Many people have the trouble distinguishing between journalism and tabloids; it’s not just jets fans.
Really? It’s definitely a thing, for example Garrett Bolles famously came to training camp out of shape his first few seasons, I mean you can find plenty of other cases. OL is not quite as exhausting as DL for a few reasons. For one, OL are not expected to pursue a ball carrier on any given play. Two, the structure of certain plays don’t require particular OL to engage in any strenuous action. They just don’t have to cover nearly as much ground on any given play. They don’t have to hand fight a 300 lb man, disengage, and take the force of a 220 lb man running straight at them. But to be honest, it’s not that different. A huge part of DL rotation is based on situational skill set. You can’t have a pass rush liability in on passing downs, and vice versa. The DL front is dictated by the coverage you run, not the other way around. Every down DL traditionally play a high snap percentage. It’s only certain defenses that heavily rotate, and that’s really to take advantage of tired OL with fresh DL more than to avoid tired DL. Maybe you haven’t heard about it because the Jets hadn’t drafted a high profile OL early prior to Becton for… 14 years?
You don’t have to patronize me. I understand why defensive lineman get tired and rotate out more often than offensive lineman. But no, I’ve never heard of an offensive lineman having the conditioning issues similar to what Quinnen Williams had which is the comparison you were trying to make. I haven’t heard about it too much because usually an offensive lineman won’t last very long in this league if it’s anything more than a flash in the pan issue in camp that’s rectified quickly. Offensive lineman simply can’t be gassed quickly and that’s just how it is or they’re not going to be in the league very long.
I didn’t mean to patronize you, in your post you said “for whatever reason” and I took that at face value.
it’s just the nature of the position. Defensive linemen have to attack constantly. Offensive linemen can ride them out of the way or stand in their way. It’s much more taxing physically to be on the attack If they were covered in super glue and got stuck together, the offensive lineman could stand there, smile and take a breather. The d-lineman would be frantically trying to break free from the glue until he was physically exhausted. They aren’t covered in glue but that’s the goal of every offensive linemen
