Luke Joeckel

[Time4aRing]

Originally Posted by Kemp17

Did I say otherwise about Mike Adams?

Maybe I read this wrong:

Originally Posted by Kemp17

Matthews could realistically end up in the 2nd round. He's got right tackle feet all the way and we've seen tackles slip like that (Martin, Adams, etc.). Not a guarantee, but very possible.

[v-jaxdabeast]

Originally Posted by Kemp17

Didn't realize Konz had gotten into the lineup. Took him until week 7. My point still stands.

Ya I understand your point, and with 4-5 good OL likely to be taken in round 1, we should take one in round 1.

[frozendisc]

Originally Posted by Kemp17

Only offensive linemen taken in the first round figure to be a good bet to be upgrades in their rookie seasons. Obviously good linemen can be found throughout the draft, but outside of round 1 a lot of them struggle mightily as rookies. 2012 draft examples:

-Mitchell Schwartz, OT, taken 37th by the Browns was a turnstile for the first half of the season at RT.

-Amini Silatolu, OG, taken 40th by the Panthers has been a big part of the running game struggles in Carolina.

-Jonathan Martin, OT, taken 42nd by the Dolphins has been one of the worst pass protecting tackles in the league this season.

-Jeff Allen, OG, taken 44th by the Chiefs did not win the starting job from Lilja and struggled mightilty when he had to come in due to Hudson's injury.

-Peter Konz, C, taken 55th by Atlanta hasn't cracked the starting lineup.

-Mike Adams, OT, taken 56th by the Steelers was awful in camp and preseason and forced the Steelers to bring back the overweight Max Starks.

-Kelechi Osemele, OT, taken 60th by the Ravens should be known as a terrible pass protector this year by Charger fans after getting shellacked by our defense last week.

-Josh LeRibeus, OG, taken 71st by the Redskins hasn't played a down.

-Donald Stephenson, OT, taken 74th by the Chiefs has been guilty of bonehead penalties when not giving up huge negative plays (like JJ's safety).

-Brandon Brooks, OG, taken 76th by the Texans has not been able to crack the lineup despite the RG position being probably the worst on the team.

-Bobby Massie, OT, taken 112th has been the worst pass protecting right tackle in the league this year.

I'm sure a lot of those guys will become very good players. But our line needs help asap.There is only one offensive lineman in the draft taken outside of round one that's played well consistently, and that's Cordy Glenn. I'm all for taking an offensive lineman in the first round, but if we count on guys taken outside of round one being upgrades over what we have now then we're bound to be disappointed. As bad as Green, Hadnot, Harris, and Clary have been, the odds that a 2nd round or later rookie would be a significant upgrade are very slim. And that doesn't mean we shouldn't draft any linemen after the first round- only that we shouldn't do so counting on them to be good players right away. It will probably take most of the season or their entire rookie year for them to get into a groove.

On the other hand, free agents have a much better chance of coming in and playing at a high level right away. My FA of choice, Andy Levitre, is only 26 and in his prime. Of course there will be guys who are washed up but they aren't the ones we have to go after either.

As a general rule, the above statement seems reasonable......the failure is not acknowledging just how bad the Bolts O-Line actually is. There is currently an UDFA starting at LT......enough said.



GO BOLTS !

[Kemp17]

Originally Posted by Time4aRing

Maybe I read this wrong:

Oh yeah I see how you read that. What I was saying was that Matthews could slip and here's the evidence. 1) he's got RT feet and 2) we've seen tackles projected in the first round slip into the 2nd pretty often. Adams was an example of the latter, not the former.

[Time4aRing]

Originally Posted by Kemp17

Oh yeah I see how you read that. What I was saying was that Matthews could slip and here's the evidence. 1) he's got RT feet and 2) we've seen tackles projected in the first round slip into the 2nd pretty often. Adams was an example of the latter, not the former.

Gotcha

[sonorajim]

Originally Posted by frozendisc

As a general rule, the above statement seems reasonable......the failure is not acknowledging just how bad the Bolts O-Line actually is. There is currently an UDFA starting at LT......enough said.



GO BOLTS !

Not exactly. You left out the part where our UDFA LT is playing better ball than some of the 1st rd LTs.
Harris has faced some of the best rushers in the NFL and has steadily improved. His game vs Dumerville was pretty respectable.
That said it's obvious to see we need help. The Chargers can't prop up both OTs and Clary seems to have regressed. C and LG are points of interest also.

[Kemp17]

Originally Posted by sonorajim

Not exactly. You left out the part where our UDFA LT is playing better ball than some of the 1st rd LTs.
Harris has faced some of the best rushers in the NFL and has steadily improved. His game vs Dumerville was pretty respectable.
That said it's obvious to see we need help. The Chargers can't prop up both OTs and Clary seems to have regressed. C and LG are points of interest also.

Harris has graded out consistently as the worst tackle in all of football over the last 10 weeks. He looked better than some first round picks in preseason and week one vs the Raiders, but that might at well be a thousand years ago. Every single evaluator of tackle play agrees that he has allowed the most pressures, hits, and sacks of any player at either left or right tackle... worse than Batiste in Arizona even. And that's on top of the fact that he can't run block to save his life. He has not steadily improved at all. He had one decent game to start the year (that looked better than it was at the time now that we know that Shaughnessy can't rush the passer to save his life this year) and has been pure and unadulterated garbage since. Far and away the worst offensive lineman in football, let alone on our team.

[JMelHo]

Originally Posted by sonorajim

Not exactly. You left out the part where our UDFA LT is playing better ball than some of the 1st rd LTs.
Harris has faced some of the best rushers in the NFL and has steadily improved. His game vs Dumerville was pretty respectable.
That said it's obvious to see we need help. The Chargers can't prop up both OTs and Clary seems to have regressed. C and LG are points of interest also.

Last game, Harris got blown back by Kruger and if he wasn't such a slow stumbler falling to the ground, Rivers would've eaten another sack.

[Rek]

We need to trade up for Joeckel if necessary.

[BearWithJetpack]

One game closer to Joeckel. Love it.