Howard Mudd spent 38 years as an offensive line coach in the NFL after a seven-year playing career that saw him named an All-Pro twice and a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Mudd is as well-versed in offensive line play as anyone and he believes the quality of line play in the NFL is lacking for two reasons: lack of practice time and poor coaching.
In a wide-ranging chat with Tony Grossi of ESPN 850 in Cleveland, Mudd said the reduced practice time in the NFL and poor coaching is hurting line play the most.
“They can’t go on the field and do anything. You can’t even talk to them,” Mudd said of the rules of the new CBA. “So these offensive linemen are wandering around, and it’s not an instinctive position. This is truly a skilled position. Skill is something that you learn to do. It isn’t something instinctive like the other guys that catch passes and stuff like that.
“So the offensive lineman, he’s not perfecting his skills in the offseason. So he shows up June 1 and he’s been working out in the weight room, but he’s not perfecting those body movements that you need to do to pass protect.”
However, Mudd isn’t critical of the talent entering the league from college like others have been. For instance, Seahawks offensive line coach Tom Cable has blamed the proliferation of spread offenses in college for not being able to prepare collegiate offensive linemen for the pro game.
“I’m not wanting to offend anybody, but college football, offensively, has gotten to be really, really bad fundamentally,” Cable said last May on 710 ESPN in Seattle. “Unfortunately, I think we’re doing a huge disservice to offensive football players, other than a receiver, that come out of these spread systems. “The runners aren’t as good. They aren’t taught how to run. The blockers aren’t as good. The quarterbacks aren’t as good. They don’t know how to read coverage and throw progressions. They have no idea.”
Mudd puts the onus back on the coaches to do a better job.
“People in the NFL, they say these guys don’t know how to play, it takes us two years to coach them,” Mudd said. “We’ve been doing that for 40 years, coaching an offensive lineman who didn’t know how to play when they got here. Go coach them. My brow is furrowed because it pisses me off to say it’s their fault. It ain’t their fault. It’s your fault. Go coach them.”
Mudd coached for seven different teams during his NFL career from 1974-2012. He worked for the San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. He also played for the 49ers from 1964-69 and the Chicago Bears from 1969-70.