PFF has Lions offensive line as most improved in NFL since start of season

Penei Sewell is getting high marks on his own, but Pro Football Focus has marked the entire Detroit Lions offensive line as greatly improved.

If you were listing areas of strength for the Detroit Lions heading into this season, offensive tackle with Taylor Decker and incoming first-round pick Penei Sewell would have been one. Add in Frank Ragnow, one of the best centers in the league, and there’s three-fifths of a very good offensive line.

But a finger injury late in the preseason cost Decker the first eight games of the season. Then Ragnow suffered a season-ending toe injury in Week 4. So the Lions have literally never had the entire offensive line they envisioned having this season. Starting right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai also missed a game.

Sewell filled in for Decker at left tackle, with strong work there as well as back at right tackle since Decker’s been back. Evan Brown has been a solid fill-in for Ragnow, but there’s no replacing an All-Pro and Brown missed Week 14 due to being on the COVID-19 list.

Pro Football Focus has noted major Lions offensive line improvement

Heading into Week 15, Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus has a set of fresh NFL offensive line rankings, 1-32. The Lions come in at No. 15.

"15. DETROIT LIONS (UP 10)Best-graded: C Frank Ragnow | 86.2Worst-graded: T Matt Nelson | 53.7The Lions looked like they might be able to put together a pretty good offensive line if a few things broke their way heading into the 2021 season. It certainly didn’t start out that way, but over the past few weeks, this group has started to come together, despite missing their best player in center Frank Ragnow.Rookie Penei Sewell has been as good, if not better, on the right side as he was at left tackle. Since Week 6, he ranks second in the league in PFF grade at either spot. Taylor Decker has allowed just nine pressures in five games since returning to the lineup, and even the play of the interior has been trending up."

That classification as “up 10” is (best as I can tell) up 10 spots from the start of the season. A closer look at the entire rankings says the Lions are the most-improved offensive line in the league since the start of the season.

As Monson noted, Sewell is PFF’s second-highest graded tackle (either spot) since Week 6. In Week 14, Sewell was PFF’s highest-graded tackle.

Ragnow remains the highest PFF-graded Lions’ offensive lineman for the season right now, though it’s fair to say he may not qualify based on a minimum snap criteria for much longer. Swapping Decker for Matt Nelson, the lowest-graded Lions’ offensive lineman thus far this season who had been playing right tackle, fostered some natural improvement for the unit.

Oline Stats cited the sore thumb in Detroit’s offensive line showing against the Broncos in Week 14. Through no fault of his own, as he was pressed into starting duty, it was third-string center Ryan McCollum. Brown is in line to be back in action this week.

"The Lions were another team hit by covid, and center Evan Brown was the player in this group impacted. Ryan McCollum got the nod in his absence and was a disaster. He allowed four pressures and a sack. The other four players all played well in pass pro. If you take out McCollum’s pressures, they only allowed pressure 12% of the time. The Lions were also effective run-blocking, especially Penei Sewell who is quietly becoming a mauler."

The Lions’ line has been pretty good blocking for the run game all season. Lately, it seems Jared Goff is being kept cleaner in the pocket. It all adds up to a vastly improved offensive line, which still happens to be without arguably its best player in Ragnow.