Accuracy at quarterback. Speed at wide receiver and running back. Tenacity along the offensive line.
Ask anybody to name the essentials for an NFL offense to succeed, and these are some of the most popular answers you’d get.
There’s nothing wrong with those answers, but it is a shame that almost nobody would be bold enough to mention one of the most underrated variables in all of football: skill position blocking.
If you have watched film, you know that in any given NFL game, many offensive plays will be made or broken by the block of a skill position player. Publicly, all of the attention for a team’s blocking is directed at the offensive line, when in reality, there is almost always at least one non-offensive lineman who is just as vital in the blocking scheme as each individual lineman.
When the game is all said and done, skill position blocking adds up to be one of the most subtly impactful facets of the sport.
Save for rare exceptions where someone throws a pancake block in the spotlight of the broadcast angle, skill position blocking mostly occurs in the shadows unless you are directly paying attention to it. Yet, once 60 minutes of football are played, there will be bundles upon bundles of hidden yards that were lost or gained via the blocking performance of the non-linemen.
Many people would argue that skill position blocking, while important, is far down the list of critical factors for an NFL offense. However, there is evidence suggesting it is more critical to overall offensive success than many realize.
The importance of skill position blocking
I wanted to find out if there is any correlation between skill position blocking and overall offensive efficiency. Does it have a tangible effect on a team’s ability to score points? Or is it too subtle of a factor to make a significant difference?
To begin my analysis, I calculated each team’s skill position blocking grade in the 2024 season by averaging the Pro Football Focus run-blocking grades of every tight end, wide receiver, running back, and fullback on the team (weighted for snap counts).
Then, I compared their ranking in skill position blocking grade to their ranking in overall offensive DVOA (per FTN Fantasy), which is the best metric for understanding offensive efficiency when accounting for all variables.
Across the NFL in 2024, there was a correlation coefficient of 0.4938 between teams’ ranking in skill position blocking grade and their ranking in overall offensive DVOA. This is considered a significant correlation.
Eight of the league’s 10 best offenses also ranked in the top half of skill position blocking. The league’s six worst offenses were in the bottom half of skill position blocking.
This trend held up in the 2023 season, with a very similar correlation coefficient of 0.4831.
While correlation does not always equal causation, it is not coincidental that teams with better skill position blockers tend to perform better offensively. Skill position blocking is what fills in the margins of an offense. It can help make up for weaknesses in the offensive line, or it can waste a strong offensive line.
The latter occurred for the 2024 New York Jets. Their offensive linemen graded well in the run game, combining for PFF’s eighth-best run-blocking grade among NFL offensive lines. However, the Jets had the fourth-worst run-blocking grade from their skill position players, which negated the offensive line and sank the run game.
It only takes one blown block for a play to be destroyed. That is why it is critical to at least have competent blockers at the skill positions. You don’t need everyone to be George Kittle, but you do need everyone to consistently handle their assignment at an adequate level. Otherwise, it will be difficult to operate a steady offense. The Jets learned this the hard way.
This is probably why the league-wide correlation looks the way it does. Not every elite offense has elite skill position blocking – it is not a necessity for elite offensive play in the way that a great quarterback essentially is. But the overwhelming majority of elite offenses had at least competent skill position blocking.
The league’s three best offenses in 2024 – Baltimore, Buffalo, and Detroit – ranked in the 10-14 range of skill position blocking. That’s plenty good enough to anchor an elite offense. However, it becomes difficult to field an elite offense without competent skill position blocking, which is why only two of the top 10 offenses – Cincinnati and Washington – could achieve offensive greatness without it.
If the Jets want to take a step forward offensively in 2025, improving their skill position blocking is a fantastic way to pull it off. Coming off a 29th-ranked finish, there is ample room for improvement. Couple that with the solid offensive line they have in place, and there is a sneakily substantial amount of impact waiting to be unlocked by this specific facet of the team.
The Jets’ new regime understands it. New York has prioritized improving its skill position blocking in the 2025 offseason.
Jets’ focus on skill position blocking
Head coach Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand have preached about the value of physicality when describing their vision for the Jets’ offense. While this is a basic buzzword that every football coach deploys, the Jets are walking their talk.
Glenn and Engstrand hail from a Detroit offense that embodied physicality like few other offenses in the modern NFL. They were a run-first team that hammered the ball down teams’ throats behind an elite offensive line and a solid supporting cast of skill position blockers. With their firsthand experience in Detroit, Glenn and Engstrand know what it takes to build a truly physical offense.
So far, Glenn has worked with general manager Darren Mougey to acquire the pieces New York needs to replicate Detroit’s style of play.
At wide receiver, the Jets went out and signed Josh Reynolds, who previously served as the WR2 in Detroit’s offense. Since 2022, Reynolds has a cumulative run-blocking grade of 61.7, which is excellent for a wide receiver.
Reynolds currently projects as the Jets’ WR2 this season. While he is not an ideal WR2 from a pass-catching standpoint, Reynolds will make up for it with his net-positive blocking, filling in the margins in a subtle fashion that will go unnoticed by fantasy players and box-score watchers.
The Jets further strengthened their blocking by selecting Arian Smith in the fourth round. Smith is best known as a speedy deep threat, but as displayed in Joe Blewett’s film review of the Georgia product, Smith is a sneaky good blocker compared to what you’d expect from a player of his ilk. The numbers back it up, as Smith posted a strong 62.3 run-blocking grade in his college career.
New York’s decision to keep Allen Lazard is another sign of their valuation of skill position blocking. The 6-foot-5, 227-pounder has always been known for his blocking, posting a solid 60.1 grade throughout his career.
The Jets need Lazard to rekindle his motivation, though, as that number has dropped to 49.3 over the last three seasons compared to 73.4 beforehand. If Lazard can return to his previous elite heights as a blocker, he is worth keeping around to help facilitate the Jets’ offensive vision.
Quietly aiding this pursuit is the unit’s leader, Garrett Wilson, who has improved his run-blocking grade in each season of his NFL career. He climbed to an above-average 61.1 in 2024, ranking 17th-best among 69 qualified wide receivers (min. 200 run-blocking snaps). With his upward trajectory being augmented by a new coaching staff that preaches the importance of blocking, Wilson offers a high ceiling as a blocker in 2025.
Altogether, the outlook at wide receiver is highly promising. At tight end, the Jets are banking more heavily on projection.
New York’s only significant addition to the unit was second-round pick Mason Taylor. While Taylor has the potential to be a solid blocker in the NFL, he needs development to get there, as he was a mediocre blocker in college.
The Jets, though, have already been lauding Taylor’s blocking. Considering their lack of other moves at tight end and their obvious emphasis on skill position blocking, they must be optimistic about his chances of being a competent blocker from Day 1.
The Jets’ new coaching staff will try to repair Jeremy Ruckert, who is competing to maintain his role as the team’s TE2. Early in his career, Ruckert showed blocking potential in limited spurts, but when he got his chance to shine with a career-high 188 run-blocking snaps in 2024, he flopped, posting an abysmal 39.0 run-blocking grade. Ruckert was the primary culprit in the Jets’ woeful skill position blocking grade.
While the Jets did not do the best job of adding surefire blocking upgrades to the tight end position, they may have accounted for it with the signing of fullback Andrew Beck.
Beck is listed as a fullback after converting to the position in 2023, but he played tight end over his first four NFL seasons, and he still lined up at the position for a decent portion of his snaps over the last two years. Wherever he lines up, Beck is a plus blocker who knows how to win angles and carve out running lanes. Great blocks are scattered all over his tape.
Between Beck, Reynolds, Smith, Lazard, Taylor, and even Wilson, the Jets are overflowing with blocking upside at the skill positions. On paper, it looks like a night-and-day turnaround from their ghastly skill position blocking in 2024. If this upside translates to the field, it could transform the Jets’ offense.
