Offensive linemen who passed, ran, or received

Offensive linemen¹An offense must have at least seven players on the line of scrimmage at the snap. The players on both ends are eligible receivers; the inner five (or more, in rare cases) are the offensive linemen. almost never get the chance to touch the ball after the snap. Their job is to block for the smaller, faster players behind them, and unlike the players lined up on their outside, they are prohibited from catching a forward pass directly from the quarterback.²Offensive lineman are allowed to catch a pass if it has first been touched by any member of the defense, or, since 1978, any eligible teammate.

When a player north of 300 pounds does get the ball, it is worthy of the highlight reel, either for celebration or humor. In certain short-yardage or trick-play situations, NFL teams do design plays for their players who typically play offensive line to receive the ball, but they do it by moving those players to eligible positions as an extra tight end or an oversized fullback.³NCAA teams have occasionally designed plays for their offensive linemen, whether it be the now-outlawed Fumblerooski or the backward pass to the left tackle. These are big-man plays, but they are not offensive-lineman plays in the true definition of the position.

But there have been a select few players who have garnered skill-position-player statistics on plays where they lined up as legitimate offensive linemen. It takes a certain type of play for this to happen…⁴Sound on for this one.

The lists below detail each of the times since 1950 offensive linemen have participated as passers, rushers, or receivers.

Not included on the lists below are plays that were negated by penalty (e.g., Robert Hunt’s would-be touchdown, negated by illegal touching), plays where players who typically lined up at offensive line were lined up at eligible positions (e.g., Jumbo Elliott’s touchdown in the Jets’ Monday Night Miracle comeback), fumble recoveries, or kick returns.⁵Also not included are plays where the center failed to get the ball to the quarterback but the scorer improperly assigned the statistically mandated 0-yard quarterback run to the center (e.g., this play). This misscoring happens about once every three years.

Plays on which offensive linemen passed the ball (1950-present)⁶As a whole, NFL offensive lineman have a career passer rating of 39.6, better than 1998 #2 overall pick Ryan Leaf achieved in his rookie season.

On the last play of a 27-24 loss, Colts center Jeff Saturday directly caught a forward pass from Peyton Manning then, while still behind the line of scrimmage, pitched the ball forward as he was being tackled. This, the second forward pass on the play, should have been illegal; however, a combination of the end of the game and two other Colts penalties led to Saturday’s pass becoming part of the official record.

Referee Terry McAulay announced that flags for offensive holding and illegal touching⁷Saturday, an ineligible receiver, could not legally catch a pass unless an eligible receiver touched it first. were declined, but that the illegal second forward pass penalty was accepted. The distracted Indianapolis scorekeeper missed the last part of McAulay’s announcement, marked that all three fouls were declined, and no subsequent correction was made, leaving the play completely unnegated in the NFL’s statistics. According to statistical guidelines, when two forward passes are made behind the line and the illegal one is not nullified, only the second pass is counted, so Saturday got credit for his incomplete pass but not his -2-yard reception.⁸Accepting the holding penalty would have negated both Saturday’s catch and pass, but what’s the fun in that?

Buccaneers right tackle Charley Hannah’s pass also included a penalty. Hannah was thrown a backwards pass from Doug Williams, who was trying to avoid a sack during the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. Though Hannah’s catch was legal, Hannah thought there would be a penalty for illegal touching of a FORWARD pass, so he spiked the ball into the ground. Vikings defensive end Randy Holloway then picked the ball up and ran to the end zone for a would-be touchdown. After a long discussion amongst the officials, Hannah was charged with an incomplete pass and a 14-yard penalty for intentional grounding.

Plays on which offensive linemen ran the ball (1950-present)⁹As a whole, NFL offensive lineman have a career yards per carry of 8.55, far exceeding that of any running back in the Hall of Fame.

On a running play involving laterals, only the player who first crosses the line of scrimmage is credited with a carry; everyone else involved after that gets statistically credited with his share of the rushing yardage but gets no rushing attempt.

Plays on which offensive linemen caught the ball (1950-present)¹⁰NFL offensive lineman have an official catch rate well above any other position’s.

On a passing play involving laterals, only the original receiver is credited with a catch; everyone else involved after that gets statistically credited with his share of the receiving yardage but gets no reception.

Footnotes

• 1
  An offense must have at least seven players on the line of scrimmage at the snap. The players on both ends are eligible receivers; the inner five (or more, in rare cases) are the offensive linemen.
• 2
  Offensive lineman are allowed to catch a pass if it has first been touched by any member of the defense, or, since 1978, any eligible teammate.
• 3
  NCAA teams have occasionally designed plays for their offensive linemen, whether it be the now-outlawed Fumblerooski or the backward pass to the left tackle.
• 4
  Sound on for this one.
• 5
  Also not included are plays where the center failed to get the ball to the quarterback but the scorer improperly assigned the statistically mandated 0-yard quarterback run to the center (e.g., this play). This misscoring happens about once every three years.
• 6
  As a whole, NFL offensive lineman have a career passer rating of 39.6, better than 1998 #2 overall pick Ryan Leaf achieved in his rookie season.
• 7
  Saturday, an ineligible receiver, could not legally catch a pass unless an eligible receiver touched it first.
• 8
  Accepting the holding penalty would have negated both Saturday’s catch and pass, but what’s the fun in that?
• 9
  As a whole, NFL offensive lineman have a career yards per carry of 8.55, far exceeding that of any running back in the Hall of Fame.
• 10
  NFL offensive lineman have an official catch rate well above any other position’s.