Jim Harbaugh explains why the offensive line is the most important position group in football

Back before he was a head coach, Jim Harbaugh coached quarterbacks. He coached the Oakland Raiders quarterbacks for all of two seasons before taking the head coaching job at the University of San Diego in 2004, two full decades ago. This, of course, tracks, because Harbaugh played quarterback at Michigan and then for six different NFL teams across 15 seasons.

But even as a tried-and-true QB guy, the new Los Angeles Chargers head coach knows quarterback is not the most important position group on the field. 

"If I asked you the question of what position group depends on no other position group to be good but every other position group depends on them to be good, what position group is that? Offensive line," he said at NFL owners meetings this week. "They're not relying on any other position group. Every other position group relies on the offensive line to be good."

Not that the reigning national champion head coach needs my approval, but he's exactly right here. The offensive skill positions are self-evidently dependent upon the offensive line for their success, but every defensive position group is as well. The offensive line determines whether the defense spends 25 minutes on the field or 35. The offensive line sets the tone for the entire game, every game, at every level. 

"And then the D-line, they'll be the ones that argue back, We don't need the offensive line to be good. Do you? Do you like when the offense has a 12-play drive? Yeah, okay," Harbaugh said. "You're right."

Anyway, I don't know what sort of odds one could get on the Chargers taking Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt with the fifth pick in next month's draft, but they're probably not high enough.

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