Quote:  Even back in the 1980's,   I recall the then NFC Central teams all having high quality LTs that were drafted early.   Gary Zimmermann,  Lomas Brown,  Jimbo Covert,  Paul Gruber,  and Ken Ruettgers weren't collectively in the class of the ' golden age' LTs you mentioned.   But all were clearly winning level players and in most cases multiple Pro Bowlers.  

 

  One thing I mentioned in another thread recently is I believe that less practice time in the off-season and less padded practices in the summer and regular season have hurt the quality of Offensive Line play in general, since the new CBA went into effect in 2011.