Starting O-Line for 2019

[Ranching]

I'd like 15 more lbs on Conner

Take him to the gym and buffet, he'll gain 30 lbs. Or, find him a wife. He'll gain 80!!!

 

[Tangle_Foot]

As long as Fred is in the middle and everyone's healthy I'm okay with how it shakes out. The only thing that can stop us from fielding a dominant unit is health.

 

[Risen Star]

Smith Williams Frederick Martin Collins

Good talk.

 

[Hardline]

I would send Connor to a secret location and report him missing while filling him full of PEDs

 

[glimmerman]

La'El is a bust as a RT in the NFL, he either needs to be moved to LG or released.

I agree. I heard when JJ signed him he agreed with Collins that he would be RT. Why I don’t know.

 

[noshame]

Williams seems to have good feet so I'd give him a shot at RT and ultimately LT.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Here are the end-of-season grades PFF handed out for the Cowboys offensive lineman (the ones that received the majority of the snaps)…


Smith grade 80.1 (11th in the NFL)
Collins grade 71.1 (30th)
Fleming grade 55.8 (based on 240 snaps)
Martin grade 78.6 (2nd in the NFL)
Williams grade 58.3 (50th in the NFL)
Su-a Filo grade 43.3 (77th in the NFL)
Looney grade 52.0 (32nd in the NFL)

Based on my "eye" test those rankings seem realistic.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Smith grade 80.1 (11th in the NFL)
Collins grade 71.1 (30th)
Fleming grade 55.8 (based on 240 snaps)
Martin grade 78.6 (2nd in the NFL)
Williams grade 58.3 (50th in the NFL)
Su-a Filo grade 43.3 (77th in the NFL)
Looney grade 52.0 (32nd in the NFL)

It's those rankings that make me believe the performance of the offensive line in '19 will be better than what we had in '18.

Frederick is usually in the top-5 of centers.
A healthier Smith would be in the top-5 of offensive tackles.
A heavier and more experienced Williams should improve on his 50th ranking.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Smith grade 80.1 (11th in the NFL)
Collins grade 71.1 (30th)
Fleming grade 55.8 (based on 240 snaps)
Martin grade 78.6 (2nd in the NFL)
Williams grade 58.3 (50th in the NFL)
Su-a Filo grade 43.3 (77th in the NFL)
Looney grade 52.0 (32nd in the NFL)

It's those rankings that make me believe the performance of the offensive line in '19 will be better than what we had in '18.

Frederick is usually in the top-5 of centers.
A healthier Smith would be in the top-5 of offensive tackles.
A heavier and more experienced Williams should improve on his 50th ranking.

Is there a bell curve ?

 

[xwalker]

This is the starting oline I like to see this up coming season. Tyrone Smith at LT. With Fredrick coming back healthy I would like Looney at LG. After this season he deserve a starting spot. Martin at RG and the biggest surprise I would like the team to move on from Collins and save some cap space since we have so many to sign in the next 2-3 years. Conner Williams at RT he has the athleticism to play there and not have to worry about getting overpowered by other teams Guards......Thoughts?

C-Will played better when he returned to the starting line-up than he did earlier in the season.

C-Will primarily blocked Aaron Donald in the Rams game and Donald had zero sacks.

Obviously the Cowboys couldn't run against the Rams and some of that is on C-Will.

Williams will be bigger next season. Under-weight rookies are almost always bigger in their 2nd year, especially OLinemen.

Tyron ate everything he could leading up to the draft and came in at 307 pounds but his playing weight as a rookie was reported to dip below 300 at one point. He was well over 310 his 2nd season.

Jermey Parnell was about 270 when he came to the Cowboys after playing basketball in college. Within a few years he had the most powerful punch every measured by Strength and Conditioning coach Woicik and Parnell is now listed at 326.

If there is one thing the Cowboys have shown to do well, it probably making players bigger and stronger.

IMO, they might go too far with regards to strength training. I think Tyron might be lifting too heavy and maybe too often resulting in making him more prone to back and other types of injuries.

In theory swapping C-Will and La'el makes sense as well as giving Looney a legit chance to compete at OG.

The last thing they need is less depth on the OLine. They should not move on from Collins unless they have added some legit depth by the end of training camp. Collins is in the last year of his contract and they'll likely let him move on at that point.

C-Will has as good of foot quickness as about any OLineman in the NFL but is a bit under-powered at OG.

La'el's best asset is power but he lacks the foot quickness of elite OTs.

Swapping Collins and Williams would allow Collins to be the backup or 2nd backup OT. If C-Will does not move to OT, he wouldn't be able to move to OT during the season if injuries happened UNLESS he had spent significant pracrice snaps at OT in training camp.

I would make OT a fairly high priority in the draft. Currently the 2019 season would collapse if Tyron was out long term.

Most OTs can play OG if given enough practice reps there. Drafting a quality OT likely makes that player an option to play 4 positions. If that player progresses quickly then it would be easier to move on from Collins.

Final Note: La'el is not terrible. He is better than Doug Free on his best day; however, La'el is not close to being elite at OT. He has the physical ability to be elite at OG; although he does not seem to be very smart.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Is there a bell curve ?

Bell... Wasn't he released last offseason?

 

[QuincyCarterEra]

If Conner going to play LG he better hit the buffet and the weights

He was already starting to play well towards end of season despite having to overcome injury

 

[BoysForLife]

It doesn't matter who they are

With Linehan gone theyll be the latest scapegoats. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

C-Will played better when he returned to the starting line-up than he did earlier in the season.

C-Will primarily blocked Aaron Donald in the Rams game and Donald had zero sacks.

Obviously the Cowboys couldn't run against the Rams and some of that is on C-Will.

Williams will be bigger next season. Under-weight rookies are almost always bigger in their 2nd year, especially OLinemen.

Tyron ate everything he could leading up to the draft and came in at 307 pounds but his playing weight as a rookie was reported to dip below 300 at one point. He was well over 310 his 2nd season.

Jermey Parnell was about 270 when he came to the Cowboys after playing basketball in college. Within a few years he had the most powerful punch every measured by Strength and Conditioning coach Woicik and Parnell is now listed at 326.

If there is one thing the Cowboys have shown to do well, it probably making players bigger and stronger.

IMO, they might go too far with regards to strength training. I think Tyron might be lifting too heavy and maybe too often resulting in making him more prone to back and other types of injuries.

In theory swapping C-Will and La'el makes sense as well as giving Looney a legit chance to compete at OG.

The last thing they need is less depth on the OLine. They should not move on from Collins unless they have added some legit depth by the end of training camp. Collins is in the last year of his contract and they'll likely let him move on at that point.

C-Will has as good of foot quickness as about any OLineman in the NFL but is a bit under-powered at OG.

La'el's best asset is power but he lacks the foot quickness of elite OTs.

Swapping Collins and Williams would allow Collins to be the backup or 2nd backup OT. If C-Will does not move to OT, he wouldn't be able to move to OT during the season if injuries happened UNLESS he had spent significant pracrice snaps at OT in training camp.

I would make OT a fairly high priority in the draft. Currently the 2019 season would collapse if Tyron was out long term.

Most OTs can play OG if given enough practice reps there. Drafting a quality OT likely makes that player an option to play 4 positions. If that player progresses quickly then it would be easier to move on from Collins.

Final Note: La'el is not terrible. He is better than Doug Free on his best day; however, La'el is not close to being elite at OT. He has the physical ability to be elite at OG; although he does not seem to be very smart.

Yeah, I think Williams will turn into a decent guard.

And there were comments throughout the season by unbiased observers who sort of questioned the ability of the offensive line to identify what was going on in front of them.

 

[Batman1980]

Looney was JAG despite the fawning over him on these forums, these numbers seem to agree with me.

 

[cern]

Best 5, regardless of their names. Let columbo figure it out.

 

[Kaiser]

La'El is a bust as a RT in the NFL, he either needs to be moved to LG or released.

Collins is a bust if you slept through the 2017 season. He had very strong games against some of the best DEs in the league last year.

This season he had the most trouble with the switch to Paul Alexander's techniques and the Cowboys cleared voted on the Collins side when they fired Alexander. When Columbo came in Collins steadily iimproved when he went back to his old technique.

Collins was above average in 2018 and below average for the first half of 2019, then average for the rest of the year. He will be fine next year and he will also go back to the added advantage of playing next to a healthy Zack Martin who can cover some of his mistakes.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Looney was JAG despite the fawning over him on these forums, these numbers seem to agree with me.

Agreed.

He is what he is... An adequate backup.

His splits between his pass blocking grade and run blocking grade was large–65.4 to 45.2. He could pass block some but his run blocking was bad.

Even if the four other starters played the same in '19 and they did in '18, just having Frederick out there would give a big boost to the Oline.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Collins is a bust if you slept through the 2017 season. He had very strong games against some of the best DEs in the league last year.

This season he had the most trouble with the switch to Paul Alexander's techniques and the Cowboys cleared voted on the Collins side when they fired Alexander. When Columbo came in Collins steadily iimproved when he went back to his old technique.

Collins was above average in 2018 and below average for the first half of 2019, then average for the rest of the year. He will be fine next year and he will also go back to the added advantage of playing next to a healthy Zack Martin who can cover some of his mistakes.

Yep, Martin's knee injury didn't help Collins at all.

 

[Batman1980]

Agreed.

He is what he is... An adequate backup.

His splits between his pass blocking grade and run blocking grade was large–65.4 to 45.2. He could pass block some but his run blocking was bad.

Even if the four other starters played the same in '19 and they did in '18, just having Frederick out there would give a big boost to the Oline.

A new OC and hopefully new weapons at TE and WR and Frederick alone should be a massive shot in the arm for our offense. Anything less than 28 PPG with the talent we have next season and I will consider it underperforming.