Our OL

T

toffee

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Mar 17, 2024
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After the FA and draft, this seems to be the state of our OL:

LT:
Charles Cross, he hasn't played like someone drafted top 10 in first round. He is mediocre at best and often pushed back towards the QB after Cross landed his hands on the pass rusher.

LG:
We do not have a starting LG unless we start Laken Tomlinson, who is old and has played subpar in the past two seasons.

C:
Olu is it? The same Olu that started one game and couldn't out-compete Evan Brown.

RG:
Christian Haynes is to compete with Anthony Bradford who sucked pretty badly in 2023.

LT:
Lucas may or may not be back, then we have George Fant who is serviceable, but not great.

Do we have reason to think coaching was the reason why our OL sucked in 2023?
 
I don't think we can count on Lucas unfortunately. Not hearing much good news about him.

I think Cross is better than you're giving him credit for and is a quality LT if he can stay healthy.

Lots of question marks to be sure. All those guys have their strengths and weaknesses. I think next year they probably go O line heavy in the draft.

Not holding my breath for marked improvement right away, but we've got some good young guys with a lot of potential. We'll see what Ryan Grubb, Scott Huff & Zak Hill got cooking up.
 
Zebulon Dak said:
I don't think we can count on Lucas unfortunately. Not hearing much good news about him.

I think Cross is better than you're giving him credit for and is a quality LT if he can stay healthy.

Lots of question marks to be sure. All those guys have their strengths and weaknesses. I think next year they probably go O line heavy in the draft.

Not holding my breath for marked improvement right away, but we've got some good young guys with a lot of potential. We'll see what Ryan Grubb, Scott Huff & Zak Hill got cooking up.
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Not according to PFF, for whatever it's worth, they ranked Cross #47 among all tackles, which places him bottom 1/3 in the league, but yes, starting quality but not good. To my untrained eyes, Cross seldom stopped pass rushers upon contact, he got pushed back directly toward Geno and not behind Geno. Not sure if that's a strength issue or just technique, LOL, what do I know, I have never played ball.
 
Maybe if our old OC didn't love dropping back so much our OL would look better.

Injuries to Lucas is concerning that his value as a later pick is meaningless if he's not able to start and therefore likely walks at the end of his rookie deal. I'm hopeful the OL would look better by committing to the run a little more with our new OC but I have no clue what a Grubb offense will look like.
 
Bottom 1/3 or not, Cross is still our best linemen, with Fant not far behind. Other than these two, the situation gets scary, Bradford sucked last season, Olu didn't even get to suck as he couldn't beat Evan for starting role. Laken is old and his last good season was 3 years ago.

Either Schneider didn't want to overpay interior linemen, or he is still in love with Olu and Bradford.

On paper, we are at best the same as OL 2023, which was ranked tier 5 on playerprofiles, and #30 on PFF.
 
They might as well be the worst OL in the league till they prove otherwise. But you're probably going to have to be patient, rebuilding with a brand new coaching staff is likely to take some time. They're probably not going to be able to fix the defense and the OL in the same initial offseason. Next year's draft is going to be super important.
 
I tapped out when my N Bradford was besmirched.

I don't want anything but a mean, mauling, angry motherfucker at RG. And that's Bradford.
 
And also, you couldn't play Olu last year because the rest of the OL was backups. You can't play backups and a rookie center. Unless you're stupid (no offense @Santaclarahawk ).

I'd also contend the line was so dinged up last year it's silly to draw any conclusions. They also had an OC who put that OL on front street with his playcalling.
 
IMHO, our latest OL rebuild started with the drafting of Cross and Lucas, our new bookends, followed by the drafting of Bradford and Olu the new interior. We drafted Haynes this year to 'finish' the rebuild. Over this period, we drafted 2 tackles, 2 guards, and a center, we invested a 9th overall pick, two 3rd-round picks, a 4th and a 5th-rounder. Not lack of effort.

Let's hope that we will see some results this year.
 
I have faith in Grubb's offense and the new OL coach to teach,help the OL be much better
than that putrid display of offense/coaching we saw for the last few years.
 
toffee said:
IMHO, our latest OL rebuild started with the drafting of Cross and Lucas, our new bookends, followed by the drafting of Bradford and Olu the new interior. We drafted Haynes this year to 'finish' the rebuild. Over this period, we drafted 2 tackles, 2 guards, and a center, we invested a 9th overall pick, two 3rd-round picks, a 4th and a 5th-rounder. Not lack of effort.

Let's hope that we will see some results this year.
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That's true, but Lucas is likely cooked and we've had a regime change. A lot of the pieces are there though thanks to those investments. I suppose I'm just tempering my expectations because I really have no idea what this offense is going to look like yet. Hoping for the best but prepared to give it time to come together.
 
Zebulon Dak said:
That's true, but Lucas is likely cooked and we've had a regime change. A lot of the pieces are there though thanks to those investments. I suppose I'm just tempering my expectations because I really have no idea what this offense is going to look like yet. Hoping for the best but prepared to give it time to come together.
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Lucas was our best OL draft, or shall we say the most instant success, as he showed so much potential in his rookie year. Can't say that about Cross, Bradford, or Olu. I have a lot of confidence in our new draftee Haynes.
 
How are we calling Cross's rookie year unsuccessful? He was good, not great. And he was good under an OC that thought throwing 40+ times a game vs the 49ers, leaving him 1v1 on Bosa, was a good strategy.

Offensive line evaluations can't be done without acknowledging context like above. Evaluating without context is something a mongoloid would do (no offense @StoneCold ).
 
pehawk said:
How are we calling Cross's rookie year unsuccessful? He was good, not great. And he was good under an OC that thought throwing 40+ times a game vs the 49ers, leaving him 1v1 on Bosa, was a good strategy.

Offensive line evaluations can't be done without acknowledging context like above. Evaluating without context is something a mongoloid would do (no offense @StoneCold ).
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Not sure why I'm being brought up in this convo, but I want to insure the viewing public that no mogoloids were harmed in this production.

Charles will be fine. Abe needs to stay healthy. The rest are a crap shoot that may work out. Hawks still win 8 games +. Over bet is good.
 
StoneCold said:
Not sure why I'm being brought up in this convo, but I want to insure the viewing public that no mogoloids were harmed in this production.

Charles will be fine. Abe needs to stay healthy. The rest are a crap shoot that may work out. Hawks still win 8 games +. Over bet is good.
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Thanks for confirming the mongoloid thing

Also, remember the TNF vs SF game where Waldron's gameplan was to throw 40+ times?
 
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I think I’m gonna hold out judgement on cross til we see him with a different oline coach. There wasn’t much coaching going with the last guy it seemed, and Waldron didn’t do no favors.

Bradford is a fucking man, he’s probably the most glaring example of lack of coaching and attention to detail, dude is a real one and should be coached as such.

I, like pe, am a Bradford Stan. I can’t let someone throw smut on his good name.
 
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