Conner Williams or McGovern at LG

gmoney112 said:

That'll be fun. (Obviously) too soon to tell.

I'm guessing they do bring McGovern back this year, because in the short term he's going to get practice experience and be valuable depth at every interior OL position. LG, C, and RG. Looney is the man right now, I'm guessing, but McGovern will compete with him and if you're a playoff team you never know.

Next year will be interesting, but I expect Williams to be pretty solid next year, I can't complain too much and he's only through his 3rd game in his second year. Or maybe McGovern just turns out to be crazy next year and wins out, I'm just playing the odds here.

McGovern's value is going to be actual real talent that can back up any interior OL position, and compete at LG. I'd re-sign Looney and that OL would look great. Fleming is a $4.5m cap savings next year, with a $5m cap hit. I'm guessing we probably keep him, but I'd give Williams snaps at T in camp and see what he's got. I'd probably consider drafting an OT as well, considering Collins is signed and the Williams extension talks will be expected to begin after next year. If Williams keeps developing, and we're just not comfortable extending him with the OL contracts already (as well as the McGovern pick), it'd make a lot of sense to use him as trade bait after his 3rd year, and have a third round pick or something at OT, that we drafted already, playing swing and McGovern stepping up. Save $$, have a cheap rookie contract backup, and get a pick or two. In the meantime, it'd be sweet if Williams could play T in a pinch, and McGovern was salty enough to not see much drop off.

Lot of options for us. I think Williams is pretty decent for a 22 year old who's 3 games into his second season. After this year, it's going to be tough for McGovern to win that spot, unless Williams just falls off or something. And I actually liked the McGovern pick a lot. If he can start developing, his depth at any interior OL position would be worth its weight in gold. Then you have flexibility on Williams' contract too, possible trade options with an easier transition, etc. Next year though? I'd give the edge to Williams as of now, if he finishes the season pretty well, then he'd be the favorite. Crazier things have happened though.

I'd almost be tempted to redshirt McGovern just for that extra year, but the depth on the interior is too important for that, imo. Unless, you know, he's actually not going to play. But, I think he comes back.

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CF74 said:

Williams is probably better suited to play tackle but Collins has that locked down now...

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cowboygo said:

Connor williams is going to have lots of game experience. If McGovern beats him out in training camp next year, I trust the coaching staff with their decision. I don't see it happening though. It feels good to finally have depth at the O-Line position. Hopefully we don't have Williams and McGovern playing together at the same time in the near future.

For what its worth, I think Williams fits Moore's offense more than Linehan's. Also helps to finally have T.Fred back, which can mask deficiencies.

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xwalker said:

Good post.

They would like McGovern to be able to practice; however, I don't know if they'll bring him back from IR considering they already have 3 or 4 interior backups on the 53 depending on whether Knight is really an OG or OT.

Knight started camp at OT but moved to OG after about a week. The Cowboys roster on their website rarely gets updated during the season on something as simple as a player moving from OT to OG; therefore, Knight being listed at OT does not mean much. Logically it seems that they must see him as a possibility at OT considering how many interior backups they kept on the 53. Either way Knight is unlikely to ever be an option at LT.

It would be great to have an OT prospect similar to McGovern at OG; however, a similar OT wouldn't make it to the late 3rd round.

Many of the draft media had Connor Williams in their OT group and at least 1 mainstream draft media had him as the top OT in that draft.

CW does not have the prototype LT measurable(s) with just medium length arms; however, he is 6-5 and has very quick feet. There have been plenty of successful LTs that didn't have the Tyron Smith type of freakishly long arms. Joe Thomas (10x Pro Bowl, 9x All Pro) had short arms for an OT at 32-1/2; although, his 6-7 height did give him "length".

I would definitely like to see CW cross train at LT in the off-season. Fleming can manage at LT for a spot start here and there but he would quickly get overexposed if he had to play multiple games at LT.

It would be good to see them draft an OT in the mid rounds. Other than Connor Williams they have not drafted an OT since 2015 when they drafted two (Chaz Green and a 7th rounder that didn't even make the practice squad).

If McGovern remains a backup, I'm OK with that. It's good to have quality depth.

Looney might get an offer as a free agent that's too much to match.

Sua-Filo is a good backup but has never been a consistent player. He had his fair share of whiffs when he played last season and still had some in the preseason.

Redmond does not seem to have that much upside but he can play both OC and OG.

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Whyjerry said:

A decent early prediction at a 2020 camp battle.

On another note saying 2020 sounds weird.

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quickccc said:

Ironically Conner Williams has the same wingspan arm length measurements as Lael Collins (see links below) – who ironically was also a college LT at LSU, .and the Cowboys (again another irony) immediately slated Lael for the LG role, as they are doing right now with Williams.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2015/profiles/la'el-collins?id=2552361

https://www.nfl.com/prospects/connor-williams?id=32195749-4c20-4393-9715-dea42eb24dc6

Lael was never planned to even be an RT when we signed him on as an undrafted rookie FA – and they practically gave him the starting LG role over Ron Leary.
But surprise retirements, disappointments and free agency totally changed the dynamics and plans.
Chaz Green drafted in 3rd round, injury prone/inexperienced, clearly wasn’t going to work out as heir apparent to Doug Free RT role, and they felt they couldn’t wait for Green either.

Free’s sudden retirement surprised the club, (and Jeremy Parnell departed in FA) and they had to immediately resort to moving Collins to RT.
That wasn’t the initial plan but they were forced to improvise on the move.

And remember the revolving door issues we had with the LG movements once Leary departed in FA ? ala Chaz Green at OG, .. Byron Bell at OG, .. Jonanthan Cooper at OG, etc.
And even that didn’t come close to the monster issues at backup OT (chaz green vs ATL.. !! Yikes !! )

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Risen Star said:

I think the odd man out will be Zack Martin.

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xwalker said:

Yes, I'm aware of their measurable(s). Only 1/4" difference in arm length.

Collins does have a bigger frame.
Wingspan:
Collins: 82"
Williams: 77-7/8"

The media played up the "not prepared" for Free retiring but the Cowboys were already working on RT alternatives after Free gave up 9 sacks in 2016.

Unfortunately, Chaz Green had played well in 2 starts at LT in 2016 which caused them to think he was an option to play OT but his constant injuries made them rethink that plan even before his epic meltdown in Atlanta.

La'el had always expressed the desire to play OT.

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xwalker said:

One interesting note is that Connor Williams "bad" plays this season have generally not been because he got over-powered.

He had a about 3 snaps per game where he got out of position and allowed a pass rusher to get past him but those didn't seem to be due to getting over-powered.

His "bad" snaps this season seem to be more mental or technique than a lack of physical ability.

If he plays like he has in the first 3 games everything will be OK this season.

Connor Williams is better than the Cowboys 5th best OLineman in most past seasons.

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phildadon86 said:

You dont get a like for that

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quickccc said:

It's media speak, but according to their reports, the club tried to talk Free out of sudden retirement. But Doug was insistent that he couldn't do that any longer.
Why ? they were not going to go into the direction of Jeremy Parnell when they had already drafted Chaz high with their 3rd round pick to be the heir apparent.
as you said, Green was still going thru the motions with his constant injuries and slow recovery, so they had to reluctantly pull the trigger and move Lael from LG to RT.

While Chaz continued to have issues playing offensive line ..period. He couldn't stay healthy to make it happen at starting LG, nor did he have the mentality and confidence to
play backup LT as well.

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Beaker42 said:

Is Connor having mental lapses when he allows his man to blow by without even moving his feet? I don’t get it.

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