Offensive Line Player Development Question

[xwalker]

Originally Posted by Marktui

I think you have to draft line specific to your scheme. Man vs zone. Do you want quick agile guys that can pull and run screens. Road graders that can go straight ahead and maul.

Doug Free is a waist bender. He gets so upright on his pass sets that guys get underneath his pads and push him straight back. He needs to get his arse lower so he can anchor properly.

I agree that Doug Free is a bit of a waist bender. I wouldn't call it extreme, but most extreme waist benders don't make to the NFL.

Free's biggest issue, IMO, is his hard/arm/shoulder strength. He plays like someone with an injured shoulder(s), but he would probably have had offseason surgery if he really had an injury.

With a shoulder injury it helps to keep your elbows in tight to your body. In my experience, this allows you to have some strength to push straight out like a bench press, but no lateral strength when your arm is extended.

Free appears to have no ability to resist when a defender gets under his arm(s) and thrust them upwards. I've noticed that he has started keeping his hands lower prior to engaging the defender. This should help keep the defender from getting under his arm(s) and should give Free a little better leverage.

He had the same issue in 2011. I need to look for some game footage from 2010 to see why he played better then.

With regards to a possible injury, I think back to a couple of years ago when Jay Ratliff had off-season surgery on both elbows. After the surgery he said that he hadn't been able to bench press for the 2 prior years. The interesting thing is that this injury/condition was never made public prior to the surgery.

[Everson24]

This is a good question. I have always contended that if a scout could come up with some type of formula that would increase their hit percentage to around 75% they could name their price throughout the NFL. It appears to be a real crap shoot right now as to what it really takes to become a good offensive lineman in the NFL.

[CyberB0b]

Originally Posted by Everson24

It appears to be a real crap shoot right now as to what it really takes to become a good offensive lineman in the NFL.

That is because different schemes call for different prototypes.

[AbeBeta]

Originally Posted by CowboyRoy

When was he good? He has always sucked. He had like one decent season and they thought he was going to improve. He sucks.

he was very good replacing Colombo and was outstanding in his first year at LT.

Don't try to revise history. He earned that big contract - if we didn't give it to him someone else would have

[burmafrd]

Originally Posted by Apollo Creed

Wanna learn how to evaluate, draft, and develop linemen - do the exact opposite of the Dallas Cowboys and you'll be straight.

I really wish that was not so true