Offensive line Draft for 2013

[kirkjrk]

How do we improve the Oline in the 2013 Draft? If possible, we need to do this in the fewest picks as possible. Some options are listed below, what might yours be.

1. Draft Barrett Jones, if available. He can play any position on the line, unfortunately only one at a time. This would give a OC many options during the year when injuries occur or one or more linemen are not producing. This would only allow one position problem to be solved, probably Center.

2. Draft Chance Warmack, if available. Many project him as a future All Pro. This would only solve one position problem,guard.

3. Draft a top Left Tackle, two or three available. This is my favorite option as it would possibly solve 2 or 3 of our Oline problems. We always talk about the interior of the Oline being the problem, and it is, but the tackles have been just as bad, if not worse. Smith and Free by far have more penalties than the interior and they fail to successfully complete their assignments on numerous occasions.

My thoughts are to bring the new LT in and compete with Smith. The winner of that competition stays at LT and the other slides over to RT. Free is then moved over to RG. With this option we could possibly solve our problems at LT,RT and RG in just one draft pick. I see Smith moving back to RT. Another pick could be used later in the draft for Center or guard but I feel with this one pick, above,it will make the Oline much stronger

Oline could look like this:

LT- new draft pick, LG-Livings, C-Costa or???, RG-Free, RT-Smith

Of course all this depends on what the team does in FA.

Your thoughts.

 

[burmafrd]

How do we improve the Oline in the 2013 Draft? If possible, we need to do this in the fewest picks as possible. Some options are listed below, what might yours be.

1. Draft Barrett Jones, if available. He can play any position on the line, unfortunately only one at a time. This would give a OC many options during the year when injuries occur or one or more linemen are not producing. This would only allow one position problem to be solved, probably Center.

2. Draft Chance Warmack, if available. Many project him as a future All Pro. This would only solve one position problem,guard.

3. Draft a top Left Tackle, two or three available. This is my favorite option as it would possibly solve 2 or 3 of our Oline problems. We always talk about the interior of the Oline being the problem, and it is, but the tackles have been just as bad, if not worse. Smith and Free by far have more penalties than the interior and they fail to successfully complete their assignments on numerous occasions.

My thoughts are to bring the new LT in and compete with Smith. The winner of that competition stays at LT and the other slides over to RT. Free is then moved over to RG. With this option we could possibly solve our problems at LT,RT and RG in just one draft pick. I see Smith moving back to RT. Another pick could be used later in the draft for Center or guard but I feel with this one pick, above,it will make the Oline much stronger

Oline could look like this:

LT- new draft pick, LG-Livings, C-Costa or???, RG-Free, RT-Smith

Of course all this depends on what the team does in FA.

Your thoughts.

frankly its crazy to give up on Smith and waste a first on a LT.

 

[kevinhickey]

Tyron Smith is not the problem. He is holding his own while learning a new position. Sure he is making mistakes but he will improve. He played very well last night. He is going to be a pro bowl player at LT. Free is not strong enough to play inside and Jerry is not going to eat more dead money to see him walk away. The interior line is a mess. Do I see us drafting another linemen in the first round; probably not, unless we move down. We are going to be drafting high, again this year.

 

[xwalker]

How do we improve the Oline in the 2013 Draft? If possible, we need to do this in the fewest picks as possible. Some options are listed below, what might yours be.

Your thoughts.

Good questions.

Hopefully, they stay with the BPA approach and don't force the pick of an OLineman. Having said that, I would love to get 2 OL out of the top 3 picks.

1. Draft Barrett Jones, if available. He can play any position on the line, unfortunately only one at a time. This would give a OC many options during the year when injuries occur or one or more linemen are not producing. This would only allow one position problem to be solved, probably Center.
I think he is a little over-rated due to playing for Alabama. If he is available in the 2nd, then it would be a consideration. The best thing about BG is that he will be ready early. The problem with him is limited athleticism/upside. There are rumors that his arms might be too short for NFL teams to project him to OT.

2. Draft Chance Warmack, if available. Many project him as a future All Pro. This would only solve one position problem,guard.
He could be a top 20 pick. I'm not certain that he is the best fit in Callahan's Zone Blocking Scheme. I would prefer to trade down from the top 20 and get Jonathan Cooper who is a perfect fit the the ZBS, IMO.

3. Draft a top Left Tackle, two or three available. This is my favorite option as it would possibly solve 2 or 3 of our Oline problems. We always talk about the interior of the Oline being the problem, and it is, but the tackles have been just as bad, if not worse. Smith and Free by far have more penalties than the interior and they fail to successfully complete their assignments on numerous occasions.
IMO, Luke Joeckel is the only player that could compete with Tyron Smith at left tackle. Joeckel will be a top 10 or possibly top 5 pick. With all the other team needs, this would be a huge investment.

My thoughts are to bring the new LT in and compete with Smith. The winner of that competition stays at LT and the other slides over to RT. Free is then moved over to RG. With this option we could possibly solve our problems at LT,RT and RG in just one draft pick. I see Smith moving back to RT. Another pick could be used later in the draft for Center or guard but I feel with this one pick, above,it will make the Oline much stronger

Oline could look like this:

LT- new draft pick, LG-Livings, C-Costa or???, RG-Free, RT-Smith

IMO, Free is not an option at OG. He has a weak upper body and is a bit of a waist bender. A 6-6 OG has too be extra-strong to overcome leverage issues that come from being that tall. When OTs are moved to OG, it is usually because they lack the foot quickness to play OT. Foot quickness is not Free's problem.

If they were going to replace Free at OT, then they could just use his 8-million annual salary on a Free Agent OG.

Of course all this depends on what the team does in FA.

The options seem limited in FA. See my thread about the OLine which lists the expected Free Agent OLinemen.

 

[VACowboy]

I'm a big John Cooper fan too. Could trade down and grab him late in the first.