Can Beachum beat out Gilbert at RT?

Part of me hopes not because we need Gilbert to be what we hoped for when we spent a 2nd rd pick on him but I Love underdogs succeeding ( part of why I became a Steeler fan and why Rocky is my favorite player) so to see Beachum win the starting RT spot would be cool too.

Your thoughts????

Cajun-

 

I am for putting the best 5 on the field. If that happens to be Beachum I am all for it!

 

I think he can beat out gilbert, but with our lack of depth on the o-line, he may be more valuable as a back up

 

He can still be the top back-up and start at RT. Pouncey moved to LG and Legs came in at Center last year. Foster can also play a couple positions.

I'm all about fielding the top guys. Maybe Gilbert can be our top OT back-up @ LT/RT.

Cajun-

 

It would suck that we have invested a 2nd round pick on Gilbert and haven't gotten an adequate ROI. But on the other hand, we'd be getting a very good dividend on Beachum, a lower round pick. I think the big thing that separates the two is not necessarily physical ability, but intellectual ability, which goes a long way for an offensive lineman.

 

Heard Tunch/Ilken (SP?) say the weren't thrilled w/ Gilbert's performance at camp.

Greeeeaaat...

 

It's a double edged sword. If Beachum can beat out Gilbert, its defintiely nice to see a lower round pick succeed in that way and it gives props to our scouts, coaches and GM for finding him. But in this case he's replacing a 2nd round pick who is basically just as young. Kinda makes you wonder if Gilbert's injuries has hindered his progression.

 

i'd say it not the injury but the new blocking scheme. gilbert was selected when we still had the big sloth type linemen. he fit right in that group. now it requires mobility. he ain't got that.

i'm not going with the beachum is too valuable as a backup when it would interfear with the best starters being on the field. that's crazy talk. you start your best 5.

gilbert can play guard and tackle so it's not like he is a tackle only reserve if that's the way they decide to use him. malecki is enough as the backup center and if something were to happen to him and pouncey then beachum could move to center and we make other arrangements at RT.

the draft status shouldn't come into play, if one guy brings down the quality of play of so many others. including our franchise qb and our run game.

 

Definitely put your best 5 out there and worry about the backups later. Mac brings up an interesting point about Gilbert being a better fit for the old scheme than the new scheme. I can see how that might set him back, especially in the running game, but pass blocking for a tackle is pass blocking for a tackle. That shouldn't change much for either guy, and that has got to be the number one factor in deciding who to play.

For some reason Gilbert has a reputation for being a poor pass blocker around here, but he's just not. As I've been over before, even those injuries he was involved in were not his fault. The idea that he was pushed back into his own players to cause those injuries is make believe. Of the three major injuries he was involved in, (David Johnson to IR, Pouncey ankle injury, DeCastro to IR), the only play where he did anything even remotely wrong was the DeCastro play, and he was less at fault than DeCastro himself. All Gilbert did on that play was get pushed back some - not even too much - by Mario Freakin' Williams. It was not a great block, but effective enough to stop Williams from getting to the QB. DeCastro was the one pushed way back, and it was DeCastro that fell into Gilbert. In my evaluations, as well as Pro Football Focus' evaluations, Gilbert has done a very good job as a pass protector. Especially for someone who has yet to play in his 20th game. The worst part of his game has always been in the running game. And with only one extra season of experience over Beachum, there's no reason to expect that he won't still get better.

If Beachum has really improved enough to push Gilbert, that's great. It at least means that our #3 OT will be better than he was last year. I say we use all 4 preseason games to sort it out. Get each of them plenty of reps versus starters. But I DO hope the coaches are putting much more stock into pass protection than they are run blocking. We need to protect Ben first and foremost. Besides, regardless of who starts at RT, the left is going to be a stronger running side for us this year with Adams and Foster, and DeCastro pulling.

 

I think the straight up pass blocking we used to do that may be true. also the old run scheme.

this is going to change as we go forward snack. I think we will see more zbs when we pass too. if the run game out of this scheme is successful, it will become the norm for our play action passing and for our play action passing to be used to slow the rush. not to mention more screens to the backs that require the linemen to be mobile.

so gilbert as the best pass blocker is kind of a moot point if they go with what haley wants to do offensively. I believe this is the problem at hand with gilbert right now. a slight mismatch of scheme and a slight mismatch of players to run this scheme when he's in there. it doesn't mean he's not a good player, just not a good match to Bicknell and haleys offensive requirements. at this point. he's still got value.

 

Well all of that remains to be seen. Whatever system you're talking about, OTs have to block edge rushers. Not a whole lot of difference in systems there. I think that's a skill that sort of transcends systems, just like being an edge rusher. Just do it.

 

how they go about blocking that edge rusher changes a bit. they all need some work from what I saw.

the guys I didn't see last night were joe long or farrell. did they play? as I said in another thread, nobody is going to confuse our tackles with joe Thomas anytime soon. whimper and batiste didn't look good. i'll give batiste a pass since he just got here. at least for now. baby steps this year.