The offensive line free agent market is open, and here is what the tape tells you about who is actually worth the money.

The conventional wisdom going into this window was that tackles were the premium commodity and interior linemen were the afterthought. The tape says something different. The most consistently impactful free agents available at the offensive line position are in the interior, and the reason is simple: the league has figured out how to get after tackles from the outside in ways that can be schemed around, but the push up the middle — from three-techniques and nose tackles who have gotten dramatically better at their jobs — is a problem that only gets solved by having centers and guards who can actually anchor.

The name I keep coming back to is Daniel Faalele's market. Faalele is not a free agent. He is an example I am using because the teams that understood what he was before his contract extension were the teams that watched his technique rather than his highlights. There is a version of this conversation happening right now about three or four guards who are available in this window. The teams watching their footwork in zone-blocking fits are going to find better value than the teams looking at their pass-rush win rate allowed.

What the tape on the available interior linemen shows, specifically: there is one center in this free agent class — I won't name him because teams are still negotiating — who moves laterally at a speed his combine numbers don't predict. He was tested on it repeatedly in film and he passed every time. He is going to be significantly overpaid by a team that identified this and significantly underpaid by the market's general consensus. That gap is where smart front offices make money.

The tackles in this class are a mixed bag. The premium tackles are commanding premium prices, which is correct. But the players in the second tier — the guys being shopped at right guard money because teams aren't sure what they are — include at least two players whose tape suggests they can play left tackle in the right system. The teams that identify those players and structure them accordingly will get quality starting tackles at prices that don't cripple their cap flexibility.

The tape doesn't lie. The market does. The gap between those two things is where this week's best decisions get made.