Colts' Offensive Line Ranked Third-Best In NFL According To Pro Football Focus

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THE FRONT LINE


The saying goes, "the best ability is availability." Well, the Colts' offensive linemen were pretty available for their teammates in 2019, as the offense fielded the same starting five offensive linemen in all 16 games for the first time since 2000.


Led by two-time First-Team All-Pro left guard Quenton Nelson's 91.2 PFF grade and left tackle Anthony Castonzo's 81.3, the Colts' top six offensive linemen averaged a grade of 76.3, which would count as the 19th-best individual offensive lineman in the league.


Nelson had the highest PFF grade of his career. He was second among all NFL guards, and he was the top left guard. His 82.8 pass-blocking grade was sixth among guards, and his 90.1 in run blocking was second. He was also named First-Team All-Pro by PFF.


Castonzo played all 1,076 offensive snaps for the Colts and had the third-best graded season of his nine-year career in 2019, also making PFF's All-Pro squad, earning Second-Team honors. He finished as the No. 5-ranked offensive tackle and No. 2 left tackle. His 84.4 pass-blocking grade ranked sixth among tackles (and was the second-highest of his career), and his 70.2 run-blocking grade finished eighth. He was the ninth-ranked overall offensive lineman, finishing No. 13 in pass-blocking and 23rd in run-blocking.


Like Nelson, right tackle Braden Smith is a second-year stud. His 79.8 grade ranked seventh among all tackles (just two spots behind Castonzo) and 12th among all offensive linemen. His run-blocking grade of 86.4 was third among tackles and fifth among all linemen.


Center Ryan Kelly (73.0) and right guard Mark Glowinski (60.5) round out the group, with Kelly coming in as the No. 6 center. His 74.6 run-blocking grade was fourth at the position, and he was one of only seven full-time centers to allow one or fewer sacks. Glowinski played every offensive snap for the Colts in 2019, and his 64.9 run-blocking grade was 16th among guards.


The Colts' designated sixth man, Joe Haeg, earned a 71.9 overall grade with 39 snaps at "big" tight end, 33 at left guard and one a right tackle. The 72 snaps were far and away the fewest of his career, but he still managed the best grade of his four-year career as well.


All in all, seems pretty safe to say that the Colts, as a group, were about as solid as it gets up front in 2019.


“At the risk of ticking off some of the players that I use to play with, yeah this is about as good as it gets as when it comes to offensive lines," Castonzo told reporters when the season ended. "So it’s fun playing with these guys.”