"a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".
This quotation should ever be in the mind of an NFL GM. The first step to building an NFL team is to get the biggest, baddest, most physical smart guys that you can find. Why ? Let's examine this first step.
If your O/D-lines dominate opposing O/D-lines , the other offensive /defensive players on your team are better protected, better blocked for, better able to stop the run, better able to defend against the pass as the line pressures their QB.
Great O/D-lines can make ordinary players Stars. However, ordinary O/D-lines can take a Star and place him on waivers.
Many great lines have been remembered for decades; The Fearsome Foursome of the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain, Dallas's Doomsday Defence, Miami's No Name Defence, Winning Super Bowl Teams, Chicago's Monsters of the Midway, The "85" Bears, Denver's Orange Crush, and Lombardi's Packers. Teams that dominated in the trenches and went on to win championships.
The "he'll be good enough" philosophy just isn't good enough. Some say owners like Jerry Jones & Daniel Snyder try to buy good teams. They fail because they don't 1) hire good Head Coaches , then 2) they don't listen to them. GB has been blessed with the last two Head Coaches. Mike McCarthy must dream about what the Packers could do with great linemen.
Rodger's would get the protection and time to slice and dice opposing defences. Giant holes would open as E.Lacy breaks 100 yds. per game, routinely. The Defence would terrorize opposing QB's and shut down every run attack. Special Teams would rarely need to punt, and 4th qtr. comebacks would be unnecessary. Positive turnovers would naturally go up as we tear footballs from the arms of RB's, and passes are thrown before they should be, as GB's sack total rises.
I've watched every season since 1963, yet the fundamental building blocks of the best teams have their roots grounded in the biggest, smartest, meanest beast that can be hired. Think and you will remember an ordinary player/team that had great games/seasons due to the work of the men in the trenches.