o-line talk

should we be worried about vet leadership on the o-line as much as keeping them all fairly young to gel together in the years to come?


what I mean is guys like beachum, DD, adams, pouncey, Johnson, hubbard, snow. even foster and the other youngsters. all these guys are 5 years or less on this team. wouldn't it be better, since we have munch here now to keep this young group advancing together instead of keeping a guy like whimper, even though he played pretty well for us last year?

even Wallace to an extent. he may have 3 years in him. he's 29 now. I know he doesn't have a lot of wear on him, but he'll still be 32 and probably not advancing as a player by then. I love Wallace by the way. maybe not the most gifted but brings a nasty attitude that sort of rubs off on the rest of the line. I miss that in our line.

will we be hurting ourselves for the future by letting a guy like hubbard or snow go when they could improve still? especially while munch is here. both can play center and guard, and hubbard was a LT throughout college. Johnson as well as these guys. could keeping this group together and advancing together as a 5 year and under core group make us better down the road?

 

I haven't seen him play yet, but UDFAs like Hubbard come around every year, don't they? If he looks like a diamond in the rough then keep him of course, but let's not forget that there will always be more 23 year olds out there.

Right now I think we're in a great place when it comes to leadership and youth. Our top 6 OL are: 24, 28, 24, 24, 26, and 24. That's super young, and I believe we've already got some strong leaders in the group in Foster and Pouncey. I know DeCastro also has what it takes to lead, and will in time. I think Beachum does too, if he locks down the spot for good.

Hell, I think we'd be better off talking about whether we have too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to OL leadership.

 

since we kept hubbard on the PS all year and have been teaching him the guard spot as well as center, why start over with a fresh new 23 year old, while this one already has a year in the offense. keep it young and everyone moving along as young players together, including our starters.

I think we have enough vet leadership out of pouncey and foster and DD. why not keep a guy like hubbard over whimper? hubbard has the possibility to get better while whimper has gotten as good as he's going to get. in other words, let the whole young group age together and become vets.

does whimper and Wallace bring any real vet leadership that we want them to pass along with their up and down careers? is it worth it over some guys we have brought along since day one?

would adams, hubbard and Johnson be enough without Wallace and whimper? or with just one of them? or with snow added?

 

My bad, I forgot Hubbard was on the PS last year. To answer your question, I wouldn't keep Wallace or Whimper because of leadership skills. There aren't many backups for whom that makes sense. But I'd keep them if they were the best options. Let them play it out. Tie goes to the young guy

 

I think we should temper our expectations a bit when it comes to the OL's improvement in 2014. If anyone can improve their play it's Munchak;however, these things take time. He's not just going to come in wave a magic wand and everything is better. If I were betting we will see some improvement in 2014 and an additional step or two in 2015.

 

I don't expect to see all or even most of our o line issues erased, but I do expect to see some big improvements. I would agree though that it's going to take time and I too expect to see continued improvement over the next few years.

 

I think we should bring Mike Golic Jr back.

 

it will definitely be a work in progress.

 

Didn't Denny Green say it best?
You are what you are. Gilbert, Adams

 

I'd add foster. I see this group as only a starting point for munch. I expect we will see changes the longer munchak is here. I don't think this group of players is a done deal yet for years to come. we shall soon see.

 

I see Foster as a placeholder (although he is about as good as placeholders come) until Munchak feels comfortable enough to slide his Johnson in there alongside Pouncey. Between Gilbert and Adams, I have to believe one of them will re-sign and stay at RT long-term. It's just a matter of choosing. Both guys' performance this year will decide who they stick with after that.

 

Ouch