NFL Top 10 Series: Offensive Guard Honorable Mentions

With the 2012 NFL season steadfast approaching, it’s time to continue an original Garden State Sports Guy production: The NFL Top 10 Series. As the Top 10 countdown approaches for each position, we’ll be looking at honorable mentions for each position as those steadfastly approach. This is the final honorable mentions post and we have been on one torrid run through I must say. I’ll make a post with all of the others in link form in just a bit. Today though we finish off inside the trenches. The guard position is a bit disrespected in my opinion, but it is in my mind very important. Hell, Carl Nicks made tackle Jermon Bushrod into a Pro Bowler and if anybody else was lined up with him, he would have been shown as his mediocre self. We’ll probably see that this year in fact. Anyways, it’s time to get the show on the road.

Honorable Mentions for the Offensive Guard Position

Andy Levitre: Despite the fact that for the most part, Buffalo’s line has been shaky for the last couple of years they have been able to get some consistency out of some of their players as evident by the fact that some or most of them have appeared on these honorable mentions posts. That honor does not elude this man, as Andy Levitre kicks off this post and why not? Levitre has been very good for Buffalo as his career has progressed and he really put it all together last season. Levitre was one of the driving forces for Fred Jackson’s breakout season, pushing through some of the best defensive linemen in football week in and week out. Unfortunately for him he had to play a lot of tackle and guard as injuries plagued Buffalo’s line all season, and that is unfortunate because he was putting in excellent work at the guard position. Last year he only allowed 35 pressures from his adversaries, so you can easily say that he is an elite pass protector and a guard who can shoot up the rankings by this time next season.

Mike Iupati: When the 49ers drafted Mike Iupati in the 2010 NFL Draft they had high hopes for the former Idaho Vandal. And Iupati has shined greatly and although he has been rated too highly in some respects, he has shown that he can be more than capable. In my opinion he is the best offensive lineman from the 2010 rookie class and prove to be such in 2010 and this past season as well. He is an excellent run blocker, paving the way for the likes of Frank Gore to bust through the middle like he did very often, and if the 49ers want Brandon Jacobs to do well Iupati is integral to just that. He could use some work in the pass-protection game but with how good he has been as of late, you can only suspect that he is going to steadily improve in 2012.

Ben Grubbs: One-half of one of the better guard tandems in the league along with Marshal Yanda, Ben Grubbs was stellar in Baltimore in 2011 and was also pretty darn good the past couple of seasons too. Grubbs allowd a miniscule 61 pressures while being on the field for 1,879 snaps on passing downs from 2008 to 2010 and last season Grubbs was very good as well, though not outperforming his teammate Yanda. Grubbs in the offseason went to New Orleans to replace the elite Carl Nicks who went to Tampa Bay and needless to say I think Baltimore will feel the effects of losing a guy like Grubbs. With that said, I think New Orleans will reap the rewards and while he might not be as good as Nicks, with Evans on his other side the dropoff of guard play for New Orleans will be miniscule.

Harvey Dahl: You may remember Harvey Dahl being on the honorable mentions post for tackles. That is true, and he’ll be featured here on the guards post because that is in fact his natural position. And boy has he excelled at it. Dahl was very close to being put on the Top 10 list and if I had to put him in a tie with #10 I probably would have in hindsight. Dahl for the last four seasons has been exceptional just about wherever he has played. The Falcons certainly missed him in 2011, as needless to say Garrett Reynolds and Justin Blalock weren’t cutting the mustard. From 2008-2010, Dahl only gave up 50 pressures on 1,650 snaps for passing downs, and was a key member of the offensive line that helped Michael Turner turn into one of the best running backs in the NFL. Dahl put in more work in 2011 as he had a very solid season and should continue to do such in 2012.