DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Most important postion after QB?

Just a fun question. Pick one for O and one for D. I think it's left tackle then shutdown corner. Your thoughts?

Edge rusher.

End thread.

I inadvertently forgot to pick one for Offense though!

LT on Offense, but I can easily be talked into WR.

Unconventional take here but I would say Place Kicker

How much of a momentum swing is it when you drive 80 yards, score a TD then the K misses the extra point?
Browns fans have witnessed this first hand way too often.

How many games are won/lost on the make/miss of a late game FG?
How big a difference is it when you are down 3 with 2 minutes remaining if you need to get to the 45 yard line vs the 30 to be in range for a game-tying FG?

FG kicker.

Ha ha I moved the goal posts

Im going to go with WR. The rules benefit the offense so much .even look at the past 4 or 5 conference participants and SB teams. They all had that lethal QB to WR combo and to a extent TE. LTs and RTs are extremely important. But look at the KC Chiefs .they have a new LT RT combo
Every other year. The best player on their oline is C Creed Humphrey.
If your offense can put up points propelled by that QB WR/TE combo , you are in every game .
Some people say DE is 2nd most important position . But WRs are difference makers .
Yeah a DE can sack a QB and make it longer conversion to continue a drive
But a WR can evaporate that sack with a big time catch or 2 to continue a drive
Sacks are a over rated stat.
If your offense doesn't have a roomful of quality WR, you dont score .
Exhibit A...the Browns and Panthers .

Agree, rules changes over decades, advantages most to WRs on O, Edge Rusher over LB.

History- you can't have huge weaknesses and survive....team quality....Browns/ 64- Championship- Great runner/s- Brown/Kelly...adequate QB- Ryan, great and good WRs in Warfield/ Collins----D had NO stars, but good enough D......Go Browns!!!

Wouldn’t you know, the Bengals have good WRs…

Hmmm, they may all be important. Certainly, there's a reason why there are 11 people on each side of the ball. Stars are only as good as the people around them. The problem with the Browns that I see is they have never been able to put 11 players all doing their jobs consistently on a regular basis on the field. A team is only as good as their weakest link. Heres an unbiased evaluation:

QB - has been an issue and right now is still a question mark. Take into account 2 are rookies, one hasn't started in almost 2 years, one is north of 40, and none were on the team last year - CURRENT EVALUATION - RAW & VERY UNTESTED

WR - we have a #1 who has never been a #1, big question marks remain at #2 & #3 - CURRENT EVALUATION - RAW & VERY UNTESTED

OL - Buday brought up the age of this group and also talked about the recent decline everyone on the line has seen over the last few years. Jones was also called out, as he's in line to start after putting up an atrocious showing in 2024, albeit while dealing with knee issues.

"With the exception of left tackle Dawand Jones, all four projected Browns offensive line starters will be over 30 by the time the season kicks off. Cleveland’s unit has lacked strong play in recent years, and while left guard Joel Bitonio and right guard Wyatt Teller once formed one of the NFL's best guard duos, they ranked 40th and 43rd in PFF overall grade last season among guards, respectively.

If Jones doesn't take his game to a new level in his third season, after ranking 77th among 81 offensive tackles with a 46.4 PFF overall grade in 2024, Cleveland’s offensive line could be one of the league's worst in 2025."
PFF's Zoltán Buday

To make matters worse, 4 of the 5 projected starters are in the final year of their contract.

https://dawgpounddaily.com/latest-o...s-browns-to-continue-to-struggle-in-2025

CURRENT EVALUATION - WEAK

RB - huge question marks without Chubb. Add in Judkins now legal issues and the question marks intensify. CURRENT EVALUATION - RAW & VERY UNTESTED

TE - Probablly the strongest position on offense with Njoku and rookie Fannin. However, Njoku is in the final year of his deal and Fannin is untested. CURRENT EVALUATION - COULD BE STRENGTH

PFF's Zoltan Buday
"If the Browns have any chance of turning around their recent offensive woes, it will start up front with the offensive line. Establishing a strong running game with their rookie running back duo will open up opportunities and make life easier for whoever is under center. With the likelihood that a rookie quarterback takes snaps this year, the offensive line has to be in a respectable place to allow a fair evaluation of everyone else."

That's just the offense.............

Long Snapper


#longlivepontrbriand

I might push back that the QB is the most important. All positions are important.

I look at it like this...if you have your choice of THE best player in the league at each position...who do you take?

WR (If the choice is...Chase or Wirfs? Take Chase; Wirfs or Jeudy? Take Wirfs)

ED (If the choice is...MG or Denzel-sans-concussion? Take MG; Denzel-sans-concussion or non-MG level ED? Take Denzel)

We agree.

If teams win, it doesn't matter how good the QB might be. I mean he has to be good, but not so good he has to carry the team.

You can debate this forever!

Is a superstar receiver better than two above-average receivers?

Which is better, a top 10 receiving or offensive line room?

Most will say quarterback is the highest priority. Is it?

Does the Bengals receiver room make Burrow great, or does Burrow make the receivers great? Are either great without the other?

Mahomes with or without a top offensive line. Superbowl or MVP worthy?

Top 10 offense or defense wins you Super Bowls? Let's assume the opposite is average.

j/c

Chase's YAC last year was 787 yards...his YAC yards alone would have been the #2 receiver on the Browns, Ravens, Buccaneers and the Bills (being ~50 yards shy of being the Bills #1)...and #3 on the Bengals. I didn't bother looking up other teams as that ^ made my point. FWIW...Doesn't make me correct as the 'argument' is so subjective.

I agree that it's very subjective. One may also consider that YAC is heavily determined by whether the QB hits the WR in stride and perfectly on target that gives him the optimum opportunity for YAC.

Then there's the fact that if the OL can't protect the QB and open up holes for the run game none of this is possible.

I did see someone bring up KC. Mahomes seems to be a QB that even with annual interchangeable parts on his OL and less than a stellar WR core can play with the best of them. But even then he looks much better with a better supporting cast.

More points are scored by FG kickers than any other position.

speaking of which - the dude from JAX just made a SEVENTY yarder

Fun question - while my immediate gut would go with the “protector” of the team Left Tackle on offense (it’s close because I love an all world center). On Defense yep edge rusher is a big difference maker (similarly close again, I love an all world middle linebacker).

More importantly - I think the most important position after QB is whoever is “all in” and gets the guys motivated & moving in the same direction.

Center

Defensive tackle


Yep I'm still just a miniature lineman at heart.

Edge on D

LT on O,,, Unless you have a left handed QB, then it's RT on O

My take on this question is... Your weakest link. If your weakest link is above average in the league, you are probably going to have a pretty good roster and have a great opportunity to win games whether you have a top 3 QB or pass rusher or not. If you have 1-5 players that are at the bottom of the league, a superstar on either side of the ball isn't going to elevate that roster to a Super Bowl level.

I think a well rounded roster is the best answer to this question. Teams are too good at exposing weakness...

I think for this team it's offensive line.

KS has shown it's possible he can do quite a bit with mediocre QB and WR. But the offensive line and run game HAVE to be there.

I agree which makes it hard to single out one position on the OL as "most important". It's certainly more important at LT in terms of the best odds of keeping your QB healthy. But as a rule the OL works and is effective as a unit. Any weakness on that OL can be exploited to stop the run and get to your opponents QB.

A shut down CB is also critical yet once again the opposing O can find the weakest link in that secondary and exploit that by avoiding to attack that shut down CB. It's very hard to pin down a second most valuable position on O or D when so much is dependent on things like the DL, secondary, OL and WR's working as units much more so than individual players. Even those positions that are played on an individual basis like the QB and RB are dependent on their OL also playing well to a great degree.

Shut down corner and center