Ranking the best offensive tackles by pressure rate

• Josh Simmons paces the class: The Ohio State tackle comes in at No. 16 on PFF’s big board after allowing pressure on just 0.6% of pass-blocking snaps in an injury-shortened 2024 season.

• Grey Zabel has first-round talent: Despite being the only FCS product on this list, Zabel — PFF’s 28th-ranked prospect overall — is a promising NFL talent.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

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With the 2025 NFL Draft nearing, there is no shortage of ways to compare prospects. One of the crucial aspects for offensive linemen is how often they allow pressure.

With that in mind, we are highlighting the 10 offensive tackles on PFF’s big board who were the best at keeping their quarterbacks clean in 2024.

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1. Josh Simmons, Ohio State (0.6%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 16

Ohio State’s left tackle tore his ACL in October and missed the rest of the season, thus playing in only six games — some against lesser oppositions. However, he still logged 158 pass-blocking snaps, and his pressure rate is the best among 32 qualifying offensive tackles by a wide margin. Simmons allowed just one pressure on that workload — and it was only a hurry.

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2. Grey Zabel, North Dakota State (1.6%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 28

It has to be taken into consideration that Zabel, unlike the other players in the top 10, played at the FCS level and faced lesser opposition. However, it is still impressive that he earned a 93.1 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2024, which led the 32 qualifying offensive tackles with at least 100 pass-blocking snaps on PFF’s big board.

In his one game against FBS opposition — a Week 1 outing against Colorado — he did not give up a single pressure on 36 pass plays and earned a 90.5 PFF pass-blocking grade.

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3. Wyatt Milum, West Virginia (1.7%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 77

Like Josh Simmons, Milum did not give up a sack or a quarterback hit all season, achieving that feat on 356 pass-blocking snaps. He allowed just six quarterback hurries and earned a 92.5 PFF pass-blocking grade, leading all FBS offensive tackles on PFF’s big board.

While his 92.5 PFF pass-blocking grade is in the 92nd percentile of offensive tackles, his 89.6 PFF pass-blocking grade on true pass sets is even more impressive, placing him in the 96th percentile.

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4. Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas (1.9%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 19

Even though Banks played the fourth-most snaps among the 32 offensive tackles on PFF’s big board, he gave up just the 21st-most pressures. Having allowed 10 pressures — including one sack and two quarterback hits — on 538 pass plays, the Texas left tackle surrendered pressure on 1.9% of pass plays.

Banks’ 89.9 PFF pass-blocking grade ranked third, behind Zabel and Milum, and he allowed just two pressures in the six games between Week 4 and Week 11, a stretch in which he earned a 93.7 PFF pass-blocking grade.

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5. Josh Conerly Jr., Oregon (1.9%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 33

Conerly ranks fifth in pressure rate on this list, but that is a bit deceiving; his 83.6 PFF pass-blocking grade ranks only eighth among the top 10. That’s because he had more plays (12) than anyone else in the top 10 where he was beaten but the defender did not register a pressure due to the quarterback getting rid of the ball.

His 87.3 PFF pass-blocking grade on five- and seven-step concepts comes in at the 85th percentile for offensive tackles.

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6. John Williams, Cincinnati (1.9%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 178

Williams put together a clean season, letting up only nine pressures on 461 pass plays while playing left tackle at Cincinnati. He had just one game with multiple pressures and allowed only one sack and one quarterback hit all season. He surrendered only three pressures over the Bearcats’ first seven games.

Even though he allowed pressure in each of the last four games of the season, he still earned an 87.1 PFF pass-blocking grade in that stretch across a whopping 156 pass plays.

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7. Dalton Cooper, Oklahoma State (2.1%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 300

Cooper played in only nine games due to injury but still let up just six pressures on 285 pass-blocking snaps in 2024. He did not allow a sack all season and gave up just one quarterback hit. He also finished the season strongly, keeping his quarterback clean in pass protection in his last three games for Oklahoma State.

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8. Armand Membou, Missouri (2.2%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 24

The first right tackle on this list, Membou is also the third and final player in the top 10 who did not allow a quarterback knockdown (hit or sack) in 2024, despite pass blocking for 411 pass plays.

The Missouri product surrendered only nine pressures all season, with five games in which he allowed zero, leading to an 85.5 PFF pass-blocking grade.

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9. Esa Pole, Washington State (2.2%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 287

Washington State’s left tackle finished the 2024 season well despite early struggles. Pole allowed seven pressures — including two quarterback hits — in his first four games but surrendered only four in his last nine games with just one quarterback hit.

He did not allow a sack all season, leading to an 85.8 PFF pass-blocking grade, which ranks fifth among the 10 players listed here.

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10. Logan Brown, Kansas (2.4%)

PFF Big Board Rank: 228

Rounding out the top 10 is Kansas’ right tackle, Logan Brown, who surrendered only seven pressures on 293 pass plays in 2024. He did not allow a sack all season, and only one of those pressures was a quarterback hit.

There was no game in which Brown allowed more than one pressure, as he earned a 70.0-plus PFF pass-blocking grade in nine of his 11 games in 2024 with the Jayhawks.