Kevin Dotson currently rated as the 11th best offensive lineman in football.

As it stand right now Kevin Dotson would be the highest rated O-Lineman on the Steelers team this year. I would have loved to have seen to brutes like Dotson and Jones pushing people around this year.

I was listening to Ramon's podcast and he was talking about how the Steelers always give everyone a fair and honest opportunity to win their job in camp and preseason. He said this is how he was able to go from a UDFA to an 11 year starter.

Do you think Kevin Dotson was ever given an opportunity to earn/keep his starting job this year?

I always loved the Kevin Dotson NFL combine storyline of him not being even invited to the NFL Combine, and then him posting videos of him working out and pulling trucks around. This kind of raw power brought back old memories of watching reruns of the Worlds Strongest man competition from the 70s/80s that always seemed to have a couple of Steeler O-Lineman competing in the finals to be crowned world's strongest man.

I think Dotson will have a 10+ year career in the NFL and make a few Pro-Bowls along the way. Khan/Weidl get a big fat F for this one.

According to Pro Football Focus, Dotson has the 11th-highest grade of any lineman and the third-highest among all guards, so he's established himself as one of the best interior linemen in the NFL. The Rams are projected to have $43 million in cap space next year, so they'll have the room to retain Dotson.Dec 13, 2023

 

Kahn clearly wasn’t interested in keeping Dotson. According to him they were pretty down on Dotson because of the penalties. That’s completely understandable, but I would have preferred they kept Dotson over signing herbig. The man is a beast and can move people.

 

It’s Canada’s fault

Actually part of it may be

A long while back I read an article saying Dotson was not good at the blocking scheme Canada wanted

So maybe he is doing well in a scheme that fits his strong points

 

Too many dumb penalties by Dotson on the Steelers, good for him if he's doing well with the Rams.

 

Another example that our coaching staff is very poor...the offensive line coach in this case

 

He was a pretty good run blocker for us. He struggled in pass protection and penalties. Although a couple of the penalties attributed to him are actually on the qb, but whatever

 

This is not my forte but a dusty gray cell remembers something about zone blocking vs something else

If that makes sense

 

Dotson never got a shot at his natural position at RG. He played well at times but did certainly give up too many penalties and most people on the board wanted him gone last offseason.

I don’t know why playing Dotson at RG and Daniels at C was never considered.

He is gone now and no point dwelling on it but you’d have to wonder if it was coaching, scheme, position or another issue in Pittsburg.

 

How far off do you really think they are.

 

So much to be embarrassed about with this staff. This is also on Tomlin. If he can’t see this guys obvious qualities after all that time then it’s
no wonder the team looks the way they do.

I’m thinking a good number of other coaching staffs would have this exact team playing much better.

 

Yes, but find me another ranking for Dotson this year? Is there anyone else out there ranking O-Line, but PFF?

Every time I read an article about how good Dotson is doing this year, at the End the Author's always reference Pro Football Focus.

 

A lineman is responsinle for his role, but its hard to assess him without looking at the entire unit as well. The C's he played with were trash, the LT beside him was playing like trash, the scheme was trash, his coach's were trash, he was playing a side that was not his strongest suit.

So did we give him a fair chance? To play yes, but did we recognize his strengths and help him develop, well no. Does it surprise me he is doing well in LA, no, but look at the Coaching from the top down, that team has more UDA's than lower draft picks than most (if not all) the NFL, and is either very old, or very very young at many positions, they have played far better than expected. See what good coaching cas do.

 

I remember being excited when he was drafted.

 

Ok.

Now go get the coaches that unleashed him.

 

Only thing I can guess is Canada’s system has our line playing like trash.

 

I always think of Dotson being thrown into the lineup and the Steelers were playing Indy, not his first game but still a raw rookie. I watched a breakdown afterward about how he did . In the first half they gave him some help with Buckner but by the second half he was left to handle Buckner on his own, and on some running plays Dotson just collapsed the Dline sideways. His strength was always evident his run blocking could be very good at times but he did take too many penalties that might of been covering up for Moore or the center at the time. Its not like he was a penalty machine and as the line got better in the second half of the season his penalty's almost dried up.

For some reason it seamed as if they had made up their mind on him long before he was traded. He didn t help himself by coming into camp supposedly overweight and out of shape. Our lack of development is a direct reflection on our weak coaching staff.

Maybe he got a big head and thought the job was his to lose, or maybe he just didn t fit in whatever scheme Canada thought he had.

Getting rid of your strongest guard as your trying to be a run first offense is puzzling . The all pro they used to replace him has not really looked the part for most of the season

Like most comments on here I am only guessing what might of been the reasons for moving on from Dotson.

Still its water under the bridge and I wish him well.

 

They can't grasp his concept because it's a flawed and failed concept.

 

Another perfect example of” PFF is garbage unless of course it fits my narrative”

 

That no one else is doing it doesn't make PFF good.

 

It was mentioned earlier in this thread.... Our Coaching and the Scheme.
I'll add that it goes a step further. Once again, they drafted a square peg to fit a round hole.

Coaching Staff: "Mr GM we want to run a zone blocking scheme, so we need quick, agile OL guys."
GM and tram draft a truck.
This is an example of poor communications. "You draft what you want, we'll work with it." Sad.
Yes, Canada's system was/is trash.
We need an upgrade in coaching and better understanding of what ammo to supply. It is not good to provide .22 cal ammo for a .44mag.

 

The crazy thing is that not only was Dotson a natural RG, James Daniels was a natural LG, and the coaching staff continued to play both on opposite ends

 

Here's a nice article on Dotson. It quotes him about why he thinks he's playing better with the Rams. There are video links as well showing his play.

There is also a youtube link in the article to a guy that breaks down offensive line play and he interviews Dotson.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/...ffensive-line-kevin-dotson-contract-extension

 

All of those dumb penalties are on Dotson, not the OL coach no matter what side Dotson played on.