Taylor Moton turned in another strong season for the Carolina Panthers, but ESPN’s latest ranking of the NFL’s top offensive tackles left him completely out in the cold.
The network released its top 10 list based on votes from scouts, executives and coaches around the league, and Moton didn’t make the cut. He also failed to land in either of the two follow-up categories - honorable mention or “also receiving votes” - which makes this a pretty glaring omission. It’s the second year in a row he’s gone unmentioned, though he did show up on the “also receiving votes” list in 2024.
ESPN’s top 10 ran from Penei Sewell at No. 1 all the way down to Garrett Bolles at No. 10. The full list included Trent Williams, Tristan Wirfs, Jordan Mailata, Laremy Tunsil, Darnell Wright, Lane Johnson, Andrew Thomas and Joe Alt.
The honorable mention group featured Rashawn Slater, Charles Cross, Christian Darrisaw, Dion Dawkins and Paris Johnson Jr. The other players who picked up votes were Spencer Brown, Armand Membou, Brian O'Neill, Bernhard Raimann, Ronnie Stanley, Kolton Miller and Jake Matthews.
That puts Moton behind 22 other tackles on this ESPN list, and that’s tough to square with what he put on tape in 2025. The 31-year-old allowed just three sacks and 22 pressures across 558 pass-blocking snaps, while posting Pro Football Focus grades of 80.5 overall, 76.5 in pass-blocking and 81.9 in run-blocking.
Those marks ranked 15th, 21st and 12th among tackles, respectively.
At the very least, Moton had a case to be included among the players receiving votes, and he certainly looked more deserving than the promising but unproven Membou. He also had a strong argument for the honorable mention tier over Johnson.
Maybe a bigger market would have helped his case. Either way, Moton remains one of the league’s more underrated tackles, and this latest ranking only reinforces that.
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