Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers legend Justin Smith retired Monday after a 14-year NFL career.

It was another opportunity to discuss the greatness of the Mizzou defensive line just weeks after Shane Ray and Markus Golden got selected in the first and second rounds of the draft, respectively. Which came just one year after Kony Ealy and Michael Sam got drafted.

Yes, the Tigers’ #DLZou is a cultural phenomenon, one that’s making a deeper impression on the rest of the SEC every season. But it’s also obscuring the fact that Mizzou has gotten pretty darned good at producing NFL-caliber offensive linemen.

It may not turn heads like Texas A&M’s streak of three consecutive first-round offensive tackles. But the Tigers have an opportunity to produce second-round offensive linemen in three consecutive years themselves.

Justin Britt, the left tackle on Missouri’s 2013 SEC East championship team, flipped sides after the Seattle Seahawks drafted him in the second round. He started all 16 regular-season games and all but one playoff game at right tackle, helping the team to a Super Bowl appearance.

Mitch Morse, Britt’s replacement at left tackle, soared up draft boards after the season, in part because of his inordinate strength (36 bench press reps at 225 pounds). The Kansas City Chiefs selected him at No. 49 overall, just nine spots behind former Mizzou receiver Dorial Green-Beckham and ahead of Golden.

Who would’ve guessed that before last season?

Next year, the team could add to its offensive line numbers in the NFL. (Former Missouri standout Tim Barnes, undrafted in 2011, now plays center for the St. Louis Rams.)

Coach Gary Pinkel already has revealed the team’s plans to shift Connor McGovern, a guard for most of his college career, to left tackle this fall. His weight-room antics match those of Morse. At 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, McGovern isn’t as agile as Morse or as strong as Britt. But he’s a mauler in the running game.

McGovern’s best position is at guard, where he’ll play in the NFL. He almost certainly will get drafted. Right now he projects as a third-day pick, though that could improve if he excels as a left tackle in ’15.

The team’s second-round streak — of offensive linemen, remember — rides on center Evan Boehm. In the last five years, only six centers got selected in the first or second round.

But remember, Boehm does have 12 career starts at guard to his credit. He enters his senior season with a whopping 40 starts overall. At 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds, he’s OK against the pass, but excels in the running game, using his athleticism to block linebackers and safeties at the second level. He’s also a tremendous leader with a good football IQ.

Don’t be surprised if an NFL team selects Boehm as a guard on the second day of the NFL draft, which would slot him in Round 2 or 3.

Missouri entered the SEC with a Big 12 reputation — a team that tossed the ball all over the field, usually to skyscraper receivers with pogo sticks for legs. And a defense with plenty of speed, and not as much brute strength.

Opposing fans unfamiliar with the Tigers sometimes even used that dreaded four-letter S word to describe the team. (No, not that one — “soft.”)

But consider that Missouri produces players like Ealy, Sam, Ray, Golden, Britt, Morse, McGovern, Boehm and Harold Brantley on a yearly basis. The Tigers’ current offense is predicated on a strong running game, and despite a fierce pass rush, the Mizzou defense mostly has played well against the run as well.

Never was the team’s strength at the line of scrimmage more evident than when it summarily dispatched of Arkansas late last season to clinch another East Division title. The Hogs entered the game after close, low-scoring losses to eventual No. 1 Alabama and then-No. 1 Mississippi State. In their last two appearances, the Razorbacks waxed LSU and Ole Miss by a combined 47-0.

So what happened? Missouri outgained Arkansas on the ground and through the air. Russell Hansbrough was the game’s leading rusher. The Tigers held their own at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against the largest, most physical team in the SEC and won the game.

If anything, this Missouri team is more “SEC” than several of the programs it’s managed to beat in the last two years. And the team’s offensive line is a big part of the winning equation.