Let's talk offensive line needs

[GimmeTheBall!]

It seems as though we have done a better job of protecting Romo this year, but we still can't run the ball like we really want to. The line does appear serviceable but that's not really good enough. I still think we need another guard. even if Waters returns. In upgrading the offensive line do you think the bigger need is at guard or tackle? Do we need both?

O-line needs in the draft will be a hard sell. Remember: We half no defense at the moment.
Even in FA I imagine we'll be busy getting linemen and secondary personnel.

 

[worn]

1. Trent Murphy DE Stanford.
2. Lamarcus Joyner FS/Nickel FSU
3. Kony Ealy DT Missou
4. Chris Burnette OG Georgia
5. Boseko Lokombo WLB Oregon
6. Martavius Bryant WR Clemson
7. Glenn Carson ILB PennSt

Kony will shoot up the boards will be a first rder when is all done

you might get Josh Mauro, 6-6 #285 Stanford in the 3 rd

 

[MarkP88]

For what it's worth, I think we definitely need to consider OL with our high picks right along with the DL. We need to stop employing the whack-a-mole approach to the draft and settle on a core philosophy of how to build a team and keep it strong. Investing in the trenches wasn't any kind of priority until our situation became absolutely desperate. The fact that we've hit on Smith and Frederick should be all the evidence Jones needs to understand we should continue to consider the offensive line a priority. If anything, Jerry's philosophy is that you can just get by with an okay line so long as there's exciting skill position talent lining up behind and outside of them. It hasn't worked. (Which is truly bizarre when you consider he was an offensive lineman in college.)

And that non-philosophy mirrors Jerry's fundamental lack of respect for coaching. He thinks a team can get by with a hodge-podge collection of coaches who may be quite accomplished individually, but who have not been assembled by an empowered coach who's building his team and staff according to a strong belief in how it should be done. And when you get that kind of staff, player development also suffers; it's not enough to just draft good players, you need to develop them. In my opinion, we've been bad at both for a long time. I sure hope that somehow begins to change this offseason.

 

[cml750]

Defensive line needs to be our TOP priority this year.

 

[Oh_Canada]

It seems as though we have done a better job of protecting Romo this year, but we still can't run the ball like we really want to. The line does appear serviceable but that's not really good enough. I still think we need another guard. even if Waters returns. In upgrading the offensive line do you think the bigger need is at guard or tackle? Do we need both?

Can't run the ball? Murray is averaging 5.3 a pop!
Dline, Dline and more Dline. Maybe find a guard mid rounds for depth, but the oline has been the furthest thing from a major problem on this team.

 

[RS12]

It seems as though we have done a better job of protecting Romo this year, but we still can't run the ball like we really want to. The line does appear serviceable but that's not really good enough. I still think we need another guard. even if Waters returns. In upgrading the offensive line do you think the bigger need is at guard or tackle? Do we need both?[/quote

It seems as though we have done a better job of protecting Romo this year, but we still can't run the ball like we really want to. The line does appear serviceable but that's not really good enough. I still think we need another guard. even if Waters returns. In upgrading the offensive line do you think the bigger need is at guard or tackle? Do we need both?

Greg Robinson from Auburn has star written all over him. Draft him and you are set at 3 positions on the ol for a decade.

 

[IrishAnto]

The top interior back up is Costa. He's hardly great but he is a better player than we have starting at Safety or LB other than Sean Lee.
I'd like to bring Waters back and I'd be fine with a mid-round value pick at OG.
But the incredulously silly OL focus is a hilarious agenda that has always been misplaced.

We've been investing top picks along the OL and we keep going 8-8.

This team does not need to get bigger, it needs to get better.
Especially covering people.

First of all Costa can barely cut it at OC but he’s been well below par at any other position.

What about tackle?

Who you got behind Smith and Free?

You want to go 16 games with Parnell at OT?

As for a mid-round pick at OG, name me the last mid round pick other than Free at any OL position that amounted to anything?

As for the two first round picks on the OL in 33 years not getting us over the 8-8 mark lets look at how many first round picks made for the defense since 2005 shall we?

2005 two picks
2006 one pick
2007 one pick
2008 one pick
2012 one pick

Throw in four second round players as well and tell me just how those picks have helped us get over 8-8?

As I said in my post we need to go BPA with our first two picks and if either happen to be OL then I won’t be crying.

Equally if it’s DL I won’t moan.

Doing that should make us better.

 

[IrishAnto]

Even if Waters came dirt cheap, a 37 year old guard is not going to be someone you put a lot of stock into performing at a high level, especially coming off an injury.

That said, Bernadeau has played just well enough I can easily see them bypassing the need for an upgrade.

We usually try to plug the leak that is gushing the most water.

And that why we end up with the mess we have on the DL.

When the Cowboys think they have a position set they stop putting any significant resources into that position for years and as soon as they have players leave for more money and/or get significant injuries then they have little or no depth with which to replace the missing players.

So now people on this board think the OL is doing OK there’s no need to invest a high pick on another OL, however if we loose just one of the current starters then watch out!

So when it’s our turn to pick in 2014 pretty much any position should be open to consideration if the guy is a good player, especially if its DL or OL but certainly not limited to those positions.

 

[Verdict]

Let's walk through your scenario.

We allow Waters to retire (even though he was our best OL for a few weeks before injury) ... done.

We have our current starting OL AND top 3 back ups return in tact.
We have:
LT: Smith, Weems
LG: Leary, Frederick
OC: Frederick, Costa
RG: Bern, Costa
RT: Free, Parnell

So you would go out and use an R1 draft pick at OG??
A guy who may not be able to unseat Bern or Leary?

And you don't think we need a safety? Huh???

PFF is just a service but they grade Bern a top 20 OG. Wilcox and Heath rate outside the top 50 Safeties.

How does your plan make any sense in that light?

I would always be willing to move down if value fell like it did this year but I wouldn't always move down.
If Star had fell to us instead of Floyd we probably pick that kid and he starts all year next to Hatcher.
If we had Reid right now (who we boxed) he would have been a day 1 starter and rate about 30 slots higher than either Wilcox or Heath.

I wouldn't force a pick either, but there is no way I enter next season with the current safeties. That position simply must be upgraded so if the draft doesn't send one my way I've got to spend money there.
And it can not be a bottom of the barrel re-tread.
If the draft doesn't present a guy who can walk in and start I've got to buy one.

Safety play can not continue to be this bad.
We are the worst team in the NFL at the position and it is very easy for offenses to pick us on there.
The only are we are worse is LB when Sean Lee comes out hurt.
What Chicago did when Lee came out was straight up bullying.

I am not minimizing the poor play of the defense at all. If we bring back Waters (which isn't a given) then we arguably have 3 legit guys that can play at a fairly high level (Smith, Fred, Waters) and one guy who is good, with upside, but a degenerative knee condition (Leary) and an enigma in Free. And you have some depth in Berny, but his salary cap number is disproportionate to his play, so him coming back next year or the year after is not a given either. If Waters is resigned his cap number is going to leave a mark, and he is OLD. So realistically, at guard all we may have coming back next year is Leary. Is he going to play both guard positions at the same time (uh no) so you want to go into the year with Costa as the starter and no one as the backup?

I think they kept Costa as the backup center with the though that they would let Berny go after this year, or no later than next year. That is the only thing that really makes sense because he really isn't an adequate guard. I'm not saying we must take a guard in the first round, or that it is the main priority. But it is a lot higher priority than you think it is unless we bring back both Waters and Berny, and I think the smart money isn't jumping on that band wagon just yet.

 

[Verdict]

We need to continue to build the offensive line as well as the defensive line in the early rounds. Drafting Escobar was a mistake.

I think the Escobar pick looks suspect at this point, but he might still turn out to be a good pick. But At this point, I wish we had spent the pick on a stud OG, DL or stud linebacker.

 

[Verdict]

Defensive line needs to be our TOP priority this year.

Probably so. But what if the top defensive lineman on the board has a low second round grade when we pick in the first round. You can't reach. The top rated player often doesn't match team needs. And team needs can't dictate who you pick, but you should definitely try to fill the holes you can if the talent matches up reasonably well and at similar value.

 

[Verdict]

If Megatron or Adrian Peterson were on the board when your pick comes around in the first, you take them regardless of what your needs are.

 

[Alexander]

but i suspect he has much stronger desire to stay here than he does to leave.

Hatcher just wants to get paid. His desire to stay here is based off of what he knows about Jerry and Stephen Jones' ability to "negotiate".

 

[Risen Star]

Defensive line needs to be our TOP priority this year.

It will be. I don't see many changes, if at all, to the OL. We have no cap space. We're not going to be able to do a lot of things.

Cross your fingers that Waters returns and can still play and that Leary has another year in his knees.

 

[jterrell]

1. Trent Murphy DE Stanford.
2. Lamarcus Joyner FS/Nickel FSU
3. Kony Ealy DT Missou
4. Chris Burnette OG Georgia
5. Boseko Lokombo WLB Oregon
6. Martavius Bryant WR Clemson
7. Glenn Carson ILB PennSt

Kony will shoot up the boards will be a first rder when is all done

you might get Josh Mauro, 6-6 #285 Stanford in the 3 rd

I think the way Kony was dominated versus Auburn may hurt his stock.
He absolutely couldn't handle playing the run int he NFL right now.
But as a pure attacking DT he will make plays.

 

[jterrell]

Hatcher just wants to get paid. His desire to stay here is based off of what he knows about Jerry and Stephen Jones' ability to "negotiate".

People who know his family locally say you're wrong. But we will see.

 

[jterrell]

various:

Costa: Truth is Costa is as good a back up as most have for their interior OL.
He needed to get stronger and he has apparently. We chose to sign him to a deal and keep him locked up so the team likes him better than the fan base.
And while the coaching staff certainly has been wrong the fan base is almost universally wrong.

Leary: Good grief... he has started every game this year. His knee is an issue that is supposed to shorten his career... but not to 2 seasons of football.
He is a young starter that should be better in 2014.

Bern: Again he has played very well. PFF simply confirms the obvious. Bern has really opened some holes in the running game. It is very unlikely he gets unseated... unless a stud like Waters is brought back.

Bern/Costa/Frederick can ALL play OC or OG. Would it be nice to find a legit 5th int OL? Of course. But only a very logically challenged person would think it falls before addressing the starting needs on this team.

Safety: Wilcox is terrible. He was so bad on one play last week I almost cried. The guy had outside leverage and allowed a RB to get to the edge with 10 yards to spare. It was just atrocious play. Wilcox can't beat out Jeff Heath who is also fairly terrible. There is hope for those guys to develop over time but anyone counting on them to start next year loves losing games. We do have a lot invested in our CBs and it is time to give them some help and a chance to succeed. While the DL issues are directly related to injuries, we suck at Safety by design.

 

[xwalker]

Greg Robinson from Auburn has star written all over him. Draft him and you are set at 3 positions on the ol for a decade.

Where does he get drafted?

I see him as one of those guys that could play OT or OG.

 

[BigStar]

Hate it when tony thinks he's about to get sacked and puts his head down and starts looking for a soft spot to land

I agree, Aikman began doing this very often near the end of his career and I've seen Romo do it dozens of times this season and it brought back painful memories. That's not to say Tony doesn't take his licks when needed to, I just think it says something about a player's mentality that they have developed this tactic...

 

[Phrozen Phil]

We've been devastated by injury at the D-Line position this year and questionable decisions have also not helped (see Ratliff and Spencer) Getting some bodies back from injury could help, but we also need to improve the level of talent on the O-Line. Our Guards aren't scaring anybody. With respect to jterrell's comment about Beernadeau, I would agree that he hasn't plyed badly, but we still need to consider improving the level of play and the depth along that area of the line. As for Safety, finding the right players at that position appears to be an enigma for our GM. Maybe an improvement in the front seven might help out eh current contingent.