NFL training camp and preseason games are finally here. This means the light at the end of the offseason tunnel is starting to get bright. Teams have spent all offseason reshaping their rosters and preparing to make a Super Bowl push.
NFL training camp is important. Not only does it allow teams a chance to install their offense, but it gives them a chance to practice and play to see who their best 11 players are on offense, defense, and special teams. Plenty of teams have churned through their rosters using free agency and the draft. This gives teams the month of August to figure out who their best players are.
In this article, you’ll find the position battles on the offensive line that are still up in the air heading into 2024. Finding the right combination of offensive linemen is crucial for the success of the offense and can have a major impact on both the passing and running game on offense. Check out the NFL training camp battles to watch in the trenches below.
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Baltimore Ravens: Guards
Andrew Vorhees vs. Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu vs. Daniel Faalele vs. Ben Cleveland
Baltimore overhauled their offensive line this offseason. This leaves them with several holes to fill in the trenches. The Ravens will be leaning on depth to supplement their losses this offseason to try and put together their best five linemen. The most notable competitions will take place at the guard positions.
At left guard, the Ravens will be hoping that one of their two 2023 late-round rookies will emerge as a competent starter throughout the summer. 2023 sixth-round pick Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu was in the running for the starting left guard job last season before ultimately losing out to John Simpson. He gets a second chance at the job this season. However, he will need to be out 2023 seventh-round pick Andrew Vorhees. The former USC Trojan was widely viewed as a Day 2 pick before tearing his ACL at the NFL Combine. Vorhees played over 400 snaps in three straight years in college and never finished with a PFF grade below 71.0.
Andrew Vorhees Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
The right guard battle will feature more veteran experience. Daniel Faalele hasn’t been able to flash in a limited NFL sample size at tackle (49.6 PFF grade on 355 career snaps). Therefore, the team is hoping that a move to the interior will play better to his strengths. He goes up against veteran Ben Cleveland. Cleveland has 618 career snaps in three seasons.
Baltimore has always had a strong offensive line. However, they will need a young, inexperienced player to flash in a big way to continue that trend.
Chicago Bears: Center
Ryan Bates vs. Coleman Shelton
Protecting first-overall pick Caleb Williams will be essential for the Chicago Bears’ success and the rookie quarterback’s development. That means that nailing the center position will be crucial.
The Bears have two veterans competing for the spot in Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton. Shelton has two years of starting experience with the Rams. He was a strong run blocker (72.6 PFF grade) but has struggled as a pass protector (six sacks and 50 pressures on 1,102 protection snaps). Bates has just two seasons with over 82 snaps in his first five years. He has 203 career snaps at center. This makes him far less experienced.
Whichever player loses the job will provide crucial depth on the interior. This will be especially important considering right guard Nate Davis‘s continued injury issues in NFL training camp.
Dallas Cowboys: Center
Brock Hoffman vs. Cooper Beebe
The Cowboys will have turnover at two key positions on their offensive line this season. They let veteran left tackle (Tyron Smith) and center (Tyler Biadasz) walk in free agency. The left tackle position will certainly be held by 2024 first-round pick Tyler Guyton. However, the center position is up for debate.
Dallas will hope that either 2022 UDFA Brock Hoffman (53.7 PFF grade in 2023) or 2024 third-round pick Cooper Beebe will emerge as a capable starter. Beebe was stellar at Kansas State with three straight seasons of an 80.0 or higher PFF grade while primarily playing left guard. He should be the odds-on favorite to win the job, but Hoffman is having a good enough training camp to create a solid competition.
Cooper Beebe Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
Either way, the Cowboys will need a young player to pick up the slack quickly in the team’s Super Bowl window.
Kansas City Chiefs: Left Tackle
Kingsley Suamataia vs. Wanya Morris
The Donovan Smith experiment didn’t go well in 2023. The veteran tackle had a career-low PFF grade (55.4) while surrendering a career-high 42 pressures. An injury to Smith allowed the Chiefs to get a good look at 2023 third-round pick Wanya Morris. Morris was inconsistent. He allowed 24 pressures on 235 pass-blocking snaps. Morris also posted a 47.1 run-blocking grade.
Kansas City used the draft to add competition for Morris. They selected BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia with their second-round pick in 2024. Suamataia had two years of collegiate starting experience and was an exceptional pass blocker. He allowed just two sacks and 14 hurries on 742 pass protection snaps during his final two years with BYU. He needs to clean up his technique and improve his play in the run game (52.9 PFF run blocking grade last season) but has the size, traits, and pedigree to become a very good NFL tackle.
Kingsley Suamataia Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
No matter what, the Chiefs will have an inexperienced left tackle taking the first snaps of the regular season. While there will be growing pains, it certainly can’t be worse than what the team got out of Donovan Smith when healthy in 2023.
Las Vegas Raiders: Right Tackle
Thayer Munford Jr. vs. Delmar (DJ) Glaze
The Raiders let 2023 starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor hit free agency. This leaves a hole on the right side of an offensive line that was very good last season. The Raiders have two young players who can fill that void in 2024.
Thayer Munford Jr., a seventh-round pick in 2022, has served as a rotational offensive lineman over the last two seasons. Munford has experience at both left tackle (208 snaps) and right tackle (563 snaps). Additionally, he spent most of his time splitting snaps with Eluemunor last season. He posted a solid 74.1 PFF grade on 521 snaps but did surrender a team-high 28 pressures despite the limited playing time. Munford’s strength as a right tackle is undoubtedly his ability to move defenders in the run game (80.4 run-blocking grade in 2024).
Las Vegas could also start D.J. Glaze, their 2024 third-round pick out of Maryland, if Munford’s struggles in pass protection can’t be rectified. Glaze started his final two seasons in college at left and right tackle but had his best season in 2023. He posted a 73.6 PFF grade and an 83.6 pass-blocking grade. Glaze surrendered just three sacks and nine hurries on 545 pass-protection snaps in his final season. He was also a competent run blocker (63.3 PFF run blocking grade in 2023).
DJ Glaze Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
The Raiders’ offensive identity will likely revolve around the run game with Gardner Minshew or Aidan O’Connell under center. Therefore, the better run blocker in camp will earn this job.
Miami Dolphins: Left Guard
Isaiah Wynn vs. Liam Eichenberg
Salary cap issues forced the Dolphins to jettison a lot of veterans on their team. This was especially the case on the offensive line. Miami was able to use free agency to replace Connor Williams at center (Aaron Brewer) and will utilize depth to replace Robert Hunt at right guard (Robert Jones). However, the team will need somebody to step up at left guard.
The left guard battle comes down to two players who have struggled to find consistency in their NFL careers, Isaiah Wynn and Liam Eichenberg. Wynn won the starting left job in 2023. However, the injury woes that have plagued him throughout his career resurfaced last year. The veteran has two straight seasons with fewer than 450 snaps played and a PFF grade below 55.0.
Unfortunately, the second option at left guard isn’t much better. Liam Eichenberg has played at least 100 snaps at every offensive line position since being drafted in 2021. However, he’s never played any of them well. Eichenberg has logged 2,550 career snaps and never had a PFF grade above 51.0. He’s also allowed 15 sacks and 109 pressures on 1,592 pass protection snaps in his career.
There may not be a great option at left guard. However, this is still a battle to monitor given all of the turnovers along Miami’s offensive line heading into 2024.
New England Patriots: Tackles
Vederian Lowe vs. Chukwuma Okorafor vs. Caedan Wallace vs. Calvin Anderson
The Patriots have a series of competitions going on at the tackle positions with four players jockeying for the right to start at the bookends of the offensive line.
At left tackle, the battle has come down to veteran Vederian Lowe and rookie third-round pick Caedan Wallace. Lowe is in his second season with the Patriots after being drafted by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft. He’s played just 509 snaps in two seasons (including 476 last season). However, he never finished with a PFF grade above 42.0. He allowed a whopping 38 pressures and six sacks on just 290 pass-blocking snaps last season.
Caedan Wallace
Caedan Wallace was a right tackle during his career at Penn State thanks to Olu Fashanu locking down the left tackle position. He had a solid final season with the Nittany Lions (68.8 PFF grade). Wallace allowed just one sack and 11 pressures on 359 pass-blocking plays. He’s a capable zone blocker and has both the size and athleticism to transition to the left side of the line as a pro.
Caedan Wallace Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
At right tackle, the battle has come down to two veterans. The Patriots acquired Chukwuma Okorafor during the offseason after he fell out of favor with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023. Before being replaced by Broderick Jones, Okorafor had three straight seasons with at least 1,000 snaps played at right tackle with the Steelers. He has three straight seasons with a PFF grade above 60.0. However, he has never finished with a grade above 64.0.
He will compete with Calvin Anderson. Anderson joined the Patriots in 2023 after three seasons with the Denver Broncos. He has just one career season with over 175 snaps played in his four-year career. In that season (2022), he posted a 65.0 PFF grade on 439 snaps. However, he allowed 22 pressures on 289 pass protection snaps.
The Patriots will need their offensive line to gel quickly since it sounds like their development will be crucial to the team allowing Drake Maye to get under center to help his development at the NFL level.
New Orleans Saints: Left Guard
Lucas Patrick vs. Nick Saldiveri
The 2023 Saints started with Andrus Peat at left guard before he was moved to left tackle after Trevor Penning‘s continued struggles. He was replaced by James Hurst. Hurst had a solid yet unspectacular year. Neither player is on the roster heading into 2024. This means the Saints need somebody to step up on an offensive line that is in flux. At left guard, the team will need either Lucas Patrick or Nick Saldiveri to step up and take ownership of the left guard position.
Patrick has bounced between providing average and below-average play throughout his seven-year career. He’s logged at least 900 snaps in three of his last four seasons while rotating between center and both guard positions. He has just one career season with a PFF grade above 58.0 (2020) and allowed a career-high 25 pressures in 2023.
The Saints drafted Nick Saldiveri in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL draft out of Old Dominion. He was a two-year starter at right guard in college who was known as a better pass blocker than a run blocker. He essentially took a red shirt year as a rookie, but now will have a chance to earn a role in the offense.
New Orleans is set to return just two starters from their 2023 unit and will need one of these two to emerge to avoid a bad season from a quarterback who has historically struggled under pressure.
Philadelphia Eagles: Right Guard
Tyler Steen vs. Mekhi Becton
Jason Kelce‘s retirement means that right guard Cam Jurgens will kick into the center position for the 2024 season and beyond. The Eagles will undoubtedly spend the preseason trying to find the best fit to replace Jurgens at right guard. That competition likely comes down to Tyler Steen and Mekhi Becton.
Steen, a 2023 third-round pick, played just 71 snaps as a rookie. He finished his first season with a 53.2 PFF grade and a 21.9 pass-blocking grade in an extremely limited sample size. During his final three collegiate seasons (two at Vanderbilt and one at Alabama), he played over 2,200 snaps at left tackle with three straight seasons of a 66.0 or higher PFF grade.
Mekhi Becton struggled with significant injuries during his tenure with the Jets. He played just 48 snaps between the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Becton returned to the starting lineup last year and set a career-high in snaps (985) but struggled with his movement and fluidity. He allowed 12 sacks and 50 pressures on 644 pass protection snaps while posting a career-worst 53.2 PFF grade. The Eagles will hope he can get back to dominating on the interior, which will put less stress on his ability to move in space.
Eagles’ offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland is the best there is in today’s game, so whoever wins the starting job should certainly thrive in a full-time role in 2024.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Tackles
Broderick Jones vs. Troy Fautanu vs. Dan Moore Jr.
Pittsburgh enters the 2024 season with three potential tackles to fill two positions on the offensive line. It will be interesting to see how this unit shakes out considering two of the players are returning starters from 2023 (Broderick Jones and Dan Moore Jr.) and the third was a 2024 first-round pick (Troy Fautanu).
Moore has held the left tackle position for the last three years but has struggled to be anything more than a league-average player at tackle. He allowed career-highs in sacks (8) and pressures (55) last season while posting career lows in PFF grade (51.8) and pass blocking grade (39.7). He’s never had a season where he has allowed fewer than seven sacks in the NFL.
Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu
Broderick Jones was drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft by the Steelers after one year as a left tackle at Georgia. While his future is ultimately at left tackle, his first starts came at right tackle replacing Chukwuma Okorafor in 2023. He played 766 snaps in his rookie season (635 at right tackle) and was generally solid in his first NFL season (60.7 PFF grade). He needs to grow as a pass blocker in his second season (four sacks and 29 pressures on 405 pass-blocking snaps) regardless of which side he lines up on.
Broderick Jones Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
Finally, the Steelers drafted another tackle in the first round during the 2024 NFL draft when they selected Washington’s Troy Fautanu. The rookie tackle doesn’t have elite measurables but is extremely athletic in the passing attack and very aggressive as a run defender. Fautanu posted consecutive seasons at Washington with over 900 snaps played and a PFF grade above 75.0. He allowed just two sacks and 21 pressures on 1,213 pass protection plays during that span.
Troy Fautanu Advanced Stats & Metrics Profile
Common sense would say that Pittsburgh should move Jones to left tackle and start Fautanu at right tackle given the draft capital used on them over the last two seasons. However, the Steelers are typically a team that leans on veterans and gives rookies a chance to develop to start their careers. This battle bears monitoring throughout the summer and could go several different ways.
Washington Commanders: Left Tackle
Brandon Coleman vs. Cornelius Lucas
The Commanders overhauled their offensive line throughout the offseason, moving on from three of their five starters in the 2023 season. Two of those positions were filled by priority free-agent acquisitions, but the left tackle position remains a question heading into 2024.
After playing for four teams in his first six seasons, Lucas has found a home with the Commanders. During his tenure with the Commanders, he’s split time at right tackle and left tackle while posting four straight seasons with a 62.0 or higher PFF grade. He’s never played over 700 snaps in a single season but is getting a chance to compete for the starting left tackle job in 2024.
Washington may decide to let 2024 third-round pick Brandon Coleman from TCU take the first shot at the left tackle position instead. Coleman was stellar in 2022 (79.6 PFF grade on 1,007 snaps) before taking a step back in 2023. Coleman didn’t allow a single sack last season but did surrender 17 pressures on 445 pass-blocking snaps. He started games at both left tackle and left guard in college, but has the size and tools to be an NFL left tackle in the NFL.
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