Zach Martin is best offensive lineman per PFF

Pro Football Focus has named their award winning players going into the 2021 season. Among their picks, they claim Zach Martin is the best offensive lineman in the league.

Zach Martin – Best offensive lineman

The Dallas Cowboys have suffered major changes and injuries to their offensive line over recent history. The one constant despite it all has been guard Zach Martin. His numbers leap off the page, especially in the last two years. Before going down with an injury of his own in 2020, he started 618 snaps and allowed only one sack and committed just one penalty.

PFF has him graded with a season grade of 91.3 (out of 100), one of the highest in the league. Giving up just one sack in the last two years, he has also never rated on PFF below 79.6 in his career. The instability of the Cowboys hasn’t slowed him down either. In 2020 before injury, they had him slide over to play right tackle, showing his talents outside of his position.

Following the stellar 2019 season, Martin was one of four major losses to the lineman position and the last to fall after 10 starts. The Cowboys had center Travis Frederick retire, and right tackle La’el Collins need hip surgery before the season began. They eventually added the left tackle Tyron Smith to the injury list after just two games.

Surrounded by this upheaval, he still shined bright enough for PFF to say Zach Martin is the best offensive lineman in the NFL.

Honorable mentions

PFF lists David Bakhtiari, Quenton Nelson and Tristan Wirfs all as runners up for this award. Green Bay Packers tackle David Bakhtiari is actually graded higher in 2020 with an overall grade of 91.8. With a 2020 campaign no less impressive, he only allowed a single sack in 758 snaps. He did receive his due credit in another PFF award, as they name him the best pass blocker in the NFL.

Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts and Tristan Wirfs of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers both started nearly 1100 snaps, and matched the single sack statistic. PFF graded Nelson at 86.2 for the previous year, and Wirfs received a grade of 81.8.

Despite these standout linemen, none of these four play for the PFF pick for best offensive line in the league. That award goes to the Cleveland Browns, with honorable mentions given to the Colts and the Bucs. Zach Martin also just missed out on being named the best run blocker in the league. He received an honorable mention in the award given to Shaq Mason of the New England Patriots.

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