burmafrd
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Was feeling bored and thought I would pile on in the LT frenzy we have going on right now.
Free is clearly the cowboys choice to start at LT. Seems reasonable since he did a decent job on Jared Allen who is absolutley one of the best in the NFL. Free clearly is quick enough; the only question is is he strong enough to handle the best bull rushers. Only way we will know for sure will be in the games. And actually there are a lot more speed rushers so overall its of the good.
Now the caveat is of course that Free has not played more then one game at LT so you really cannot know how well he will do over a season. Once again we will have to wait and see.
The only other caveat is that one can make a case that our coaching staff is not exactly known for being able to evaluate O line all that well. Which is a sad but true fact.
That leads into the next question: the backup or swing tackle. Right now we do not have one (McQ does not count-and I doubt he ever really did. Even the year before when the Hotel was working with one arm and a badly infected hand neither McQ or Free were put in any games. The light aparently came on with Free but its still dark with McQ).
One should not count on Brewster who does not have even one NFL practice under his belt and was not considered ready to start last year anyway; or backup for that matter if it came down to it. Can we really count on him this year? Maybe if he has a great camp but you would still wonder.
Young really cannot be counted- I think the Boys were unduly impressed by him starting 50 games- in what is arguably the worst 50 game stretch the ND O line has had in half a century. Even in the down period before Lou the O line was decent to good. It sucked pretty bad in 2007, and only marginally got better the next two years. It was not all that great in 2006, either.
So that leads to the conclusion that the Boys will be looking for a vet tackle for at least this year and maybe next.
If we want real insurance then lets give up our 2011 2nd rd pick and get Gaither- he will be cheap this year as regards salary. And we can let him and Free fight it out to see who is better. At the very least we have a top grade sub for both tackles for this year. By next year we can then decide if its worth trying to sign him for longer, or let him go for Brewster if he developes as hoped. A 2011 2nd rd pick seems reasonable for extra options and one year of very good insurance.
Free is clearly the cowboys choice to start at LT. Seems reasonable since he did a decent job on Jared Allen who is absolutley one of the best in the NFL. Free clearly is quick enough; the only question is is he strong enough to handle the best bull rushers. Only way we will know for sure will be in the games. And actually there are a lot more speed rushers so overall its of the good.
Now the caveat is of course that Free has not played more then one game at LT so you really cannot know how well he will do over a season. Once again we will have to wait and see.
The only other caveat is that one can make a case that our coaching staff is not exactly known for being able to evaluate O line all that well. Which is a sad but true fact.
That leads into the next question: the backup or swing tackle. Right now we do not have one (McQ does not count-and I doubt he ever really did. Even the year before when the Hotel was working with one arm and a badly infected hand neither McQ or Free were put in any games. The light aparently came on with Free but its still dark with McQ).
One should not count on Brewster who does not have even one NFL practice under his belt and was not considered ready to start last year anyway; or backup for that matter if it came down to it. Can we really count on him this year? Maybe if he has a great camp but you would still wonder.
Young really cannot be counted- I think the Boys were unduly impressed by him starting 50 games- in what is arguably the worst 50 game stretch the ND O line has had in half a century. Even in the down period before Lou the O line was decent to good. It sucked pretty bad in 2007, and only marginally got better the next two years. It was not all that great in 2006, either.
So that leads to the conclusion that the Boys will be looking for a vet tackle for at least this year and maybe next.
If we want real insurance then lets give up our 2011 2nd rd pick and get Gaither- he will be cheap this year as regards salary. And we can let him and Free fight it out to see who is better. At the very least we have a top grade sub for both tackles for this year. By next year we can then decide if its worth trying to sign him for longer, or let him go for Brewster if he developes as hoped. A 2011 2nd rd pick seems reasonable for extra options and one year of very good insurance.
