The Top Personalities That Bring Down an Offensive Line Room

The offensive line room is notorious for possessing some of the most unique personalities on any given team. The personalities that round out an o-line meeting room range from potential Rhodes Scholars to aspiring Hells Angels. It’s a legitimate reflection of the society we live in. There’s a seat for the white country kid from Iowa, the Polynesian that speaks little English, the black inner-city kid from Chicago, and everything in between. It’s the one place where what you are means little in comparison to what you can do.

Just as with any community, there are people that move the needle on making things better for everyone, while there are others that move the needle closer to serving their selfish interests. The latter is a dangerous phenomenon inside of an offensive line room, because the whole is only as strong as the collective mindset. When there are individuals that don’t add value to the whole, they can’t help but damage the collective well being. This is the best and worst aspect of offensive line play. It’s easy to be good alone, but it’s another beast to be great together. This requires synergy, and synergy requires buy in.

The Top Personalities That Bring Down an Offensive Line Room

Mr./Miss. Know it All
This person pretends to know everything because they are highly insecure. Their insecurity runs so deep that they’ve created a caricature of themselves to merely coexist with others. Generally, the “know it all” isn’t that good of a player, but they haven’t received the memo. Greatness is constantly on the hunt for knowledge. The “know it all” refuses to acknowledge when they are wrong, is very condescending to fellow teammates (especially younger players), and always has an excuse. This is the person to avoid like the plague, because they place traps to recruit “cheerleaders” to assist in validating the caricature they’ve created. They love underlings to make THEM feel better, but care nothing about the wellness of the whole.

Mr./Miss. Negative
Deep inside this person likes playing football, but isn’t a football player. They seem to find the downside to every situation. It’s cloudy outside before practice, “Oh gawd, is coach going to make us practice in the rain? I think I saw lightning this morning” (in a whiny Kim Kardashian voice). Ultimately, this person is always looking to create distractions to keep others from exposing them for the frauds they truly are. They’re like magicians. What you want to see isn’t what they want you to see. When you’re excited about your gains in the weight room, they remind you of the pec you strained in the 8th grade. This player is the person that turns everyday into a chore, when it should be a blessing.

Mr./Miss. Training Room
You can’t avoid being injured in this game, period. With this said, when a player knows how to work the recovery machines in the training room better than the trainers, there’s a problem. Strangely, this guy is always dealing with an ailment when it’s conditioning, practice, and training. When it’s game week, he seems to lose his limp. I’m a believer in the power of the human body’s ability to heal, but not “convenient healing”. Convenient healing is when you suddenly feel better because you want to partake in a particular activity. You wake up feeling sick on a school day, you don’t want to go. You wake up feeling sick on a school day, you don’t want to go, but you remember it’s movie day, you suddenly feel better! The training room player conjures up resentment amongst his peers. This distracts the room from keeping the main thing the main thing.

Mr./Miss. Gossip
This is simple. The gossip that will discuss other people’s private business will discuss yours. This person is always in the know. They spend the bulk of their time lingering around coaches, media, and management, because they are looking for a juicy tidbit of information to spread. Any player that has more friends in the media than he does in the locker room is a snake. This is a big problem in the NFL. So many players are looking to buddy up with media members that they “leak” confidential locker room happenings. They do this with the hopes of gaining some sort of post career contact. The fact is this, when they are no longer in the locker room and have access, their media buddy has moved on the his newest snitch. Players know who this person is. Their presence damages the inherit system of trust built in to all great offensive line rooms.

Mr./Miss. Allergic to Weight Room
There are two factions to this demographic. First, the player that is a 1%’er. This player swims in the very deep end of the genetic gene pool. They seem to breathe and get stronger. They’re the ones that Twinkies somehow help to get more defined abs. It’s very rare air to be in this group. It’s almost natural for athletes in this group to have some aversion to the weight room, because it’s boring. Second, the player that is secretly in love with his “dad bod” and wants to maintain is status as “the guy that can’t do pull-ups”. I’m just kidding, sorta. The second faction is an underachiever, and they are dangerous to an offensive line room. They’ve convinced themselves that “enough is enough”. They are not going to give you anymore than what’s asked of them. The problem with this personality is the fact that a great offensive line room builds their identity in the weight room. A player has a legit opportunity to build himself into what he wants to be. The “allergic to weight room” guy often discourages members of the group from working hard. They do this out of fear. As long as the group is mediocre, they can hide. When the group excels, they get exposed. When you hear a player or group of players say, “Oh, why are you doing extra?”, take note, you just met cowards. Beware, this personality often runs in packs. They don’t like to be alone. You have to be strong to fight against their barbs when you’re pushing yourself to get better. Unfortunately, this mentality is often the root of not just the collapse of an offensive line room, but the demise of an entire team.