2022 Official OL Highlights - Part 1

Studying and chronicling the 2022 season for various offensive linemen across the NFL

Photo via Tyler Wise

The off-season truly begins once the NFL draft ends. During these few months (May, June and July), I go back to studying the tape of NFL players after focusing primarily on college prospects since January. One of my off-season projects over the last several years has been creating highlight tapes for various offensive and defensive linemen across the NFL. I first came across this idea from a close friend and have since put together a few dozen of them.

The idea and goal behind these are to study every snap of the player from their previous season while recording every positive or ‘standout’ rep in the process. I usually get through one game every 45 minutes or so before moving on to the next. After every four or five games, I stop recording to edit everything I have up until that point until the entire season is complete. My final edit adds a spotlight on the player prior to each rep and adds slow-motion to some of the more nuanced blocks to help the viewer recognize and appreciate the technique or execution on display for a given play.

The end result is a video ranging anywhere from 6-15 minutes long depending on the amount of games played for the individual player. The highlight tape encapsulates everything that the player does at a high level, showing where they win and painting a picture of their overall skill-set.

You can view prior highlight tapes here: 2020, 2021

While putting these tapes together over the next few months, I am also cutting up film of specific pass-rushers to get a head start on my film work for the upcoming OL Masterminds event that takes place every July near The Star in Frisco, Texas. There I am tasked with building advanced scouting reports and video profiles of the NFL’s top pass-rushers. I am also working on putting together ‘teach tape’ videos on the most commonly used techniques among offensive linemen, with an emphasis on those in attendance at the summit. These work together to serve as a jumping off point for group discussions on how rushers win and some of the best practices to utilize against them. More coming on this soon!

Official 2022 Highlights - Shaq Mason, Terron Armstead, Trent Brown and Oday Aboushi

Former Bucs & current Texans RG Shaq Mason

Mason just completed his eighth season in the NFL with 128 career starts (115 regular season + 13 playoffs) and two Super Bowl rings after entering the league as a fourth round selection for the Patriots as an athletic but undersized (6’1” 310) guard/center prospect from Georgia Tech’s triple-option offensive scheme. Former legendary Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia was the only NFL OL coach at his pro day, an indication of the foresight of Scarnecchia and also the oversight of the rest of the NFL.

Since the 2006 draft, among day three draft picks (rounds 4-7 and undrafted free agents), Mason ranks 17th overall in regular season games started (115) and second overall behind only Eagles C Jason Kelce in games started percentage. This is calculated by taking the number of years possibly active (2023- draft year) x 16 games + 2 games (for 17 games seasons). So Kelce has started 90.7% of possible games since entering the NFL in 2011 (176 starts out of 194 possible games). Mason is second at 88.5% (115 starts out of 130 possible games). This is a testament to Mason’s underrated skill-set, durability and consistency as a pro.

Entering the 2023 season, Mason will be suiting up for his third career team with the Houston Texans after being traded by the Bucs in the off-season, reuniting him with former Patriots GM Nick Cesario who now runs the Texans.

Mason started all 17 games for the Bucs last season and put on a clinic using the ‘bait and switch’ or ‘flash’ technique in pass-protection. This is a technique meant to elicit a premature response from the pass-rusher aimed at disrupting their timing.

Mason’s bread and butter remains his ability as a run-blocker to create movement, alleys and lanes for runners to operate, while providing a weapon as a puller in the run game taking out smaller targets on the second and third levels of a defense. You will see dozens of examples of that and more below.

Shaq Mason’s Official 2022 Highlights:

Dolphins LT Terron Armstead

Armstead is coming off of his 10th career season with 116 career starts (106 regular season + 10 playoff starts), including 13 in 2022 during his first season as a Miami Dolphin. Armstead has averaged about 11.5 starts per season since becoming a full-time starter in 2014 after dealing with an array of different injuries over his career. Amazingly, he often plays through many of those injuries before they become unbearable, including multiple big-time performances despite rarely practicing and barely being able to walk the week prior to gameday.

Along with renowned mental and physical toughness, Armstead brings a detail-oriented, professional approach to his craft that I have been able to see firsthand over the last five years at the OL Masterminds event. Paired with elite physical traits, he has become a four-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro, including earning Pro Bowl status in 2022.

One of Armstead’s signature techniques is a pass set against wide rush alignments where he quickly shaves off space on them at the snap, before retreating vertically to mirror them without shooting his hands. This has disrupted and disoriented countless rushers over his career and continued during the 2022 season.

Armstead went into detail about his mindset when using this technique at the 2018 Masterminds event here.

While Armstead is still a top blindside protector on an island, his run-blocking has been arguably the most impactful part of his game and made him a key addition for first-year head coach Mike McDaniel’s creative, zone-based run scheme that often deploys the left tackle as a weapon. Using very good athletic ability as a puller to track down and kick out force defenders with the quickness and play strength to cut off the backside or steamroll linebackers, Armstead was a natural fit.

You can see many more high-quality ‘wins’ from Armstead in the pass and run game below.

Terron Armstead’s Official 2022 Highlights:

Patriots LT Trent Brown

Trent Brown just completed his eighth career season with 16 starts at left tackle for the Patriots in his second stint with the team. Brown won a Super Bowl as the starting left tackle in New England in 2018. He then signed with the Raiders for two years (earning a Pro Bowl selection in 2019 despite starting in just 11 games) before rejoining the Patriots in 2021. Brown is a former seventh round selection of the 49ers in 2015 who has gone on to start in 65.4% of his possible games since entering the league. That ranks 20th among all day 3 and undrafted players since 2006 and eighth among seventh  round and undrafted players over the same span.