Weston Richburg Comments on Offensive Line Coaching and Grading in NFL

New York Giants center Weston Richburg was one of the breakout stars in the entire league during the 2015 season, but he recently turned some heads with critical comments about the way offensive linemen are coached and evaluated at the NFL level.    

Richburg was one of a group of offensive linemen who discussed the position with Pete Prisco of CBS Sports while they were at the O-Line Performance Center. Former lineman LeCharles Bentley owns the center and helps the players train for the upcoming season.

Richburg discussed the coaching he and others receive, per Prisco: "There isn't much teaching going on at all. It's kind of sink or swim. That's why I am here. ... They try and put you in a cookie-cutter. ... You have to be coachable and respect what they say. But ultimately you're the one out there on Sunday. You have to do what you are trained to do."

Prisco noted there are a number of reasons offensive linemen potentially don’t receive the proper technique training from their coaches to help them perfect their craft in the NFL. There are limits enforced on the amount of practice time each team has to work with, and that means coaches focus more energy on installing and perfecting offenses rather than teaching those techniques and basics.

Prisco also pointed to the proliferation of spread offenses at the college level, the decrease in contact during practices and the fact free agency breaks up offensive lines and doesn’t allow them to develop together as other explanations for poor offensive line play.

According to Prisco, there are 30 offensive linemen who spent eight weeks at Bentley’s center with the hopes of improving their technical skills and fundamentals.

Richburg also discussed the grades the website Pro Football Focus assigns to offensive linemen, per Prisco:

"

On Twitter, I get tagged in so much PFF (Pro Football Focus) stuff. You hear this stuff, but you have to look at the source. Most of these people who talk about offensive line play don't know anything about offensive line play. ... My rookie year I was really low in PFF. Last year, I got better. People tagged me (on Twitter) both years. I don't want to hear either side of it. I know how I am doing. It causes a bunch of clutter in my mind. It's the wrong source.

"

Chicago Bears guard Kyle Long, Bears tackle Bobby Massie (who signed with Chicago this offseason after playing for the Arizona Cardinals for four years) and Tennessee Titans guard Chance Warmack joined Richburg in the discussion with Prisco.

The other three echoed similar sentiments as Richburg when discussing why offensive linemen sometimes struggle and are the target of criticism. Long said, “We’re the Mushroom Club. They throw us in a closet, feed us s--t and expect us to come out a finished product,” per Prisco.

As far as the grading from websites such as Pro Football Focus, offensive line is not a position group the common fan can easily understand or quantify. The fantasy stats used to judge quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends aren’t there for offensive linemen, and they rarely get noticed unless something goes wrong.

In fact, there are some similarities between the way officials and linemen are judged, since both often don’t receive recognition when they do their jobs correctly and are only highlighted when they make mistakes.

At least there is a way to easily compare offensive linemen to each other with the grades Pro Football Focus offers, even if Richburg and the others weren’t particularly fond of it.

Richburg may have been critical of the grading system, but Pro Football Focus ranked him as its No. 2 breakout player of the year in 2015, behind only Buffalo Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Richburg was a second-round draft pick out of Colorado State in 2014 and played 16 games at left guard as a rookie before moving back to his natural center position in 2015.

The result was improved play, as Pro Football Focus gave him a season mark of plus-20.6 last year compared to minus-9.5 in 2014. James Kratch of NJ Advance Media said a grade of zero is average on Pro Football Focus’ scale.

Richburg was even on Pro Football Focus' list of the top 10 Pro Bowl snubs from the 2015 campaign.

Football Outsiders ranked the Giants' cumulative offensive line as the 11th-best run-blocking unit in the league and the sixth-best pass-blocking unit, which is a testament to Richburg’s presence and ability.

The team still finished 6-10 on the season, so it will need to move up the list if it hopes to challenge for a postseason spot in 2016. Ideally, the techniques Richburg hones at Bentley's center will help the Giants do just that.