Thinking through the OL mess

[DLCassidy]

Valid points, but whats the big deal of sitting a player two years. Wouldn't you want Adams replacement to be on the team? What if Backus or Adams suffered a season ending injury? I think Fabini will not be cheap. I am not to fond of paing a 31 year old player a 8 to 10 million dollar signing bonus. You are right about Mawae, but I don't want to take any playing time away from Johnson. Fonutui will be cheap. If he can't get his weight under control we can cut him. Low risk, high reward.

12 years ago you could draft a guy in round 1 and let him watch and learn for 2 years. Now with FA it doesn't make sense. More and more, rookies have to play as rookies. The only position it makes remote sense is QB and even there 2 years is hard to justify for a 1st rounder. Draft picks are like gold- you've got to mine their value before you lose them. I wouldn't mind drafting and playing McNeil or even Winston but we both know the braintrust isn't thinking that way.

Please stop talking about Backus- he's not even on the radar for the reasons I listed. The reason Fabini makes sense is he may not have any bites out there to have him play starting LT at this stage of his career, therefore the price drops once you're talking RT or backup money. I can't see us giving him a huge contract.

Johnson needs to be pushed- hard. He wasn't the biggest problem on our line but he wasn't a solution either. Assuming he's healthy Mawae is capable of playing at a high level. If AJ wants to start, let him earn it.

And you can also forget Fonutui for 2 reasons: 1) we will not cut Allen for that fat load and 2) BP doesn't like fat OL guys much. It's one thing for a draft pick if he can run him into the ground or cut him (I've seen him do it) but he won't waste time with an out of shape vet on the OL. H#ll he nearly cut LA when he got here because he wasn't in good enough shape and he's a HOF'er. No, LA gets 1 more year but we need a top guard in round 2 to replace him next year.

 

[junk]

We'll be kicking ourselves over that one for a while.

I really don't think Burnett was a "need" pick though - BP had his OLBs in Ware and Singleton - and Burnett wasn't exactly a prototypical 3-4 guy. In fact, BP remarked right after the draft that he saw him as an ILB in the future. I think it was a simple case of our scouts having Burnett rated higher.

I am as big of an Al S. supporter as you will find, but even I know BP didn't think he had his OLB in Singleton. He thought he had a solid vet that would keep the spot warm until he found someone better.

I think he hoped it would be Fujita.

 

[DLCassidy]

I am as big of an Al S. supporter as you will find, but even I know BP didn't think he had his OLB in Singleton. He thought he had a solid vet that would keep the spot warm until he found someone better.

I think he hoped it would be Fujita.

Didn't we sign Fujita only because Al got hurt?

 

[neosapien23]

12 years ago you could draft a guy in round 1 and let him watch and learn for 2 years. Now with FA it doesn't make sense. More and more, rookies have to play as rookies. The only position it makes remote sense is QB and even there 2 years is hard to justify for a 1st rounder. Draft picks are like gold- you've got to mine their value before you lose them. I wouldn't mind drafting and playing McNeil or even Winston but we both know the braintrust isn't thinking that way.

Please stop talking about Backus- he's not even on the radar for the reasons I listed. The reason Fabini makes sense is he may not have any bites out there to have him play starting LT at this stage of his career, therefore the price drops once you're talking RT or backup money. I can't see us giving him a huge contract.

Johnson needs to be pushed- hard. He wasn't the biggest problem on our line but he wasn't a solution either. Assuming he's healthy Mawae is capable of playing at a high level. If AJ wants to start, let him earn it.

And you can also forget Fonutui for 2 reasons: 1) we will not cut Allen for that fat load and 2) BP doesn't like fat OL guys much. It's one thing for a draft pick if he can run him into the ground or cut him (I've seen him do it) but he won't waste time with an out of shape vet on the OL. H#ll he nearly cut LA when he got here because he wasn't in good enough shape and he's a HOF'er. No, LA gets 1 more year but we need a top guard in round 2 to replace him next year.

I still think that we should draft a top guard and tackle this year. Rogers is a bust and Peterman is looking like he might be joining him at the uneployement line. Draft the tackle and guard now. Unless the BPA plays another position.

 

[neosapien23]

Didn't we sign Fujita only because Al got hurt?

No we signed him in preseason after the injury to Thorton.

 

[Mike 1967]

Good thread

It is nice to see people discuss differences in opinion without flaming each other.

Kudo's to everyone on this thread. (At least those above this post )

 

[junk]

No we signed him in preseason after the injury to Thorton.

No, they traded for him in preseason because the LB depth was thin and pretty lousy.

 

[neosapien23]

Thorton hadn't been placed on IR, but he was already exhibiting symptoms of a tear. Your right though our depth was the main reason Fujita was signed in the first place.