By Cooper Girolamo
Everyone wants to protect their most prized possessions like jewelry, money, passports, etc. NFL teams want to do the same with their most prized possession—their quarterback.
If their quarterback goes down with an injury it is very hard to win games and compete at the highest level, so teams want to avoid that happening at all costs. The best way to do that is getting offensive lineman who will protect their QB from being sacked a lot. Quarterbacks not being pressured by the defense also gives them time to throw and perform at their best and help their team win. This makes the offensive line one of the most important positions on the field. Come April many teams will be doing their due diligence on the top offensive lineman so they can add them help safeguard their QB. There are three top offensive linemen in the 2025 NFL Draft—Will Campbell, Kelvin Banks Jr. and Armand Membou. Any one of who, if added to the right team, can make a major impact from day one.
Will Campbell, LSU Tigers
The betting favorite for the first offensive lineman to come off the board is Campbell and he would be a perfect fit for the team selecting at No. 10—the Chicago Bears.
Not many 6’5” 319-pound guys can move like @will_campbell66
📺: #NFLCombine on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/dY2Es4TxGn— NFL (@NFL) March 2, 2025
Campbell is a force to be reckoned with coming in at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds. He is a defensive line’s worst nightmare. The craziest thing about Campbell is not his height or weight, it’s that in his three years starting at LSU, in just over 2,500 snaps, he allowed a total of three sacks for his collegiate career. This includes not allowing a single sack during the entirety of the 2023 season. What makes him the perfect fit for the Bears is that they were sacked the most out of any team in 2024. A total of 68 times. Their quarterback, former No. 1 overall pick, Caleb Williams, would love to be protected this season and really show what a special talent he is with time in the pocket.
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They just added Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney via trades to beef up their interior offensive line making Campbell, a projected future All-Pro and could be the perfect guy to add on the outside to compliment Darnell Wright. Their new head coach Ben Johnson, saw what an amazing offensive line can do for an offense in his time as the offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions. Campbell would be the perfect start to revamping that dreadful offensive line.
Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas Longhorns
Widely regarded as the second-best offensive tackle in this draft class, the former Texas Longhorn is an absolute beast. Coming in at 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds, Banks is not someone opposing pass rushers want to be lined up against. He was a three-year starter at left tackle with the Longhorns and in that time, he played 42 games for a total of 2,774 snaps and only gave up four sacks and 25 QB hurries. Along with those great numbers he is very reliable. Unlike some other offensive tackles, he didn’t miss a game in his collegiate career showing he can be a stalwart for a franchise. All this makes him a perfect fit for the Miami Dolphins.
The Dolphins general manager, Chris Grier, and head coach, Mike McDaniel, came out a press conference this offseason stating that improving the offensive line was of the upmost importance and it is their main concern when it comes to upgrading the team.
Banks gives them a massive athletic specimen to protect their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, and be very effective in the running game as well. The Dolphins have some of the best and fastest weapons in the NFL in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, all they need is to let Tagovailoa have enough time to find them and get the ball out to them. Banks would give Tagovailoa all the time in the world to find the speedsters which would take this offense to new heights.
Armand Membou, Missouri Tigers
Membou is rising up draft boards after his monster combine performance and has some experts putting him as their top offensive lineman in this year’s draft. Because of his somewhat smaller size for the position, I see Membou as a No. 3 tackle but still a luxury option for any team to add to their roster. The 6-foot-3, 325-pound lineman from Missouri was a force to be reckoned with in his time with the Tigers. Known more for his superb run blocking skills, Membou was not someone opposing defenses wanted to face in the pass game either. In three years with the Tigers and more than 2,000 snaps played, he only allowed three sacks, which included not allowing a single one this past season.
Armand Membou (#79) rrreeeaaccching that edge pic.twitter.com/TobL9Pd90h
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) February 18, 2025
Membou will drastically improve the run game in the trenches along with being a great protector of the quarterback. This makes him the perfect fit for the Houston Texans. The Texans took the fourth most sacks in the NFL last year and they trust traded away their All-Pro tackle, Laremy Tunsil. If they believe that CJ Stroud is the guy to lead them to the promise land, the first step they need to take in helping him is to protect him with a beefed-up offensive line. Picking Membou in the first round is a great first step in doing that. He can play tackle and guard so they can put him anywhere on the offensive line making him a Swiss army knife of sorts. With the Texans running a more balanced offense with a very good mix of pass and run, Membou can be an effective in both facets. This all makes him a very acoveted asset for the Texans in April.
The keys to winning for many of the league’s most successful teams are to build from the trenches—from the inside out. So, adding offensive line help early in the draft is a pivotal way of doing that. Adding any of these players listed above or any offensive lineman in the draft is a step in the right direction for any team in the NFL .
