at the end of the day. But right tackles have just as hard of a job. Oh yeah. And teams will put their defensive— their best rush end at that left end position over the right tackle.

Like Chicago.

Like, yeah, yeah. So when you're a left tackle, you could be going against, you know, you could have an easy matchup while your right tackle is just getting— he's, he's having to go every day. And the guy that I picked for Zen mindset is a right tackle, and I know it is, he's one of the best right tackles in the league.

I know it is, it's easy. Mitchell Schwartz.

Yeah, I knew that. Yeah. And, and when I think Zen mindset too, I think someone who doesn't lose their composure. Mitch Schwartz, he takes a smooth, not even really explosive, but just smooth, clean set gets space, does the same thing, does this, takes the same set all the time, is very consistent in it. And you're talking about a guy who's in a division with Joey Bosa, used to be Khalil Mack, he's out of there now, but he was going against Bosa, Mack, Von Miller twice a year. You gotta have, you gotta have that zen mindset to, uh, even if you hear him like talk, he kind of has like that zen. Yeah, he's a calm guy.

He's very like, um you know, monotone and just, you know, things don't rattle him.

And he's been playing great ball. It's very consistent and, you know, doesn't get rattled. He may give up a sack here and there, but it's the same set. He doesn't— he doesn't search for answers. No, he just plays. He just plays ball. I agree with you. Yeah, so that's who I got for Zen Mindset.

So, okay, I went back to left. I guess Bobby's my only right tackle. That's that OLP bias. But, um, you know, I'm—

yeah, I got broadening my horizons a little.

I'm going Staley for the Zenminds. Okay, okay. So, I don't know how old you were like in 2012 and '13, back when it was like— I was in high school. Okay, so it was Staley and Mikey Potty and whoever they wanted to put at center. And then it was Boone and Anthony Davis, and it was the most violent O-line in the league.

Anthony Davis, probably a guy, if he was still playing—

Oh yeah, and it was so violent. And you could see they would show, you know, They would show, like, after a crazy deuce block on a duo that Frank Gore scored on, they'd show them on the sideline and that whole line was just laughing. They were just very, like, they were just having fun. And they were killing everybody. But, you know, that line kind of disappeared. People got paid and went elsewhere. And Joe Staley still plays at a high level no matter who he's playing next to. Right now he's playing next to Laken Thompson, which is awesome. But he— Always jumpsets. If he gets beat, you could tell, like, if it is bothering him, he doesn't let you notice. And he'll come back and jumpset. Run block, he gets after guys. He's played a lot of football, a lot of years at a very high level, and he just has, you know, that— what I perceive as an amazing Zen mindset. And I'm a big fan of his because, you know, it started because of Boone and Upadi, watching them. And like I said, I kind of watch those tackles like a movie. And I'm saying, he just jumpsetting. Jump set, get hand swipe, jump set.

He doesn't care. Yeah, you beat him at what he's good at.

Yeah, and that's, that's key. Yeah, that is key.

So he's not gonna, he's not gonna adjust because of someone else's strengths.

Yeah. Okay, so I like it.

We good here, dude? We got a good list. I mean, that was fun. I mean, you did, you did miss a category, but hey, I think it was good, man.

So unless you got like another 2 hours, we could talk about agents. No, no, no, no, no. I need to bring Jay in here. OK. Hey, we appreciate it. Thank you for joining us at OLP Lounge. The tackles, you have a 6-foot-3 guy and a 5-foot-9 guy. And the 6-footer, uh, LeCharles Bentley, didn't want to show up. But, you know, we did our best to make this list.

My roster picture on the Humboldt State Athletics page said 6'2". I just want people to know that.

Yeah, this is not true. This is false again. And they also said they were going to keep the program and they dropped that too. It's just full of lies. And you're part of the problem. So we'll catch you next time. Thank you for having us.