Top 20 NFL offensive tackles of all time: Tony Boselli ranks No. 18

We’re in the dead season of June, which means a lot of NFL content consists of listicals, opinion pieces, future projections or historical articles. One such article that combines the listical, opinion and historical approaches came to us via NFL.com today. Gil Brandt, the website’s senior analyst and a longtime NFL executive, released who he believes to be the 20 greatest offensive tackles of all-time.

Coming in at No. 18 on Brandt’s list was former Jacksonville Jaguars great — Tony Boselli.

Boselli ranked just ahead of the Raiders’ Art Shell and the Browns’ Lou “The Toe” Groza (yes, he was both a kicker and offensive tackle).

Brandt didn’t go into immense detail about Boselli, or any of the other players mentioned, but he listed his five Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro honors as accolades. He also made note of Boselli being the first ever draft pick for Jacksonville.

If you’re a Jaguars fan, you already know the narrative with Boselli. An absolutely dominate player when healthy, his career lasted just seven seasons in Jacksonville due to injuries. I think many Jaguars fans believe he would be a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection if he had played for longer, and would certainly be higher than 18th on lists like this one.

All in all, Boselli appeared in 91 games, starting 90 of them, for the Jags. His five Pro Bowl nods came in consecutive seasons from 1996 through 2000. His three All-Pro selections came consecutively as well (1997-1999).

Despite a shortened career, Boselli definitely deserves to be in consideration for top-20 tackles of all-time. So, this has me thinking, was his ranking on this particular list too high, too low or just right?

Personally, I think there are a few guys I would rank Boselli ahead of on this list, but A. I’m biased, and B. I wasn’t alive to see several of these players play, so my opinion doesn’t mean much.

Yours does, though! Let us know in the poll below where you think Boselli stands, and comment with your reply below.