Yesterday, I looked at the draft capital allocated to each position in the 2020 NFL Draft. I noted that significantly more draft capital was used on offensive tackles than on guards or centers, which is even more striking when you realize that there were 2 OTs and 3 interior offensive linemen on every play.

So how does the 2020 NFL Draft compared historically to other drafts, in terms of allocating draft capital to tackles versus interior linemen? For purposes of this post, I reduced draft capital allocated to guards and centers by one third in every draft class, to make for a more apples to apples comparison. In that case, most years, significantly more draft capital is allocated to tackles, and that number is on the rise.

The last time more draft capital on a per position basis was used on interior offensive linemen than offensive tackles was in 1990. That year, tackle Richmond Webb was the first lineman drafted, but the next five OL were all guards or centers: Bern Brostek, Keith Sims, Tim Grunhard, Leo Goeas, and Glenn Parker. The most OT-heavy draft relative to guards and centers was in 2008, when Jake Long went first overall, and six other offensive tackles went in the first round: Ryan Clady, Chris Williams, Gosder Cherilus, Jeff Otah, Sam Baker, and Duane Brown. The only guard drafted in the first round was Branden Albert, who played guard in college and was drafted as such, and then played left tackle for his entire NFL career.

The graph below shows the draft capital allocated to offensive tackles (in black) and interior offensive linemen (in red) in each year since 1967. Again, I have multiplied the draft capital allocated to guards and centers by two thirds to compare the positions more evenly.

And here is the differential in draft capital used each year, on a per snap basis (capital used on tackles minus capital used on interior offensive linemen):

The 2020 NFL Draft was the latest in a trend that’s been going on for three decades: teams used to show only a slight preference for tackles over guards and centers, but now there is a strong bias in favor of tackles. The 2017 NFL Draft was an awful one for offensive linemen overall — the first one went off the board at 20, and only four were drafted in the first 57 picks (tackles Garett Bolles, Ryan Ramczyk, and Cam Robinson, and guard Forrest Lamp) so that is a big outlier. But in general, teams are using more than twice as much draft capital each year on offensive tackles than interior offensive linemen, adjusted for the number of snaps played by those positions. And the 2020 NFL Draft was a good example of that: it was a great one for tackles, but this was not a case of a rising tide lifting all linemen. By and large, teams do not treat guards and centers are key positions.