There’s been a lot of talk about Pittsburgh Steelers tackle Kelvin Beachum as of late as it relates to him possibly having his contract extended prior to the start of the 2015 season. For those set of fans that are against Beachum receiving an extension, the common narrative attached to that seems to be that he’s just not a good run blocker and just an average pass protector.
While Beachum certainty won’t be confused as being the best road-grading left tackle in the league, he certainly is above average. Many of you will refuse to look at the tape that proves this, but maybe you’ll look at a few stats.
For starters, you might be surprised to learn that the Steelers ranked first in the league last season in yards per carry on runs scored as going to the left side. Additionally, they ranked fifth in the league in 2014 when it came to stuff percentage. A stuff, in this instance, is a run that goes for zero or negative yardage. You can see all of these stats in the top table and they can be sorted as well.
| TEAM | PLYS | YPC | 1st | 1st% | STF | STF% | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT | 135 | 5.39 | 37 | 27.4% | 21 | 15.6% | 5 |
| GNB | 176 | 5.19 | 47 | 26.7% | 33 | 18.8% | 4 |
| STL | 123 | 5.18 | 35 | 28.5% | 28 | 22.8% | 5 |
| SEA | 159 | 5.17 | 43 | 27.0% | 31 | 19.5% | 7 |
| DAL | 212 | 5.07 | 42 | 19.8% | 39 | 18.4% | 2 |
| SFO | 168 | 5.07 | 41 | 24.4% | 34 | 20.2% | 5 |
| JAX | 126 | 5.06 | 28 | 22.2% | 19 | 15.1% | 4 |
| DEN | 135 | 4.83 | 25 | 18.5% | 31 | 23.0% | 2 |
| NOR | 188 | 4.81 | 53 | 28.2% | 28 | 14.9% | 8 |
| NWE | 158 | 4.61 | 41 | 25.9% | 30 | 19.0% | 6 |
| MIA | 147 | 4.61 | 40 | 27.2% | 29 | 19.7% | 2 |
| BUF | 129 | 4.60 | 23 | 17.8% | 20 | 15.5% | 1 |
| CAR | 162 | 4.57 | 38 | 23.5% | 32 | 19.8% | 3 |
| MIN | 121 | 4.43 | 31 | 25.6% | 15 | 12.4% | 2 |
| NYG | 154 | 4.34 | 37 | 24.0% | 32 | 20.8% | 5 |
| IND | 137 | 4.28 | 28 | 20.4% | 25 | 18.2% | 3 |
| HOU | 209 | 4.25 | 47 | 22.5% | 43 | 20.6% | 6 |
| CHI | 150 | 4.25 | 42 | 28.0% | 30 | 20.0% | 2 |
| NYJ | 144 | 4.25 | 28 | 19.4% | 27 | 18.8% | 3 |
| SDG | 93 | 4.19 | 25 | 26.9% | 22 | 23.7% | 2 |
| BAL | 169 | 4.17 | 39 | 23.1% | 36 | 21.3% | 5 |
| KAN | 115 | 4.17 | 29 | 25.2% | 22 | 19.1% | 6 |
| PHI | 161 | 4.16 | 35 | 21.7% | 32 | 19.9% | 4 |
| TEN | 125 | 4.13 | 25 | 20.0% | 24 | 19.2% | 2 |
| CLE | 190 | 4.08 | 29 | 15.3% | 39 | 20.5% | 4 |
| OAK | 109 | 4.07 | 24 | 22.0% | 23 | 21.1% | 2 |
| CIN | 197 | 3.89 | 39 | 19.8% | 38 | 19.3% | 7 |
| DET | 148 | 3.85 | 32 | 21.6% | 33 | 22.3% | 6 |
| WAS | 142 | 3.81 | 30 | 21.1% | 28 | 19.7% | 5 |
| TAM | 144 | 3.76 | 31 | 21.5% | 31 | 21.5% | 3 |
| ATL | 165 | 3.68 | 35 | 21.2% | 32 | 19.4% | 9 |
| ARI | 101 | 3.08 | 16 | 15.8% | 25 | 24.8% | 2 |
The second table is a run direction breakdown of the overall stats included in the first table. You will notice when you sort them that the Steelers led the league last year in yards per carry on runs that were scored as going off left tackle. Additionally, only 7.3% of those 41 runs were stuffed and that’s an incredibly low percentage.
While I did not include the numbers in any of the tables, you might also like to know that those left tackle runs had a 65.9% success rate when it comes to yards needed on a specific down and distance.
If anything, Beachum, is an underrated run blocker.
We will look at the right side runs in a future post and I think some of those stats might surprise you as well.
| TEAM | LE PLYS | LE YPC | LE 1st% | LE STF % | LE TD | LT PLYS | LT YPC | LT 1st% | LT STF % | LT TD | LG PLYS | LG YPC | LG 1st% | LG STF % | LG TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARI | 43 | 3.37 | 18.6% | 20.9% | 2 | 37 | 2.59 | 10.8% | 35.1% | 0 | 21 | 3.33 | 19.0% | 14.3% | 0 |
| ATL | 53 | 3.45 | 26.4% | 30.2% | 5 | 48 | 3.92 | 18.8% | 18.8% | 2 | 64 | 3.70 | 18.8% | 10.9% | 2 |
| BAL | 25 | 5.60 | 40.0% | 28.0% | 2 | 69 | 4.35 | 20.3% | 23.2% | 2 | 75 | 3.53 | 20.0% | 17.3% | 1 |
| BUF | 30 | 4.20 | 13.3% | 26.7% | 1 | 45 | 5.38 | 20.0% | 15.6% | 0 | 54 | 4.17 | 18.5% | 9.3% | 0 |
| CAR | 54 | 6.54 | 37.0% | 18.5% | 1 | 39 | 3.92 | 17.9% | 25.6% | 0 | 69 | 3.41 | 15.9% | 17.4% | 2 |
| CHI | 49 | 4.04 | 28.6% | 22.4% | 0 | 36 | 3.17 | 19.4% | 22.2% | 0 | 65 | 5.02 | 32.3% | 16.9% | 2 |
| CIN | 55 | 4.33 | 23.6% | 21.8% | 2 | 59 | 3.10 | 16.9% | 28.8% | 0 | 83 | 4.17 | 19.3% | 10.8% | 5 |
| CLE | 50 | 5.16 | 10.0% | 20.0% | 0 | 56 | 3.91 | 19.6% | 16.1% | 3 | 84 | 3.56 | 15.5% | 23.8% | 1 |
| DAL | 73 | 4.96 | 24.7% | 23.3% | 0 | 98 | 5.54 | 19.4% | 16.3% | 2 | 41 | 4.15 | 12.2% | 14.6% | 0 |
| DEN | 41 | 4.44 | 22.0% | 29.3% | 1 | 42 | 4.52 | 16.7% | 28.6% | 0 | 52 | 5.38 | 17.3% | 13.5% | 1 |
| DET | 53 | 4.08 | 24.5% | 24.5% | 3 | 74 | 3.31 | 16.2% | 23.0% | 1 | 21 | 5.19 | 33.3% | 14.3% | 2 |
| GNB | 85 | 5.82 | 31.8% | 21.2% | 3 | 61 | 4.62 | 24.6% | 21.3% | 0 | 30 | 4.53 | 16.7% | 6.7% | 1 |
| HOU | 48 | 3.81 | 29.2% | 27.1% | 3 | 83 | 3.90 | 18.1% | 21.7% | 2 | 78 | 4.88 | 23.1% | 15.4% | 1 |
| IND | 58 | 4.81 | 24.1% | 20.7% | 0 | 41 | 4.07 | 14.6% | 14.6% | 1 | 38 | 3.68 | 21.1% | 18.4% | 2 |
| JAX | 85 | 5.41 | 27.1% | 15.3% | 3 | 24 | 3.83 | 16.7% | 16.7% | 1 | 17 | 5.00 | 5.9% | 11.8% | 0 |
| KAN | 54 | 5.26 | 27.8% | 18.5% | 3 | 37 | 3.30 | 16.2% | 21.6% | 1 | 24 | 3.04 | 33.3% | 16.7% | 2 |
| MIA | 60 | 4.40 | 31.7% | 30.0% | 2 | 45 | 4.20 | 15.6% | 15.6% | 0 | 42 | 5.36 | 33.3% | 9.5% | 0 |
| MIN | 40 | 6.10 | 40.0% | 15.0% | 1 | 34 | 3.76 | 23.5% | 14.7% | 1 | 47 | 3.49 | 14.9% | 8.5% | 0 |
| NOR | 61 | 6.26 | 32.8% | 19.7% | 6 | 55 | 4.13 | 25.5% | 10.9% | 1 | 72 | 4.11 | 26.4% | 13.9% | 1 |
| NWE | 49 | 5.65 | 28.6% | 20.4% | 1 | 59 | 4.31 | 25.4% | 18.6% | 2 | 50 | 3.96 | 24.0% | 18.0% | 3 |
| NYG | 48 | 3.75 | 20.8% | 27.1% | 0 | 52 | 4.90 | 26.9% | 21.2% | 3 | 54 | 4.33 | 24.1% | 14.8% | 2 |
| NYJ | 63 | 4.06 | 28.6% | 22.2% | 2 | 36 | 3.17 | 13.9% | 25.0% | 0 | 45 | 5.38 | 11.1% | 8.9% | 1 |
| OAK | 23 | 4.35 | 34.8% | 26.1% | 2 | 47 | 4.36 | 19.1% | 21.3% | 0 | 39 | 3.56 | 17.9% | 17.9% | 0 |
| PHI | 94 | 4.14 | 19.1% | 23.4% | 3 | 40 | 4.72 | 30.0% | 20.0% | 0 | 27 | 3.41 | 18.5% | 7.4% | 1 |
| PIT | 31 | 4.84 | 25.8% | 22.6% | 2 | 41 | 6.90 | 31.7% | 7.3% | 2 | 63 | 4.68 | 25.4% | 17.5% | 1 |
| SDG | 36 | 4.97 | 27.8% | 25.0% | 0 | 37 | 3.73 | 27.0% | 29.7% | 1 | 20 | 3.65 | 25.0% | 10.0% | 1 |
| SEA | 64 | 7.17 | 39.1% | 17.2% | 5 | 65 | 3.95 | 18.5% | 26.2% | 2 | 30 | 3.53 | 20.0% | 10.0% | 0 |
| SFO | 50 | 5.24 | 28.0% | 24.0% | 3 | 82 | 5.43 | 25.6% | 18.3% | 1 | 36 | 4.03 | 16.7% | 19.4% | 1 |
| STL | 44 | 6.14 | 43.2% | 20.5% | 3 | 46 | 3.85 | 19.6% | 26.1% | 0 | 33 | 5.76 | 21.2% | 21.2% | 2 |
| TAM | 33 | 3.58 | 30.3% | 33.3% | 2 | 45 | 4.42 | 20.0% | 20.0% | 1 | 66 | 3.41 | 18.2% | 16.7% | 0 |
| TEN | 44 | 4.14 | 15.9% | 20.5% | 0 | 40 | 4.93 | 25.0% | 15.0% | 0 | 41 | 3.34 | 19.5% | 22.0% | 2 |
| WAS | 82 | 3.70 | 19.5% | 22.0% | 4 | 37 | 4.35 | 21.6% | 18.9% | 0 | 23 | 3.35 | 26.1% | 13.0% | 1 |
