How much trust do you have in Gettleman/Rivera in Offensive Tackle evaluation?

[d-dave]

I think last year was a result of dealing with the Hurney cap situation and the OTs were more a product of the cap than Gettleman and Rivera truly believing they were the solution. So the jury is still out in my opinion.

This is pretty much it. He did the best he could to get the best players at the prices we could afford. Gettleman is not going to take a need over a better player.

So as fans, we will question what he's doing, but at the end of the day he's going to try to get the best players.

Something tellingbl from last year: there were few tackles who could come in and beat Chandler or Bell. How many of the drafted tackles ended up starting and being better than Chandler or Bell? Would you trade that player for the guys we did get?

[Cyberjag]

We've got a good scouting staff, and I'm sure Gettleman listens to them.  This is the same staff that brought us Gross (1), Bruce Nelson (2), Wharton (3), Mathis (3), Hangartner(5), Joe Berger (6), Will Mongtomery (7), Rashad Butler (3), Ryan Kalil (2), Jeff Otah (1), Geoff Schwartz (7), Mackenzy Bernadeau (7), Zachary Williams (6), Lee Ziemba, Amini (2), and Kugbila (4).  Most of those listed had or are still having long careers in the NFL.  So those guys are doing their part.  And it's our pro scouts who are responsible for putting the FAs in front of Gettleman last year--he wasn't out combing the waiver wire himself.

 

As far as his track record, I'm not too excited about it where OL is concerned.  Yes, he hit with Turner, but he swung and missed with Kugbilla.  And as some of our picks have shown, it's not necessarily a matter of talent so much as how well that talent fits here, and how much our coaches can get out of it.  A lot of that feels like hit-or-miss; a guy may show up here and be 'meh' with our scheme and who he's lined up with, and then go elsewhere and star (see Mathis, Schwartz).

 

I do think that if we take a tackle early, we're fairly likely to get a good one who will stick around.  But if we try and plug the hole with a 3rd rounder we're really rolling the dice.  It's likely that Gettleman will take a couple though, and sign one in FA.  As long as he's better than Bell (and how hard can that be?), we're going to be better.

[Carolina Cajun]

I trust gettleman to get us good pieces in the draft, although, seeing the breakdown of drafted players by position, makes me a bit more concerned because he wiffed hard on Kug and Barner, where as he basically nailed all the defensive players.  I still think he'll get us some good talent in the draft to fill our roster.  Rivera, I'm not so sure about, he showed his colors this last year, sometimes he won't start a better player until his hand is forced, look at how long Decoud, Godfrey, Silatolu, Chandler, and Avant while better players sat behind them.  I think Rivera has to change his mindset from always favoring the vet or getting all the talent in the draft won't mean much, or anything.

[2jakefansinva]

Matsko can't be left out of this discussion. with the junk he's had to work with, I'd say he can put together a solid unit. maybe his input should be considered more heavily

 

I'm sure his input IS considered heavily........

 

I would think he is asked to break-down each player each week during coaches meetings.

 

Would love to see what he could do with some talent.

[EightyNine]

Matsko can't be left out of this discussion. with the junk he's had to work with, I'd say he can put together a solid unit. maybe his input should be considered more heavily

 

How do you know how much Matsko's input was taken into consideration?

 

For all we know, Matsko was constantly in Rivera's ear telling him how great he thought Nate Chandler and Byron Bell would be.

 

Rivera is not picking the starting lineup by himself.  They have tons of meetings and evaluations where they collectively discuss the development and performance of each player.

[TheRed]

At this point, Gettleman has earned trust in his evaluation.

 

Bell stuck around too long though, at the expense of our franchise QB, and both are responsible. We cannot put ourselves through that again. I'm more concerned with Rivera, not as much his evaluation, but his at times blind loyalty to awful players (Fua, Bell).

[CatMan72]

I trust it because they pulled Remmers out of their ass. They knew Bell/Chandler were a gamble but you don't really know what you've got until you put them in regular season game situations. Finding out that either of them could be a decent OT would have been a huge windfall from a $ perspective in our cap situation so it was worth a shot.

[EightyNine]

At this point, Gettleman has earned trust in his evaluation.

 

Bell stuck around too long though, at the expense of our franchise QB, and both are responsible. We cannot put ourselves through that again. I'm more concerned with Rivera, not as much his evaluation, but his at times blind loyalty to awful players (Fua, Bell).

 

Rivera can only work with what he's got.  

 

Maybe it wasn't blind loyalty that made him start those players.. Maybe their was just no one else on the roster that made a strong case that they should be the starter instead.  What seems more likely? That Rivera was blindly loyal to Byron Bell or that he just preferred him over Foucault?

 

I'm just trying to be objective.

[thefuzz]

I trust Gettleman completely.

 

I don't always trust players, once they cash that first big check.

 

 

 

RR and DG knew what we had a T last season, but couldn't really do much about it.  Either they overspend for an average, at best T (Collins), or over draft one, (Moses) and miss out on a difference maker at DE (Ealy).

 

 

 

[TheRed]

Rivera can only work with what he's got.  

 

Maybe it wasn't blind loyalty that made him start those players.. Maybe their was just no one else on the roster that made a strong case that they should be the starter instead.  What seems more likely? That Rivera was blindly loyal to Byron Bell or that he just preferred him over Foucault?

 

I'm just trying to be objective.

 

Even if you are willing to give him a pass on Byron Bell, you cannot deny Sione Fua. He even tried putting Fua on the OL.

 

I'm not trying to bash Rivera. I'm simply pointing out something that we could all see.

[EightyNine]

Even if you are willing to give him a pass on Byron Bell, you cannot deny Sione Fua. He even tried putting Fua on the OL.

 

I'm not trying to bash Rivera. I'm simply pointing out something that we could all see.

 

Who was Fua's backup at the time?

[clark kent]

I think Gettleman has proven he can evaluate talent based on business and value towards the team.

[Panthro]

I mean Gettles pretty much has to cut dudes just so Rivera wont give them snaps. See Dwill, Cason, and Bell

[TheRed]

Who was Fua's backup at the time?

 

I think you might be getting hung up on a trivial point here.

 

Ultimately this team will only go as far as our QB can take us, and for him to do that we have to protect him. That means that if guys on our OL aren't cutting it, they can't stick around. We need maulers, clearly underperforming "nice guys" won't bring us a Lombardi.

 

Of course this also obviously expands beyond the OL.

 

Rivera has a few faults, and being overly loyal to certain players is one of them. Hopefully he's learning.