Who Has the NFL's Biggest Offensive Line? Top 5 Heaviest NFL Offensive Linemen Ranked

Road graders, hogs, wide bodies.

No matter what they’re called when it comes to a starting offensive line in the NFL, size matters. A massive line is needed in the passing game to provide protection for the quarterback and for blocking up front to open up the ground game.

Because size matters, Gambling.com analyzed the height, weight, and body mass index of the current players who spend their NFL careers making a living by battling in the trenches on the offensive side of the football field. 

The analysis produced Gambling.com's list of the Top 5 Largest NFL Offensive Linemen. Their ages are included.

*BMI measures body fat based on height and weight.

1. Daniel Faalele, Tackle, Baltimore Ravens

GQ magazine named Faalele one of Australia’s 50 Greatest Living Athletes. The magazine said this ex-Minnesota Golden Gopher is the kind of person who “makes you think that some were simply born to dominate.”

2. Trent Brown, OL, New England Patriots

The former Florida Gator is in his eighth year as a pro, having played for the 49ers and Raiders, in addition to the Patriots. In college, he was part of a UF line that allowed just 16 sacks in 2014, which was third-best in the SEC.

3. Jordan Mailata, Tackle, Philadelphia Eagles

According to Athlon Sports, this massive former rugby player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs (and accomplished singer) “blocks out the sun like he blocks out defenses.” He is considered one of the best offensive tackles in the game.

4. Orlando Brown Jr., Tackle, Kansas City Chiefs

This Oklahoma Sooner and NFL Pro Bowler, now a left tackle protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes, is the son of the late Orlando Brown Sr., a former NFL offensive lineman.

5. Evan Neal, Tackle, New York Giants

In an early season loss to the Dallas Cowboys, rookie right tackle Evan Neal accepted the blame for five sacks on Giants’ QB Daniel Jones. “I’ve just got to play better,’’ the former University of Alabama lineman said.

Size Plus Agility Key To Lineman Success

Size on the offensive line can dictate success.

When he played defensive end for the Green Bay Packers, Cullen Jenkins told the Wall Street Journal he had a metric for determining an offensive line’s effectiveness. 

"I notice the more I see them at the buffets, the better they do," he said. "There's some correlation there."

Size isn’t the only important factor, however. Agility counts, too, because those players don’t have much time to operate in helping quarterbacks and running backs succeed. 

Quarterbacks release the ball quickly after the snap (an average of 2.50 seconds for last season’s passing yardage leader, Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Running backs need a gap to open at the line of scrimmage for at least a split second so they can gain maximum momentum (22.13 mph at full speed for Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts).

Value Of NFL Linemen Soars

Though highly valued, linemen seldom receive attention during a game unless they fail—a sack here, a holding penalty there.

However, the stars who handle the ball know their names and shower them with Rolex watches and other gifts for a job well done.

Front offices also value the players who grind it out in the trenches.

"For years,” a Wall Street Journal reporter noted a decade ago, "the five linemen on each team's offense have been anonymous foot soldiers ... now, the value, and profile, of offensive linemen is soaring." 

Read our list of the best NFL betting sites to learn more on how positional value can affect odds.

The Big Guys Go High In NFL Draft

The value NFL teams place on the line was evident in this year’s NFL draft, held during the spring in Las Vegas.

The Pittsburgh Steelers took the first quarterback selected, Kenny Pickett of the University of Pittsburgh, 20th overall. Nine OLs went before Pickett.

Those nine and their teams are:

• Carolina Panthers: offensive tackle Ikem Ekwonu, N.C. State (No. 6 overall)
• New York Giants: OT Evan Neal, Alabama, (No. 7 overall)
• Seattle Seahawks: OT Charles Cross, Mississippi State (No. 9 overall)
• Houston Texans: OL Kenyon Green, Texas A&M (No. 15 overall)
• New England Patriots: guard Cole Strange UT-Chattanooga (No. 29 overall)
• Chargers: OL Zion Johnson, Boston College (No. 17 overall)
• New Orleans Saints: OL Trevor Penning, Northern Iowa (No. 19 overall)

Even the Dallas Cowboys took an OL in the first round this year, the University of Tulsa’s Tyler Smith, the 24th overall pick.

This is a departure from the Dallas teams of earlier years.

From 1982 through 2010, ESPN reported that the Cowboys did not take an OL in the first round.

But with owner Jerry Jones in the front office, it was only a matter of time before Dallas came around 

Jones is a former collegiate offensive lineman, having co-captained the University of Arkansas 1964 national championship team.

His size as a Razorback: 6 feet, 182 pounds.

NFL Offensive Lines Grow Larger

In earlier years, Jones’ size was not all that unusual for college football. The 1959 Heisman Trophy winner, running back Billy Cannon of LSU, was 6-foot-1, 210 pounds. Cannon was one of the largest players on the team.

During this earlier era, that size was somewhat smaller than guys on the NFL offensive lines. In the 1950s, the average NFL OL was 6-foot-2 and 234 pounds, according to Business Insider. In the 1960s, the league’s offensive lines averaged 6-foot-3 and 251 pounds.

Throughout the years, the average size grew. 

In the 1920s, the NFL OL was 6 feet tall and weighed an average of 211 pounds. In the modern era, that’s about the size of a wide receiver. The Buffalo Bills’ Stefon Diggs, one of the NFL’s top receivers, is 6 feet tall and weighs 191 pounds. 

By the 1990s, the average offensive lineman had grown to 6-foot-4, 300 pounds. In 2015, the average size was bumped up to 6-foot-5, 312 pounds. The 2015 measurements are about the same as the current average.

These massive linemen tower over other players, including some quarterbacks, such as the Arizona Cardinals’ Kyler Murray. At 5-foot-10 and 207 pounds, Murray is one of the shortest signal callers in the league.

By most ordinary definitions, Murray is not “short.” 

The average American male is 5-foot-9 and 198 pounds, big enough to play on an NFL OL, if not now with wide bodies like Faalele and Trent Brown, then at least in the 1920s.