Offensive line questions for Falcons, Saints as well as Panthers

[KB_fan]

We've had a lot of Panthers excitement this offseason - both good & bad - such that I've really hardly given a thought to our NFC South rivals and how their rosters are shaping up.

This NFL.com preview of NFC South training camp battles / questions is a good one.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000820778/article/nfc-south-training-camp-preview-key-issues-players-to-watch

I particularly found it encouraging to know that both Falcons & Saints face big questions on their O line. 

Falcons:

Quote

Most important position battle: Right guard. The Falcons return the bulk of their NFC championship roster. Few positions are up for battles, but there is a glaring question at right guard. Chris Chester announced his retirement in March, leaving the position up for grabs between fourth-year player Ben Garland and second-year guard Wes Schweitzer. Neither has ever started an NFL game. The quickest way to the quarterback is up the gut, which means one of these men will play a huge role in how much heat Matt Ryan faces this season.

 

Saints:

Quote

Most important position battle: Left tackle. The linebacker battle will be a good one to keep an eye on, but we'll get to the defense in a bit. A torn labrum for Terron Armstead spawned major questions about Drew Brees' blind side. With Armstead out for a significant period of time, the gig could fall to rookie Ryan Ramczyk. Assuming the first-round pick will step right in, however, could be faulty. Ramczyk is coming off a hip injury of his own this offseason. He also played just one full season at Wisconsin. He'll have to fend off veterans Khalif Barnes and Bryce Harris for the job.

 

Panthers:

Quote

 

Most important position battle: Right tackle. If Michael Oher is healthy, this battle ends quickly. Sadly, the offensive lineman continues to deal with concussion issues, and we have no indication as to when he'll return to play. Until Oher is cleared, the battle will be between Daryl Williams and second-round rookie Taylor Moton. Williams struggled in pass protection in 10 starts last year. Moton is a massive man at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds, but he didn't face many elite, athletic defensive ends at Western Michigan. Moton has the upside -- especially in run blocking -- to win the gig if he shows improvement through camp.

(UPDATE: The Panthers announced Thursday that Oher had been released with a failed physical designation.)

 

I'm so glad we're not alone in dealing with big changes on our Olline.

FYI - For the Bucs:  most important camp battle according to NFL.com reporters?  Kicker!

[tiger7_88]

I think if Baby Kalil works out to even an adequate performance at LT, our OL is structured to be pretty good.

That "if" hangs in the air though, don't it?  All we can do is wait and see.

[CarolinaSunday]

40 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

.FYI - For the Bucs:  most important camp battle according to NFL.com reporters?  Kicker!

That might be somewhat of an inside joke.  The Around the NFL writers (the main team of writers for nfl.com) have a podcast and a recurrent/running gag this off-season is how fascinating the host, Dan Hanzus, finds the kicker battle in TB, complete with regular updates from OTAs and mini camp and produced sound drops, and a lot of derision from Dan's co-hosts about his fascination. There's also an undercurrent of how ridiculous it is that TB moved up in the second round to draft a kicker who has been so bad that he now has to compete to keep his job and legitimately may lose it. 

[falconidae]

Not sure why Tampa isn't included in the Oline question marks. Maybe CarolinaSunday is right and it's a joke.

As an Atlanta fan, not worried too much about RG. The personnel moves the Falcons have made the last 3 years have all made sense and worked well. I think the Falcons FO is pretty sure that Schweitzer, the late rounder from 2016 is ready to step up, otherwise, they would have done something much different in the offseason. If they were worried about RG, they could have signed a FA G -they hardly talked to any-or drafted one before the 4th round.

Schweitzer almost won the job in the preseason last year, they decided to go with the experienced guy in Chester.

They also kept Schweitzer on the  active roster all last year, even though he barely played, rather than risk losing him off the practice squad.

As always, injuries can derail any teams season, see Atlanta 2013, Carolina 2016, and many many others, but feel good about the Oline going into the season