O-line

Height on the offensive line is extremely overrated. It's why smaller DEs and OLBs have such an advantage in this league. Too many towering, slow, bulky 6'6" 320lb Ts out there that give up leverage or get run by consistently *cough* Max Starks *cough*. 6'3" is probably a perfect height to be honest.

 

close tar heel. i agree adams at LT next year do or die.

a new LG in the draft. not a guy that played RT or RG throughout college. a leftside guy. i prefer hugh thornton fron Illinois. he's also a good LT if needed.

pouncey as i said needs to get stronger agreed.

DD at RG do or die and yes more muscle.

beachum at RT and yes more upper body muscle.

adams too. that usually goes for most rookies. more muscle.

gilbert as the swing tackle.

if legs can't play guard too , then i want a backup that can do both.

max gone.

if colon stays he is a backup only.

foster the same. our backups need to be put on a diet and stregnth program. they need fined if their guts fall over their belts.

 

Thought Beachum played okay at right tackle, not sure if he is the long range plan there with his size. I would like to see if he could play guard, and how he would there. Just seems built like a guard more than tackle.

 

I don't see Gilbert with the foot speed to play Tackle.

 

this one i agree with you on speedy. beachum has something most 6-3 tackles don't, long arms. they are only three quarters of an inch shorter then adams'. thats less then the first knuckle on your pointer finger. plus he's got brains to spare. this guy played LT all through college. SMU was pretty good the whole time he was there. he's not been the problem so far.

 

If Colon doesn't start, he better get restructured or cut. His contract is worth around $20 million over the next 3 seasons.

 

Gilbert might be the worst of the bunch, beside hurting everybody that plays next to him. Just too soft and slow.

 

we can break colons money up over two years if we cut him after june 1. 2.5 mil. next year and the 4.5 mil. in 2014 when the cap increases anyway. these numbers are not exact but close. we ate kemoeatus this year. along with hines and farrior. we should be able to do it with colons. max and foster cost us nothing to not bring back. max did however cost us 2 mil. this year anyway plus his salary, but now that is gone as should be him. i makes me sick how much money he took from this team over the years for his kind of play. same as colon.

 

The Colon thing is tough because we're talking about a lot of money. Make no mistake about it...he will be back because of the prorated bonus from his restructured contract that still counts against the cap even if he is gone.
He was rough at guard in the beginning, but really came on the last 2-3 games before he was injured. THAT Colon helped us have a running game for a few weeks and has still not reached his potential at the guard position.
Assuming he comes back healthy and can have a solid camp, he should be even better. We need to hope so, becaust he's not going anywhere and we need him to be a stud for us.

We have spent SO MANY higher draft pics on the O-line in the past few years. It's time we spend them on more glaring needs such as DB and LB. We are thin and/or sadly lacking at all of those positions (both inside and outside LB, Corner and Safety) and could be even worse off if we cut some veterans due to salary cap issues.

 

I say bring everyone back except Colon. He CANNOT stay healthy.

Pouncey is athletic and not super strong; he did not bench at the combine for a reason.

There is no way DD was able to properly weight train so he should be a lot stronger. Adams, Beachum, and Foster show potential for at least back ups. Starks is ok and may be insurance. Gilbert deserves another chance in camp but may be a future cut. Legs is back up center and not the best guard.

The team needs a starting left guard, and either two of the four tackles to develop into starting quality or bring one in.

Adams/New-guy/Pouncy/DD/Beachum is my projected line. Starks or Gilbert, Foster, Legs are back-ups. Starks or Gilbert get cut. My guess.

I see a guard drafted this year in rounds 1-3 that starts.

 

I agree with you here. I am still a Starks supporter. He was aweful in this game and is just above average. But he has kept Ben save on the left side for years now. And there is NO ONE on the roster that could be better. I mentioned it before on another thread, if we would of had Jonathan Scott or Mike Adams at left tackle for the last two years Heath Miller would have been playing quarterback.

Do we need an upgrade at that spot? Absolutely. But if Mike Adams or Marcus Gilbert doesn't show something significant next year, we better hold on to Starks at least another year.