Rebuild the Oline and Dline now

[Disturbed]

I like most of the post...well written and thoughtful. I do believe the OL will need to be addressed early in the draft. We can not continue to try the patchwork method of putting a line together. We need to build our OL through the draft.

Go with proven guys that have played very well on Sat. and not just good combine guys. Blue collar types that have a little attitude and aggressiveness.

[neosapien23]

[quote=xwalker;4939246]You need to find the money to Franchise Spencer. Planning on a draft pick immediately replacing Spencer would be very risky.

Those "cheap" NTs are still going to be about 4M per year.

Livings would be a backup with a base salary of 3.4M.

Butler got less snaps at OLB in the last game than Poppinga. He will be at least 1M per year.

Without the extra NT, Livings and Butler, you would have 8.4M of the 10M required to Franchise Spencer.

Those NTs will be cheap. They are not starters on their current teams. I would think they could both be had for contracts that pay each player around 2 million a year for each player. Anything more than that and I would pass.

[neosapien23]

Originally Posted by Shinywalrus

The approach isn't unreasonable, but the specifics don't pan out in my mind. I don't understand spending additional money on players who would be marginal improvements at their positions, for example. But more to the point, I feel like your defensive front-7 looks worse than it looks today.

First, is Vasquez a notably better guard than Livings? I'm not sure that he is, and even if he is somewhat better, is that really the position on the offensive line that needs to be shored up?

[View Full Quote]Second, you place Bernadeau at center. While it's a small sample set, his two or three games worth of snaps at that position were among his worst this season. It's reasonable to think he might be better with an off-season of prep, but you're extrapolating pretty heavily here. You extrapolate more than I think is fair with Parnell as well - there's no debating that Free was awful for much of the season, but side-by-side in the last few weeks of the season, Free was the better player of the two.

Third, I'm not convinced that I'd prefer Hatcher-Knighton/Hill-Ratliff to Hatcher-Ratliff-Crawford, and Knighton has been just as injury-ridden as Ratliff. Sammie Lee Hill is a load, but he's overrated.

Fourth, you replace our best player on defense (in 2012) with a rookie.

I think your philosophy is right - I just think your solution is wrong.

Vasquez is much better than Livings, but after some thought Livings is a much better player than Slauson. Vasquez is a wrecking ball in the running game and is still a good pass protector. After rethinking what you said the team would be much better with Vasquez and Livings as the starting guards. I thought Bernadeu played reasonably well at center and he was able to anchor the middle alot better than Cook. Your right about Parnell, but I think he was a much better player than Free. The only reason Free split time was because of his contract. Parnell did not get manhandled like Free did, but Parnell does neet to refine his technique.

[AbeBeta]

How can you write "rebuild dline" and "we can't afford Spencer because we have to rebuild the dline" in the same post.

Spencer and Ware take nearly every DE snap in the nickel. That's at least 40% of the snaps each game (often more). How on earth can you rebuild the dline if you lose a guy who gives so many effective DL snaps?

[rocyaice]

I like your approach but you threw me off guard with letting Spencer walk. Not sure its wise to let go of a 28 year old who was the best player on your defense. You let Spencer go and all of a sudden that's another weakness and position you will need to upgrade and that's not something you can just draft and get that same contribution from.

[strasscat]

Chance Warmack out of Alabama is exactly what we need (athletic OG, great run blocker), but he's so good i dont think he'll be available when we pick in the first round.

I love his name too

[CowboyFan74]

With 60% improvement in the trenches on both fronts we win 3-4 more games....

[DWAREZ]

Agree, we must fix both OL and the DL as much as one can in the offseason.

We need to look at the G and C positions while evaluating if Parnell can indeed replace Free permanently speaking, if so,then cut Free.

The DT position must be addressed with questions regarding Ratliff and Brent.

Further, the DE position must be addressed hoping Crawford could man one spot and the OLB issue must be resolved.

I also think a WR may be necessary as Miles may be out so he can cuddle in his snugly on the some other teams sidelines.

[BIGDen]

Originally Posted by BrAinPaiNt

The team has built up the skill positions on offense. Those that need depth can be had cheaply via FA or lower picks in the draft.

The team has worked on getting a new Secondary and Middle LB corp together.

So the trenches is where we should be working on this offseason in FA and in the Draft.

They have worked on the offensive line some the last two years but IMO have missed as well. T.Smith and one of the OGs brought in last year might be ok but we still need to work on another OG, OC and possible a RT with the way Free has struggled.

We got Ratliff and Jerry going at it, our backup NT with legal issues. We need to start looking at the DLine and we also might have to start thinking about another OLB if Spencer goes or stays and with Wares increasing health issues towards the end of the last few seasons.

[View Full Quote]So yes...looking the trenches is the wise approach and if we eventually want to get a replacement for Tony Romo we better have the oline shored up or we better get a QB that is more mobile than Romo because if one of those things don't happen we are going to get a QB killed.

As far as why this is not being responded to as much as other threads.

My guess would be because it does not hit hot button topics like Jerry Jones or Garrett nor does it call out one group of posters vs another.

In other words it is a well thought out post that is not trying to provoke a group of posters are trying to post in a manner that is whining or trolling.

You nailed it here. Thanks for saving me some typing.

[Boys122]

I agree we need to get better in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Here's a few prospects that I hope we draft come draft day.

Larry Warford of Kentucky, 6'3" 340lbs very good pass/run blocker. Exactly what we need. We probably could land him in the 2-3 rounds.

Cyril Richardson 6'5" 335 lbs. good pass/run blocker. He can play guard or tackle but probably plays guard at the next level. One of RG3's blockers when he was in college.


Barrett Jones 6'5" 311 lbs. can play just about anywhere on the OL. Could be our future center but I doubt he makes it to our pick. I don't see a deep center class this year so we might have to look in free agency unless we stick with Bernadette at center. I have no faith in Costa or Kowalski, just as backups.

Jonathan Hankins 6'4" 325 lbs. can play both DE or NT in the 3-4 defense. If not Hankins I wouldn't mind Sylvester Williams or Jonathan Jenkins. Hankins though will probably be there at 17 though. That's just a few prospects that I wouldn't mind us drafting to shore up the trenches. Of course I like a few more prospects but these are the main ones I'm interested in.

[Boys122]

I also like Jesse Williams. Wouldn't mind him either.

[Boys122]

Jerry has to stop playing games with the OL though. Our run game and pass protection suffered because of it this year.

He got the Tyron Smith pick right so he needs to continue drafting better so we can improve the OL. A good OL could change things rapidly for us in the future. I'd concentrate on the OL and DL especially in the draft. Also safety.

[visionary]

nice, well-thought out post

i agree completely that our biggest needs are (and have been for the last 2-3 years)

OL
DL
safety

we need to target this off season (FA and draft) intelligently with a comprehensive plan to upgrade these 3 areas and not take the walmart approach as we have in the past

[xwalker]

Originally Posted by neosapien23

I'm just basing it on 2 contracts from 2011:

Marcus Spears
3.84M average

Antonio Garay
2-years 8.1M
Age 32

.

[Macnalty]

I am not sold on the Detroit guy, it may well turn out like Livings and Bernadeau, there are reasonable alternatives in the draft if we can stay away from the big splash scenario's that Jerry like to orchestrate. Barrett Jones and Chase Thomas may be had in the second and third rd at lower pay and higher ceiling. Leaving a first rd pick for DL or OL whomever you fail to acquire during FA. I do agree the trenches need shoring up.