Did Michael Lewis Impact the NFL, too?

When I read Moneyball by Michael Lewis, it changed the way I thought about baseball. Not only was it incredibly well-written and interesting, but it also brought to my attention (and many others) the side of sabermetrics. It changed the way the media, the fans, and even the people in the actual game thought about the sport. It made more people conscious of on-base percentage and the value of OPS, and how to take advantage of deficiencies in the free agent and draft market. Anyway, one of Michael Lewis’ recent books was about football and titled, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. As you could imagine, it discussed the importance of protecting the quarterback’s blind side with an excellent left tackle. Prior to reading the book, I never really thought about the importance of the left tackle. Perhaps the same can be said for many NFL executives. Via Deadspin, I came to find out that Darren Rovell at CNBC noticed what I had noticed on Saturday — that seven of the 31 first-round picks on Saturday were offensive tackles. Rovell thinks it could have to do with Lewis’ latest book:

To the best of my knowledge, here’s a chart of how many left tackles were taken in previous first rounds of drafts:

2002: 2*
2003: 2
2004: 3
2005: 1
2006: 1
2007: 3

Seven were taken in 2008. The book was published in October 2006, and reprinted in September 2007. Maybe it took some time for the idea to sink in. Now it could just be that it was an amazing year for offensive line talent this year, but the more likely case is that Lewis brought the left tackle position to prominence and caused personnel executives to change the way they thought. That would be incredible, if it’s the case, and I think it might just be.