- Don't discount the talent on the Cardinals‘ offensive line: Hjalte Froholdt and Paris Johnson Jr. have become significant blocking assets in Arizona.
- Bernhard Raimann rightfully secured a big extension: The Colts‘ left tackle just inked a four-year, $100 million extension but remains underrated by the general public.
- Subscribe to PFF+: Get access to player grades, PFF Premium Stats, fantasy football rankings, all of the PFF fantasy draft research tools and more!
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes
Offensive linemen are usually the most unheralded players on a football field. That is especially true for those on teams that do not make long playoff runs or are not in the spotlight.
PFF grades every player on every play in every game, so we're using our offensive line data to highlight two players from each position who deserve more recognition.
LT Bernhard Raimann, Indianapolis Colts
Raimann was born in Austria and played college football at Central Michigan before the Colts selected him in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He has yet to make a Pro Bowl or earn an All-Pro nod. However, he has been one of the best left tackles in football since entering the league, especially over the past two seasons.
Across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Raimann has earned an 88.0 PFF overall grade, which ranks fourth among 28 qualifying left tackles, behind only Jordan Mailata, Trent Williams and Terron Armstead. In 2024, Raimann ranked in the top 12 among all offensive tackles in both PFF pass-blocking grade (82.0) and PFF run-blocking grade (80.7).
Indianapolis just rewarded Raimann's consistency by agreeing with him on a four-year, $100 million extension. Now it's time the public recognizes it, as well.
LT Paris Johnson Jr., Arizona Cardinals
Unlike Bernhard Raimann, Johnson entered the league with high expectations as a top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. However, his development has gone under the radar over the past two seasons, especially since he played multiple positions during that span.
After logging time on the right side of the line in 2023, the Ohio State product moved to left tackle in 2024 and made a significant leap. He earned an 80.9 PFF overall grade, which led all left tackles and ranked second among 28 offensive tackles who were either in their first or second NFL seasons.
Johnson also allowed a quarterback knockdown — a sack or a quarterback hit — on just 1.0% of pass blocking snaps in 2024, which ranked fifth among 30 qualifying offensive tackles.
LG Dylan Parham, Las Vegas Raiders
The Memphis product has been a mainstay on Las Vegas' offensive line early in his career, with his 2,960 snaps over the past three seasons ranking 18th among guards. Parham also displayed significant improvement in his third season, emerging as one of the better guards in the NFL.
Over his first two seasons, Parham received more negative grades on run plays than positives. He turned things around this past season with more positive grades. His rate of negatively graded plays decreased from 14.9% to 12.7%, and his rate of positively graded plays improved from 13.2% to 15.8%. As a result, Parham earned a 75.6 PFF run-blocking grade in 2024, which ranked 13th among all guards, and a 74.3 PFF overall grade, which ranked 17th at the position.
LG John Simpson, New York Jets
Similar to Dylan Parham, Simpson put together a breakout season in 2024, doing so with a new team after leaving Baltimore for the New York Jets in free agency. The Jets' lackluster season led to Simpson’s breakout season going under the radar, though.
Across his first four seasons in the league, Simpson earned a positive grade on just 12.0% of run plays and a negative grade on 18.0% of run plays. He turned the tables in 2024, garnering a positive grade on 22.2% of run plays and a negative on only 16.9% of run plays. His 79.2 PFF run-blocking grade ranked eighth among all guards, while his 77.3 PFF overall grade ranked 11th at the position.
C Hjalte Froholdt, Arizona Cardinals
Froholdt was a fourth-round draft pick by the New England Patriots in 2019 who bounced around the league before getting a shot to be a starter for the Cardinals in 2023. He has not looked back since, as his 2,201 snaps rank fifth among all centers over the past two regular seasons.
Froholdt's 73.2 PFF overall grade over that span ranks 11th among 37 qualifying centers, while his 75.1 PFF run-blocking grade ranks 12th. His 2024 campaign was his best yet, as he posted a 76.1 PFF overall grade, which ranked sixth at the position, and a 78.1 PFF run-blocking grade.
C Aaron Brewer, Miami Dolphins
The former undrafted free agent has yet to make a Pro Bowl or an All-Pro team over the first five seasons of his career, despite playing at a very high level as of late. After placing just 46th in PFF overall grade in 2022, Brewer ranked in the top 12 in each of the past two seasons with the Titans and the Dolphins.
In 2024, his first season with Miami, Brewer allowed pressure on just 2.2% of pass plays, which ranked fifth among 44 qualifying centers. His 70.2 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked sixth at the position, while his 75.8 PFF run-blocking grade placed ninth. As a result, he earned a 74.8 PFF overall grade, which ranked seventh among all centers.
RG Cody Mauch, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Perhaps no offensive lineman bettered their game more in 2024 than Tampa Bay’s Mauch. The Buccaneers’ 2023 second-round pick earned only a 43.9 PFF overall grade as a rookie, which ranked 74th among 79 guards that year. This past season, he recorded a 74.6 PFF overall grade, which ranked 16th at the position.
Mauch also logged a 77.2 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2024, ranking sixth among 73 qualifying guards, and allowed pressure on only 2.7% of pass plays (tied for fourth best among guards).
RG Alijah Vera-Tucker, New York Jets
Expectations were high for the former first-round draft pick Vera-Tucker, and while he struggled to live up to them early on, he is now thriving. Injury issues and a limited number of snaps over his first few NFL seasons have led to his being underrated.
Vera-Tucker logged only 682 snaps in his second and third seasons in the NFL but was back to his best in 2024, playing 916 snaps on offense and earning a career-high 77.7 PFF overall grade, which ranked 10th among 77 qualifying guards. The USC product finished 12th among guards in PFF pass-blocking grade (74.5) and PFF run-blocking grade (76.3). He was one of just six guards to earn a PFF grade above 74.0 in both facets.
RT Taylor Moton, Carolina Panthers
The fact that Moton has been in the league for eight years and played only seven postseason snaps — as a sixth offensive lineman in his rookie season — does not help his case for deserving more recognition.
But the other numbers speak for themselves. No player has logged more snaps at right tackle over the past seven years than the Western Michigan product (7,139). Among the 50 right tackles who played at least 1,650 snaps over that period, Moton’s 74.5 PFF overall grade ranks ninth, while his 85.5 PFF pass blocking grade places third — behind only Tristan Wirfs and Lane Johnson.
RT Darnell Wright, Chicago Bears
The 10th overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft makes this list due to the public's extremely poor perception of the Chicago Bears‘ offensive line last season. While the unit did allow the most in the NFL, partially due to rookie quarterback Caleb Williams’ penchant to take sacks while under pressure, not all five starters played at a low level.
Chicago’s right tackle made a big improvement in his second NFL season. While he ranked 52nd among all offensive tackles with a 62.4 PFF overall grade as a rookie, he earned a 79.3 mark in 2024, which ranked 16th at the position. Wright's 82.2 PFF run-blocking grade also ranked ninth among offensive tackles.
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