Tom Brady made some waves last week when he commented on the NFL’s quality of play and college football’s lack of player development. And he may have had a point.
NFL Insider Brian Baldinger of the Audacy original podcast “In The Huddle” explained why he agrees with some of Brady’s point and commented on the offensive line play in today’s NFL.
“He’s right,” Baldinger said (28:18 in player above). “Honestly, if you’re the Jets or you’re the Giants and you can’t keep an offensive line healthy…they just don’t look like a lot of these guys belong in the NFL. There’s no development there.
“As opposed to Philadelphia, where they always have a strong offensive line and the coach Jeff Stoutland just knows how to get the next crop going and he’s out there on the field on gameday working with these guys.”
Baldinger noted that there’s simply limited time for players to practice and develop, especially with less padded practices and more walkthroughs nowadays.
“You can’t become a better left guard without playing left guard. You can’t just put a pair of shorts on and go out there, walk through plays, and become a better left guard,” he said. “To Tom’s point, I understand safety and all that, and it’s important, but at some point you have to develop players.
“They’re not doing it at the college level; it’s a completely different game than the NFL game. The way it’s played, the physicality of it, the type of offenses you have to run, protection of the quarterback.”
Offensive line play is one of the most important factors in football, especially when it comes to defending your star player.
“So Brady’s saying we’re not getting developed offensive linemen to protect quarterbacks so that they’re not getting shellacked like the way they’re getting hit right now,” Baldinger continued. “We’re not just down to backup quarterbacks in this league, we’re down to third-string quarterbacks in this league. It’s a bad product when you get there and you get poor offensive line play. Tom Brady’s not wrong with some of those comments.”