What's an easier transition for Connor, RT or LG?

[erod]

I want Collins at guard.

However, Williams has the same short arm issue as Collins, so just leave Collins out wide, and let the rookie play on the side he's accustomed to being on.

If Collins at right tackle is our biggest weakness, then we have a terrific offensive line.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Correct me if wrong but I believe he played LT all three years at Texas. We announced him as G. The idea is to put this kid in the best position for immediate success. We know Collins can play either position as Stephen Jones reminded us. I guess my question if you're the Cowboys during training camp, are you plugging him at LG and leave him or try him at RT also see if that's a better fit. The key here again is we know Collins can play either.

I'd plug him into OG and let Collins develop at RT. Folks give Collins a ton of crap for his uneven season, but fail to remember it was his first season at the position as a pro. I'd wager he'll get better if allowed to have some continuity.

I really like Williams at OG and think his transition will be successful like Zach Martin's. Williams has a real nasty streak to him if you watch him play; we need some of that. All of our linemen are too gentleman-like.

 

[Jumbo075]

Correct me if wrong but I believe he played LT all three years at Texas. We announced him as G. The idea is to put this kid in the best position for immediate success. We know Collins can play either position as Stephen Jones reminded us. I guess my question if you're the Cowboys during training camp, are you plugging him at LG and leave him or try him at RT also see if that's a better fit. The key here again is we know Collins can play either.

My complaint about Collins at RT is that his arms are too short. Williams arms are even shorter, so Williams needs to stay inside at the Pro level. The thing that concerns me about Williams is that there just isn't a lot of tape on him pulling and blocking on the run. That doesn't mean he can't do it. It just means we don't know about his ability to do it, based on his college tape.

Having said that, I was texting back and forth with a Bears fan, and when he asked my target for the Cowboy, I gave him this list (in order):

1. DE Harold James (pick 41)
2. DB Josh Jackson (pick 45)
3. OG Will Hernandez (pick 34)
4. WR Courtland Sutton (pick 40)
5. OG/C James Daniel (pick 39)
6. OT/G Connor Williams
   
7. OG Braden Smith (pick 37)
8. DT Harrison Phillips
9. S Jessie Bates
   
10. OLB Darius Leonard (pick 36)
11. S Ronnie Harrison
12. WR James Washington

He thought the Cowboys should pick Chark, but I never liked Chark as a prospect. Admittedly, I didn't do enough research on the WR class to make an intelligent assessment of who I thought was a good prospect. But I did watch some tape, and had some first impressions about who the Cowboys should NOT pick. I didn't like Chark, Pettis or Kirk as good fits, and I didn't want a 1st round WR. At the time the Cowboys picked at #50, 7 of my top 12 2nd round targets were gone, and Williams was the top-rated player remaining on my list.

I think either Bates or Ronnie Harrison was probably the defensive guy the Cowboys were looking at as an alternative to Williams. Also, P.J. Hall was one of my "pet cat" candidates, but I wanted him in the 4th round. I was surprised the Raiders used a 2nd round pick for him. I am surprised Harrison Phillips and Ronnie Harrison fell to the late 3rd round. I would have picked either one of them over Gallup - but then again, I didn't really have a good feel for the WR class. I only knew who I didn't like.

 

[jterrell]

Playing Left side his entire life basically it'll be easier to have him play LG. He can take reps as a depth LT for sure and that may eventually be his ceiling but is more just somewhere he can play in a pinch.

Key thing is he is 20. OL are seldom filled out by 20. Tyron was pretty raw when he drafted him but he had the physical attributes and grew into All Pro.
Connor doesn't have that ceiling but he will get much better as he grows into an NFL OL body.
I love the pick because you can't pay everyone on that OL proven vet money and I'd much rather have a young ascending player than a scrap heap reclamation project be what I could afford.
Connor is basically a replacmeent for Chaz Green. 1st shot to win LG and also a back up option at LT.

 

[CyberB0b]

He would get demolished at RT in league:

"There are a lot of problems for Williams in the NFL. The biggest issues is that he is not strong at all. He plays soft and gets pushed around. He lacks strength in his base and speed rushers can give him problems. He has an issue with sustaining blocks as defenders can break away from his blocks. "

LG is the ideal position for him.

 

[Kaiser]

Playing Left side his entire life basically it'll be easier to have him play LG. He can take reps as a depth LT for sure and that may eventually be his ceiling but is more just somewhere he can play in a pinch.

Key thing is he is 20. OL are seldom filled out by 20. Tyron was pretty raw when he drafted him but he had the physical attributes and grew into All Pro.
Connor doesn't have that ceiling but he will get much better as he grows into an NFL OL body.
I love the pick because you can't pay everyone on that OL proven vet money and I'd much rather have a young ascending player than a scrap heap reclamation project be what I could afford.
Connor is basically a replacmeent for Chaz Green. 1st shot to win LG and also a back up option at LT.

Agree on all points. They definitely saw Williams as a LG, plug him in there and you don't have to think about OL for the next five years.

 

[jterrell]

My complaint about Collins at RT is that his arms are too short. Williams arms are even shorter, so Williams needs to stay inside at the Pro level. The thing that concerns me about Williams is that there just isn't a lot of tape on him pulling and blocking on the run. That doesn't mean he can't do it. It just means we don't know about his ability to do it, based on his college tape.

Having said that, I was texting back and forth with a Bears fan, and when he asked my target for the Cowboy, I gave him this list (in order):

1. DE Harold James (pick 41)
2. DB Josh Jackson (pick 45)
3. OG Will Hernandez (pick 34)
4. WR Courtland Sutton (pick 40)
5. OG/C James Daniel (pick 39)
6. OT/G Connor Williams
   
7. OG Braden Smith (pick 37)
8. DT Harrison Phillips
9. S Jessie Bates
   
10. OLB Darius Leonard (pick 36)
11. S Ronnie Harrison
12. WR James Washington

He thought the Cowboys should pick Chark, but I never liked Chark as a prospect. Admittedly, I didn't do enough research on the WR class to make an intelligent assessment of who I thought was a good prospect. But I did watch some tape, and had some first impressions about who the Cowboys should NOT pick. I didn't like Chark, Pettis or Kirk as good fits, and I didn't want a 1st round WR. At the time the Cowboys picked at #50, 7 of my top 12 2nd round targets were gone, and Williams was the top-rated player remaining on my list.

I think either Bates or Ronnie Harrison was probably the defensive guy the Cowboys were looking at as an alternative to Williams. Also, P.J. Hall was one of my "pet cat" candidates, but I wanted him in the 4th round. I was surprised the Raiders used a 2nd round pick for him. I am surprised Harrison Phillips and Ronnie Harrison fell to the late 3rd round. I would have picked either one of them over Gallup - but then again, I didn't really have a good feel for the WR class. I only knew who I didn't like.

Good post.
A few notes tho.
Safety is severely undervalued right now. NFL teams are able to use nickel guys in roles they can draft rounds 4-6 there. They can also draft box safety types in the same area for run downs.
Lots of vets out there begging for work and shocked market is as bad as it for the position.
Ronnie Harrison is a good player but he is limited to what schemes he can play and may not be better than Kavon Frazier. BirdDog suggested he wouldn't be on Cowboys board at all. They were studying and asking for profiles of center fielder types, not Box players.

There were lots of really good WRs but yes they all had flaws. You didn't have that stud guy who was truly elite athletically and in production as a walk in WR1. So you had flavors of WRs and you had to pick your flavor. Gallup was basically the guy who checked the most boxes without having any one insane trait but few had seen him play since he went to Colo St. He did have 5 catches for 81 yards versus Bama tho. He was never a guy who was just shut out. I really love his after the catch work. To me that's big because that is a sign he got more for his team than the offense was really able to deliver. My biggest knock on Ridley was his lack of after the catch stuff. Gallup had 1200 yards after catch in his 2 seasons at Colo St.

 

[movaughn88]

Guard. In fact,.... word is he has already been working out at guard and receiving professional training to make the transition easier. Now he just needs to pack on a little extra weight, maybe ten pounds or so for now.

I went to college w/ a guy who played in the NFL as an OL for 5 or 6 years, he said he easily gained 30 lbs of muscle between senior year of college and first year in the bigs. Did admit to some pharmaceutical assistance though, lol.

Either way, 10-15 lbs of "good" weight should be doable.

 

[BoysWin]

Correct me if wrong but I believe he played LT all three years at Texas. We announced him as G. The idea is to put this kid in the best position for immediate success. We know Collins can play either position as Stephen Jones reminded us. I guess my question if you're the Cowboys during training camp, are you plugging him at LG and leave him or try him at RT also see if that's a better fit. The key here again is we know Collins can play either.

And Zach Martin played LT at ND. Conner Williams is gonna be great at LG!

 

[Cap12]

Williams should be fine moving to LG.

 

[BlindFaith]

Playing Left side his entire life basically it'll be easier to have him play LG. He can take reps as a depth LT for sure and that may eventually be his ceiling but is more just somewhere he can play in a pinch.

Key thing is he is 20. OL are seldom filled out by 20. Tyron was pretty raw when he drafted him but he had the physical attributes and grew into All Pro.
Connor doesn't have that ceiling but he will get much better as he grows into an NFL OL body.
I love the pick because you can't pay everyone on that OL proven vet money and I'd much rather have a young ascending player than a scrap heap reclamation project be what I could afford.
Connor is basically a replacmeent for Chaz Green. 1st shot to win LG and also a back up option at LT.

Exactly. We could have just picked Smiths replacement in a couple years, if not sooner depending on his back.

This was the perfect pick here. I wouldn't have been a fan of taking a pure guard, but Williams can play anywhere.

 

[speedkilz88]

 

[Sandyf]

Best thing about him is he could move to OT if we had a problem with Smith and an injury. Williams best fit would be LG due to short arms. He was considered a top 5 OT in 2016 but a knee injury ruined his 2017 year. Believe we will see LT Smith, LG Williams, OC Frederick, RG Martin, RT Collins with Looney as the backup OC/OG, M. Martin as backup LG/RG, Fleming as the swing OT and if we draft Desmond Harrison in the sixth it will be between him and Green for the last OL spot.

 

[HungryLion]

Guard. In fact,.... word is he has already been working out at guard and receiving professional training to make the transition easier. Now he just needs to pack on a little extra weight, maybe ten pounds or so for now.

This is my preference too.

Leave Collins at RT. That way there’s only one new starter going into the season. Plus Connor has the physical ability to be a great guard. He just needs the reps.

 

[DallasDomination]

I dont care as long as whatever combination we do Lael Collins never plays RT again.