Stephen Comments on Oline

[sdfidaho]

Listening to the Cowboys presser today, Stephen Jones was asked about the Cowboys offense line.

I may be reading too much into his comments but he stated that we feel better about where the offensive line is this year and Fleming upgraded their top 5 guys over what they had last season. He said they are fortunate the Collins is versatile and can be a great player at LG or RT.

Why say our top 5 guys, if they are looking to find a sure fire LG in the draft?

Sounds to me like Collins is moving to LG, Fleming is the starting RT and they will look at drafting a G or T in the draft but maybe not necessarily a starter. Feels like they may lean towards finding T to compete with Fleming in my opinion.

I think we can rule out Hernandez or Wynn in round one and they will take the best T or G some where in rounds 2 to 4.

Nothing he said is probably incorrect if you break down each sentence.
But he also didn’t say the line is set.
Color me surprised and disappointed if they don’t take an OL in the first 3 rounds that they think can flourish at LG

 

[Sydla]

What worries me is that evidently the rest of the NFL didn't think Flemming is a starter but the Cowboys do. I say draft a guard in the 2nd or 3rd and give them every chance to start. Collins to G should be worst case/last resort in my opinion.

I am OK with an OG in the mid rounds but the part about worrying about Fleming because no one else signed him doesn’t move the needle for me.

No one wanted Cooper and we turned him into a serviceable player.

 

[Mr_437]

LC wants to play RT. Keep your guys happy, an don't move Collins back to LG for th Patriots 3rd string OT...that's disrespectful. Go draft a plug n play OG an be done wit th OL. No need to get cute.

 

[Bluefin]

Why say our top 5 guys, if they are looking to find a sure fire LG in the draft?

Should Stephen Jones have just admitted to the world that the team wants to select a LG?

The coaches and front office do like to chirp about putting the best five OL on the field together, and moving La'el Collins back to LG is a possibility, but I doubt it's what they want.

Cameron Fleming is on a one year deal, is it ideal to push for him to start at RT and shift Collins inside again?

If Fleming starts at RT, the team has done nada about the swing tackle, which is a huge problem.

Chaz Green has talent, an injury history, his confidence may be shot, he's entering the last year of his contract, and I have no idea if he'll be on the roster for the opener against Carolina.

I do believe Collins has more potential at LG than RT, but I just don't see the team moving him again unless absolutely necessary.

Let him continue to grow at RT, draft a LG and let him compete, and move along.

OL
1. LT Tyron Smith
2. LG Marcus Martin vs Rookie draftee
3. C Travis Frederick
4. RG Zack Martin
5. RT La'el Collins

6. ST Cameron Fleming
7. C/G Joe Looney
8. loser of LG competition
9. OT Chaz Green

 

[tm1119]

I am OK with an OG in the mid rounds but the part about worrying about Fleming because no one else signed him doesn’t move the needle for me.

No one wanted Cooper and we turned him into a serviceable player.

The standard shouldn't be Cooper. And serviceable at RT shows up a heck of a lot more than a LG that played between 2 all pros most of the season. Fleming would be 1 on 1 with really good pass rushers on the edge. Collins faced some killers last year...and more than held his own. Not going to pretend to have watched Fleming enough to know whether he can or can't handle it full time, but when no other teams are interested in a 26 year old OT sitting on the free agent market it seems a little weird to me.I hope I'm wrong, maybe the cowboys see something and he ends up being a good starter...but it's a big red flag for me.

 

[jnday]

I am OK with an OG in the mid rounds but the part about worrying about Fleming because no one else signed him doesn’t move the needle for me.

No one wanted Cooper and we turned him into a serviceable player.

Cooper wasn't serviceable player. He was a the best of the worst. The line play declined last year and it was easy to see. The line is the identity of the team and it has been the biggest strength. They don't need some jag at the LG position. They need a top quality guard or Dak will really be exposed and Zeke won't be very good when he is getting hit in the backfield.

 

[Killerinstinct]

This is disappointing to me. I think I would draft a starting guard, leave Collins at RT and consider Fleming an upgrade at swing tackle and insurance against Tron's back.

Wynn would be the player I am hoping is there at 19. Daniels as a backup plan if Wynn is gone and Hernandez as a target after a trade down.

 

[Johnny23]

Because we will screw around the entire offseason with different combos trying to find that best 5. They probably won’t make a decision until about 48 hours before the opener. The line needs stability, not a constant shuffling of the deck. I freaking hate position flex

It's not as much position flex. Say how Arizona used Honeybadger and Buchanon to create havoc on defense to go with that frontline. Amd just pure idiocy by decision makers in the front office ans coachong staff.

 

[Teague31]

It’s not about talent. Leary was UDFA and Free was a 4th rounder who was never better than above average. The line was great because of the chemistry. 5 guys learning together and taking all the meaningful snaps during the offseason. Not this ridiculous rearranging of the deck chairs in the titanic just so we can rave about position flex. By the end of May we should have our 5 set in stone. Those 5 need to take the snaps. Period.

 

[Doomsday]

Should Stephen Jones have just admitted to the world that the team wants to select a LG?

The coaches and front office do like to chirp about putting the best five OL on the field together, and moving La'el Collins back to LG is a possibility, but I doubt it's what they want.

Cameron Fleming is on a one year deal, is it ideal to push for him to start at RT and shift Collins inside again?

If Fleming starts at RT, the team has done nada about the swing tackle, which is a huge problem.

Chaz Green has talent, an injury history, his confidence may be shot, he's entering the last year of his contract, and I have no idea if he'll be on the roster for the opener against Carolina.

I do believe Collins has more potential at LG than RT, but I just don't see the team moving him again unless absolutely necessary.

Let him continue to grow at RT, draft a LG and let him compete, and move along.

OL
1. LT Tyron Smith
2. LG Marcus Martin vs Rookie draftee
3. C Travis Frederick
4. RG Zack Martin
5. RT La'el Collins

6. ST Cameron Fleming
7. C/G Joe Looney
8. loser of LG competition
9. OT Chaz Green

I get what you are saying, but why not just say we are keeping our options open or whatever?

I could be over reacting to what he is saying, but he and Jerry have a tendency to be fairly honest in their assessments and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they drafted a T to compete with Fleming in the first few rounds as opposed to looking for a starting G.

They may also be thinking that if there is an injury at T they could Collins out there, which gives them even more flexibility. To me that wouldn't be ideal, but it is just the impression I got based on what he was saying.

 

[Sarge]

WE ARE GOING DEFENSE IN ROUND 1!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[northerncowboynation]

Listening to the Cowboys presser today, Stephen Jones was asked about the Cowboys offense line.

I may be reading too much into his comments but he stated that we feel better about where the offensive line is this year and Fleming upgraded their top 5 guys over what they had last season. He said they are fortunate the Collins is versatile and can be a great player at LG or RT.

Why say our top 5 guys, if they are looking to find a sure fire LG in the draft?

Sounds to me like Collins is moving to LG, Fleming is the starting RT and they will look at drafting a G or T in the draft but maybe not necessarily a starter. Feels like they may lean towards finding T to compete with Fleming in my opinion.

I think we can rule out Hernandez or Wynn in round one and they will take the best T or G some where in rounds 2 to 4.

Totally depends on where the team see's Collins best fit, Do they see him as a LG or RT. Fans are split on that, I hope the coaches aren't. If Collins moves to LG then at the VERY LEAST we need a starting quality RT even if it's just to compete with Flemming. If Femming beats him out, and we have a new swing tackle, that would be great. If the new guy beats out Flemming then Flemming is our swing tackle. Also great. Flemming signed a small one year contract. I don't see that as starting quality and I can't imagine finding a good one that cheap or the team seeing him as starting quality with a 1 year deal.

If Collins stays at RT, LG is a need and I don't see ruling out Hernandez at all. A poster on here informed me that Wynn had major shoulder surgery a month ago. He missed the Goergia Pro Day because of it. We didn't even bring him in. I don't see Wynn in the equation at 19. He may slip down the board and we might take him later but he's a risk. Can you say second round!!

 

[morasp]

Austin Corbett is the name to keep an eye on. Versatile guard/tackle.

I like him better than Braden Smith. He has good football intelligence. We would probably have to take him at 50.

 

[Sydla]

The standard shouldn't be Cooper. And serviceable at RT shows up a heck of a lot more than a LG that played between 2 all pros most of the season. Fleming would be 1 on 1 with really good pass rushers on the edge. Collins faced some killers last year...and more than held his own. Not going to pretend to have watched Fleming enough to know whether he can or can't handle it full time, but when no other teams are interested in a 26 year old OT sitting on the free agent market it seems a little weird to me.I hope I'm wrong, maybe the cowboys see something and he ends up being a good starter...but it's a big red flag for me.

The standard only needs to be Cooper. That’s the point. You don’t need an All Pro at every spot along the OL. At some point you get diminishing returns when you just try to stock every OL spot with a top asset.

 

[Sydla]

Cooper wasn't serviceable player. He was a the best of the worst. The line play declined last year and it was easy to see. The line is the identity of the team and it has been the biggest strength. They don't need some jag at the LG position. They need a top quality guard or Dak will really be exposed and Zeke won't be very good when he is getting hit in the backfield.

Nope. The OL was fine with Cooper. It was when Smith started to scuffle with his back that OL play started to suffer.

If this team needs a high level elite type LG in order to make this OL “work” then the problems go well beyond who is playing LG.

Some of you really need to think about what you are saying. That despite having arguably a Top 3 LT, a Top 3 C, the best RG in football and an up and coming RT who probably would have been a first round pick, this OL can’t work and play well unless they use a top pick in the draft to grab a rookie OG.

 

[Stash]

Nope. The OL was fine with Cooper. It was when Smith started to scuffle with his back that OL play started to suffer.

If this team needs a high level elite type LG in order to make this OL “work” then the problems go well beyond who is playing LG.

Some of you really need to think about what you are saying. That despite having arguably a Top 3 LT, a Top 3 C, the best RG in football and an up and coming RT who probably would have been a first round pick, this OL can’t work and play well unless they use a top pick in the draft to grab a rookie OG.

I think that you also need to think about what you are saying. You're saying that because the guy who plays next to you is great at his job, that means that you don't have to be good at yours. That's simply not true.

And it was proven at the start of last year. This team was averaging just 22 points a game while Chaz Green was mistakenly forced into the lineup (a 3rd pick I might add). When Cooper joined the group, the points scored immediately went up to over 30!

That Top 3 LT, Top 3 Center, the best RG in football, and up and coming RT could get nothing going against the Denver Broncos in week 2 with Chaz Green among them. They were totally shut down and neutralized, to the tune of 9 carries for 8 yards for Elliott.

But I agree with you that the line was fine with Cooper, but not fine with Green. Neither Smith nor Frederick played up to past standards while they had to worry about whether or not Green could do his job. The line's lack of cohesiveness was clear and telling. And that's a great reason why many of us wouldn't have this huge problem with drafting another lineman in round one.

The past investments and play of other positions shouldn't force your hand not to draft a high quality player at a clear position of need.

 

[Sydla]

And yet somehow multiple teams seem to make it work at OL with far less investments.

 

[reddyuta]

so we are good with oline,safeties and LBs according to Stephen,if he truly believes that than we are in for a rough future.

 

[CPanther95]

And yet somehow multiple teams seem to make it work at OL with far less investments.

That's because the hit rate on offensive lineman is almost as high in the 2nd round (70%) as it is in the 1st round (83%). Offensive linemen are still the highest hit rate of any position into the 3rd round where it is still a respectable 40%.

 

[conner01]

If it gets the best five out there why do you care?

Because it involves more moves, sets Collins back in his development and means we don’t have a swing tackle, unless you consider green