Every Wednesday from now until preseason I’ll be going through each position group in the NFC South. I’ll rank them from worst to first. Here is a list of the positions already covered:

Quarterbacks

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Tackles

Moving further into the interior of the offensive line, today we will profile the offensive guard position.

Offensive Guard

Falcons

As I write this series, I can’t help but notice weekly comments that seem to dismiss the idea that the Falcons have a reasonable chance at being the best team in the NFC South. While it is far from a foregone conclusion that they will run away with the division, there is a reasonable case to be made that they are at least as good, if not better than any other team in the division.

Looking at just the positions already made public, they rank first in QB, RB and TE, a close second at OT and third with a solid group at WR. Add in now that they rank first at guard, and you have the makings of the best offense in the division amidst an offensive league.

Falcons RG Chris Lindstrom – Photo by: USA Today

This position in the NFC South starts with right guard Chris Lindstrom who has a case as the best guard in all of football. In five years, he has surrendered just five sacks and 98 quarterback pressures enroute to a 97.9 pass block efficiency rating from Pro Football Focus. And his play doesn’t fall off when facing elite competition. He has graded out well in most of his games over the years against the Panthers and Bucs while facing Vita Vea and Derrick Brown. Lindstrom isn’t a mammoth presence but has elite hand fighting and a great understanding of angles to go along with a good anchor.

Across from Lindstrom is Matthew Bergeron who the Falcons took in the second round out of Syracuse last year. In his rookie season Bergeron was up and down which was to be expected. As a pass blocker he had several strong games, but also six where he allowed three or more pressures. As a run blocker he was more consistent with less highs, but less lows as well. Bergeron is athletic and nimble. With a quarterback behind him that should play more on time and with better pocket presence, it is a safe bet to assume he will take another step forward to being a quality guard in 2024.

Kyle Hinton looks to be the first guard off the bench for the Falcons. The former seventh round pick of the Vikings has played almost 100 snaps in the last two seasons of solid fill-in play. He has not surrendered a pressure yet in his career. Jovaughn Gwyn was a seventh-round pick for the Falcons last year and has yet to play an offensive snap in the NFL. Prior to getting drafted he was a solid pass blocker as a four-year starter for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

With an elite right guard and an ascending left guard, the Falcons have the best guard room in the NFC South headed into 2024.

Panthers

Panthers OG Robert Hunt – Photo by: USA Today

The Panthers were roundly mocked for the money they spent in free agency to improve their interior offensive line. Between new right guard Robert Hunt and new left guard Damien Lewis. Spending $153 million on the guard position is a questionable use of resources. Furthermore, it can be easily argued Carolina overpaid for both players. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Panthers now feature a very good-to-elite right guard with a solid starter working opposite of him. That is good enough to vault them into second in the NFC South in the offensive guard rankings.

Hunt is a mauler in the run game, using his massive frame to engulf opponents and create wide lanes for those running behind him. Since the Dolphins flipped him inside after his rookie season he has matched his talents in the run game with similarly high play as a pass protector.

Damien Lewis is a far less consistent player, but he should be considered a solid starter who will undoubtedly give the Panthers better play than they received last year. He’s a more consistent run blocker than he is a pass protector. But that should work well in a Dave Canales offense that wants to run more than most. Lewis will also have the added amplifying affect of potentially helping left tackle Ikem Ekwonu to get back on track knowing that he has a solid veteran playing next to him.

It remains to be seen who the first man off the bench would be should either Hunt or Lewis was to miss time. Chandler Zavala was a highly thought of fourth-round pick last year. Many thought he should have been selected earlier (me included) if not for concerns about the health of his back. He made seven dreadful starts last year as possibly the worst guard in football and may now not even be seen as OG3 for the team. Cade Mays wound up with more snaps than Zavala and played objectively better. The 2022 sixth round pick returns in 2024 as a decent depth option for the Panthers.

Bucs

Guard is one of the biggest question marks/holes on the Bucs roster as they head into 2024. It’s a testament to their roster (or maybe an indictment of the Saints roster?) that despite this they still do not rank in the NFC South at this position group. But even the rosiest of outlooks could not elevate this group into the top half of the division. Right guard Cody Mauch played every snap of a 19-game season during his rookie campaign while transitioning from left tackle at the FCS level to right guard at the NFL level. There were flashes of brilliant play for sure, but they were intermixed with lots of losses throughout the season.

Bucs RG Cody Mauch – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Mauch gave up 48 pressures (a 7% rate) which needs to improve in 2024. Mauch has put on needed mass that the Bucs hope will serve as functional weight/strength that should help him improve in that area. Like Bergeron, Mauch had some really good games as a pass blocker, but those were buttressed by a couple of absolutely dreadful efforts (week11 vs. San Francisco and week 18 against Carolina). Still the arrow is pointing up for Mauch and I foresee him taking a big jump in year two to solidify at least one of the interior spots for the Bucs.

The left side of the guard position is a much bigger question. Currently the Bucs are looking to fill that spot in similar fashion as last year when they recruited Matt Feiler on a cheap veteran deal to be a stop gap. Feiler faltered and the team turned to internal plug Aaron Stinnie. To his credit Stinnie provided competent play down the stretch for the Bucs.

The team elected to not retain either player, instead opting to bring in two external free agents of a similar ilk in Ben Bredeson and Sua Opeta. The new crew brings in a less impressive resume than Feiler did this time last year. Bredeson received the larger deal, so I have him penciled in right now as the starter. He played over 1,000 snaps last year for the Giants who had a bottom-three offensive line in the NFL. His lack of arm length and slightly below average play strength tend to outweigh his movement skills and he will likely perform at a below-average level this year.

Opeta may beat out Bredeson for the starting job. If he does it will be because the Bucs prefer his play strength to Bredeson’s agility and quickness. Still, no matter which of the two is manning the LG spot come the regular season, the results will most likely be the same. The Bucs drafted Elijah Klein in the sixth round. While he is an interesting long-term project, Klein should not be seen as a factor in 2024.

Saints

The Saints move into 2024 with a veteran that provides more name value than his play would have warrant on one side and a second-year, day-three draft pick with less than 20 career snaps on the other. That does not inspire much confidence.

Saints OG Cesar Ruiz – Photo by: USA Today

Cesar Ruiz is a former first round pick who has never lived up to his draft billing. Still Ruiz is a consistent option of average-to-slightly-below-average play now moving into his fifth season. He can be slow out of his stance with plodding feet and a high stance which lead to more losses than one would expect from someone with his pedigree. Ruiz is also not much of a plus in the run game where he struggles as a zone blocker in on the move.

Nick Saldiveri should be stepping in to the left guard spot for the Saints after the tackle convert out of Old Dominion spent last year red shirting. He is tall (6’6) and was much leaner than the guard spot would call for coming out of college. But his lack of length made the move inside a logical choice. If Saldiveri has improved his hand fighting during his rookie season working behind the scenes he could be a sleeper breakout candidate, but that is far from a foregone conclusion at this point.

Olisaemeka Udoh has tallied over 1,300 snaps stretching across five seasons with the Vikings. Most of those came in 2021 when he was asked to be a starter. He struggled as a pass protector that season and was pushed back to a depth role. He represents a solid floor as a backup. Shane Lemieux has been a mostly poor option over small stretches since entering the league in 2020.

With Ruiz showing he has a low ceiling and Saldiveri being a true wildcard, the Saints prospects at guard are the worst in the NFC South.