Could the Right RG Fix Doug Free?

[newlander]

and if he had not been able to get stronger in the upper body by now then he never will

...he has flat STOLEN money form JJ and the Cowboys: he hasn't been in good shape for 3 years. Looks and plays like he's 36 yrs. old....my god, CUT him already.:bang2:

 

[DFWJC]

...he has flat STOLEN money form JJ and the Cowboys: he hasn't been in good shape for 3 years. Looks and plays like he's 36 yrs. old....my god, CUT him already.:bang2:

7 million reasons to do so....

 

[tm1119]

Cut your losses and move on. Even if Free plays better and is on top of his game what can we really expect? An average RT at best? He's just not nearly talented enough to warrant paying him nearly as much as he is going to make. He would have to take a huge pay cut (like 1/2) for me to even consider giving him another shot.

 

[burmafrd]

I have and have watched the NFL's crappy low-res All-22 product if that's what you mean. I stand by the belief that Parnell is currently a step down from even the terrible version of Doug. I'm willing to have a cost vs. production discussion but Parnell's footwork and hand use are just atrocious.

well enjoy yourself in your solitude as regards believing that

 

[honyock]

There is a very easy fix for Doug Free. Cut him and put Jermey Parnell at RT.

I've spent a lot of time analyzing Parnell since the Cowboys acquired him 2 years ago. This includes watching every snap that he has taken in both preseason and during the 2012 regular season. This year it also included the 2 extra views from the All-22. I also focused on him when I went to training camp.

Parnell is better than Free now. If he had 1/2 the experience of Free, it wouldn't even be a question. Parnell is big, tall, very quick with long arms, big hands and better upper body strength than Free. He just needs more experience. When he did have problems, they were mental. Things like not knowing exactly how to pass off defenders to/from the RG or TE.

Free's issues where physical. He has more experience than Parnell in passing off defenders between the RG or TE, but he often gets beat both by speed and power. He has significant problems with lack of upper body strength. It appears that he has weak shoulders. If a defender gets his hands/arms under his and just thrusts upwards, Free has almost no ability to resist this move.

Free's upper body weakness was 1st exposed in the 49ers game early in the 2011 season by Justin Smith. Defenders have been exploiting this weakness ever since. Free has tried changing his technique. He has tried keeping his hands low, but this creates other problems. Without proper arm/hand usage, he must get his body into perfect position in order to make a good block.

Back to Parnell, a quality veteran RG is a must in order to have Parnell be most effective. If they draft a Guard, he will need to be on the left with Livings moving to RG unless they find better option. Brandon Moore (Jets) is a veteran RG that played for Callahan for 4 years. He would be a perfect fit and shouldn't be too expensive due to being 32. I would prefer to see Bernadeau move to Center.

Nice write-up xwalker. Although I didn't watch the All-22, I watched every snap of the final four games several times and thought Parnell looked starter-ready. He struggled some against the Bengals - like every member of the line did - but looked solid the rest of the way.

The one thing we didn't see much of in those 4 games was very much run blocking tape. His snaps were much higher pass percentage than Free's in the same games. But he was good in pass blocking, and much, much more athletic than Free.

 

[Nirvana]

Free's biggest issue is that he can't block, otherwise he is an excellent RT.