Quote:But those players never even played in a Super Bowl. QBs like the Mannings, Brees, Flacco, Brady, Rodgers, Rothlesberger, don't need high draft pick tackles to win it all. Rivers is in the class of QBs. They just need a avg, servicable, like a Luke Joeckel type of tackle, and explosive receivers.

Whether the players above played in a Super Bowl is a completely different question than  whether it is smart to pick a LT in the top 5.  Besides, NFL history has shown guys like Orlando Pace, Jon Ogden, and Anthony Munoz were top 5 LT picks to play in Super Bowls.  Besides, it's not as if the top 5 LTs were to blame for their teams not making it to the Super Bowl.  I submit Jacksonville got as close to the Super Bowl as they did because of Boselli, and given the massive dysfunction in Cleveland, it's folly to scapegoat Joe Thomas as the reason Cleveland didn't reach the Super Bowl.

 

In the past, I have argued that the best teams in NFL history have emphasized skill players in the early rounds, and I still maintain that to be true.

 

However, LT seems to be the one positional exception.  Most teams in the NFL have first rounders at LT.

 

Teams have proven they can build successful OLs without spending first round picks on linemen, but you are more apt to find your LT in the first.

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