Now on the weakside, there usually is no TE, therefore the D-linemen (usually the best rusher) can line up wide and force the LT to pass protect in space. That means you’d better have an athlete with the feet to play Left Tackle or guys like Dwight Freeny will blow by him. So regardless of whether the QB is right or left handed, your better pass protecters are on the left, regardless of it being the blindside or not. Having a TE next to you makes a world of difference in pass blocking.

Perhaps we could test this by looking at substitution patterns. If Lewis is correct, the left tackle is the most important. Assuming a team is playing its best two tackles, when the left tackle is hurt or taken out the team should move its right tackle — the team’s second best tackle –over to take that important spot. I sense, though, that teams have back-up left tackles who practice that position. And these back-ups are preferred to the existing right tackle.

If this is the substitution pattern, then this tells us that a player has to practice left tackle to play left tackle. Experience at right tackle is not a perfect substitute.

It’s not always that the best linemen specialize to become left tackles as that teams place their best linemen in the position. For much of his career, Steve Young was protected by right tackle Harris Barton. Lewis made a point about how much the 9ers paid Steve Lewis, but much of the time Barton was paid as much 0r more than Wallace. If I recall correctly, the same article that Lewis said in part inspired him to research the left tackle position mentioned Barton, noting that he was in the similar position of guarding the “blind side” when Young was throwing.

Lewis mentions Tony Boselli in his list of freakish left tackles, but for almost all of his career, he wasn’t a ‘blind side’ defender for lefty Mark Brunell. Since he was the initial draft choice of the Jaguars to anchor their inagural line, it’s curious that they put him at left tackle when their inagural QB threw with his left hand. Perhaps it’s not easy to make the switch for everyone or, and I haven’t ruled this out, perhaps the people who make decisions in professional sports aren’t always the sharpest tacks in the pack.

Players *can* move, though some are more adept at new positions than others. Winston Justice played on the right side at USC when Leinart lined up under center, but is projected to move to the left end of the line as a pro. He’s likely getting his first start there this weekend if Tra Thomas is still out of action.

However, linemen aren’t always moved to correct the ‘blind side’ problem, even in the post-Lawrence Taylor era. Anthony Munoz anchored the left tackle position protecting right hander Ken Anderson, but didn’t move to the right side when lefty Boomer Esiason replaced him.

So the offense may be in a quandry about whether to shift their left tackle over to the right.
But the defensive coordinators trying to scheme against a lefty would have to make the same adjustments. It’s not obvious to me that this would be a clear advantage for either team — both would be playing with either substandard personnel on the new blind side or top-flight personnel playing out of position.

I’m not sure how you’d quantify the issue — maybe salaries? — but I’m sure there are some right tackles in the league better than the weaker left tackles who could play left tackle but don’t because of inertia or because their team already has an anchor left tackle.

That, in turn, raises a good question. How many NFL right tackles played left tackle in college?