Thankless Dominance: Piecing Together the NFL's Best Offensive Line Today

Building the perfect anything can be an impossible task, but it's even more so when trying to piece together the best possible combination among the league's top offensive linemen. 

Truly great offensive lines don't exist anymore. The days of the Electric Company or the Hogs are long gone. Free agency tears asunder line combinations that require years of familiarity to develop into truly cohesive and interdependent units. 

But certain individuals stand above the rest as true masters of their craft. 

While this may ultimately be an exercise in futility because everyone will have their preferences based on style of play or scheme fits, the larger-than-life men up front still deserve recognition as some of the best athletes the NFL has to offer. 

In this instance, the hodgepodge of hogs is based on who is considered the best at his position, which can be determined in several ways. Consistency, dominance and reputation often identify the best blockers, since no stat directly correlates to a lineman's performance. Pro Bowl and All-Pro appearances were also considered. 

The only caveat is a player must be slotted in his natural position. While there will surely be a great left tackle or two left off the list, he can't automatically be flipped to the right side simply to include him. The same can be said of the guards. 

This is an attempt to identify the best of the best. Or, at the very least, give recognition to those stalwarts up front who receive little fanfare while the pretty boys at quarterback, running back and wide receiver garner most of the attention.

Best of the Rest

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This is where things start to get dicey. 

Strong arguments can be made for a variety of offensive linemen left off the top unit. For example, no one can go wrong slotting the Dallas Cowboys' Tyron Smith as the NFL's best left tackle. He's a freakish athlete with all of the necessary tools to dominate for a long time. But there is one who remains more consistent, and he's done so over a longer period. 

It's a fine line to walk and one where good-to-great players fall just short of another individual who might be slightly more worthy. As such, the necessity arose to name multiple offensive line combinations that fell just short of top billing. 

Young Players on the Verge

• Left tackle: Terron Armstead, New Orleans Saints
• Left guard: Gabe Jackson, Oakland Raiders
• Center: Corey Linsley, Green Bay Packers
• Right guard: Trai Turner, Carolina Panthers
• Right tackle: Rob Havenstein, Los Angeles Rams

Third-Team Offensive Line

• Left tackle: Andrew Whitworth, Cincinnati Bengals
• Left guard: Kelechi Osemele, Oakland Raiders
• Center: Ryan Kalil, Carolina Panthers
• Right guard: Kyle Long, Chicago Bears
• Right tackle: Sebastian Vollmer, New England Patriots 

Second-Team Offensive Line

• Left tackle: Tyron Smith, Dallas Cowboys
• Left guard: Mike Iupati, Arizona Cardinals
• Center: Weston Richburg, New York Giants
• Right guard: Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys
• Right tackle: Zach Strief, New Orleans Saints

On to those blockers who warranted recognition as the best at their respective positions.

LT Joe Thomas, Cleveland Browns

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Consistency is paramount, and the Cleveland Browns' Joe Thomas is the king of consistency. He is the standard by which all current offensive linemen judge their games. 

The Wisconsin product has made the Pro Bowl in every one of his nine seasons after being selected third overall in the 2007 NFL draft. Thomas is the only offensive lineman in the league's history to earn that distinction. In fact, he's in pretty lofty company. Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Franco Harris, Merlin Olsen and Mel Renfro are the only other players to do the same in their first nine seasons. 

The Browns left tackle has also been named a first- or second-team All-Pro eight times. 

While the recognition from his peers, league coaches and fans is well-deserved, the little things are what make Thomas truly great. He's never missed a snap in his career—which equates to over 9,000 career snaps, according to Pro Football Focus—and every play looks exactly the same. Repeatable technique is what often differentiates a talented offensive lineman from those who reach an elite level.

Thomas is on a path toward Canton, Ohio, to eventually be named the 16th Hall of Fame inductee who predominantly played for the Browns.

LG Josh Sitton, Green Bay Packers

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The Green Bay Packers offensive line has had its issues in recent years, but those primarily stemmed from injuries or poor offensive tackle play. Meanwhile, Josh Sitton remained an absolute rock along the offensive interior. 

When it comes to pass protection, an offensive guard's primary responsibility is setting the depth of the pocket. No active guard does this better than Sitton. 

In each of the past three seasons, Sitton was the only guard to give up fewer than 10 quarterback hurries while playing more than 1,000 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He surrendered only 22 total hurries over that period. 

The UCF product excels because he plays with a strong base, which allows him to hold his ground, but he's also athletic enough to be an effective run-blocker to both sides. His lateral agility is quite good for a lineman who hovered around 320 pounds for most of his career. That's about to change, though. 

According to ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky, the Packers guard lost 20 pounds this offseason and plans to practice more during the season after dealing with multiple injuries since 2014. What does that mean? Sitton—a three-time Pro Bowl selection—could be even better this fall than he's shown in recent years. 

C Travis Frederick, Dallas Cowboys

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Many laughed when the Dallas Cowboys used a first-round pick in the 2013 NFL draft to select a center. Nobody—except maybe Jerry Jones—is laughing now. 

Travis Frederick has already established himself as an elite center three years into his career. The Wisconsin product is exceptional when asked to reach defenders lined up on his outside shoulder or over the guards and get to the second level. These blocks help create big plays for the team's running backs. 

More importantly, Frederick is the heartbeat in the middle of the game's best offensive line. Since being drafted, the center has started every game. He makes all of the line calls and sets the tone up front.

On a unit that features Tyron Smith and Zack Martin, Frederick may be the most important piece of the puzzle because of his pre-snap impact and overall dominance once a play begins. 

At 25 years old, the Cowboys lineman is also the youngest player counted among the top blockers, which bodes well for his career. 

RG Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens

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Instead of trying to describe the type of player Baltimore Ravens right guard Marshal Yanda is, one of his opponents will do so.

"He's physical, he's tough, and he's strong," fellow Iowa alumnus and current member of the Green Bay Packers Mike Daniels said on NFL Network's Top 100 Players of 2016 (via CSN Mid-Atlantic's Clifton Brown). "He's a monster, and that's how we build linemen at Iowa. Good luck against him."

As one of the better interior defenders in the league, Daniels' wishing Yanda's opponents "good luck" speaks volumes.

Yanda isn't simply one of the best technicians in the game; he's also downright nasty. The Iowa product brings an old-school mentality that isn't appreciated as much today as it used to be. He legitimately wants to bury his assignment on every play. But he does so within the structure of the play call because he plays his angles so well. 

The five-time Pro Bowl performer and four-time All-Pro selection started 94 of his last 96 games on his way to becoming the league's best guard.

RT Mitchell Schwartz, Kansas City Chiefs

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The NFL is changing, and some are still catching on to how defense is being played. A team's top pass-rusher is no longer automatically slotted at right defensive end to face the opponent's left tackle on a down-by-down basis. More and more, the league's best pass-rushers line up over an opponent's right tackle. Thus, the value of a good right tackle shouldn't be underestimated.

Yet Mitchell Schwartz didn't find a huge market when he hit free agency this year. Instead, the 27-year-old blocker signed a five-year, $33 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in March. The total value of the contract makes him the league's 28th-highest-paid offensive lineman and third among right tackles, according to Spotrac. 

What the financial reality of today's NFL overlooks is Schwartz's effectiveness on the strong side. Over the course of his four-year career, the former second-round pick consistently improved. Joe Thomas' influence became evident. And the Cal product went about his business. 

In doing so, Schwartz epitomizes a modern-day right tackle. Yes, he has athletic limitations, but he minimizes his shortcomings by being a consistent technician with an efficient pass set. He also is a strong run-blocker and excelled late last year when the Browns used more of a gap (or man) blocking scheme. 

What's important is not getting beaten. Schwartz had his struggles early in his career, but it's difficult to find a more consistent right tackle now.