Matt Rhule “We have to move to get younger offensively in the draft” AKA O line will be a focus

[WarPanthers89]

I watched Matt Rhule’s season ending press conference today and a few things stood out to me:

He mentioned multiple times that he wants tough, hard nosed football players who can fight throughout the season even when nicked up (he mentioned specifically the QB position and how you must fight through the wear and tear of a season to play your best football in December, and how Teddy hasn’t played a full season in some time, and how he hasn't played his best football).

He also mentioned how this past offseason we focused on getting younger on defense through the draft, and how he wanted to get younger on offense in this years upcoming draft.

Looking at our roster we are young everywhere on offense other than the offensive line...so with that being said I fully expect us to go O line heavy during the draft, and for us to let Okung hit the market as he rightfully should (going back to Rhules comments about fighting to play and being there for the team when you are nicked up). On a side note, Taylor Moton was the opposite of Mr. Bitcoin, and played every single snap this season without missing any time for injury. 

[Mr. Scot]

Yeah, my first reaction when I heard him say this: "We need to be younger on offense?" 

But the OL is the one place it makes sense.

[WarPanthers89]

Okung: Age 32 

Paradis: Age 31

Michael Shofield: Age 30

Tyler Larsen: Age 29

Chris Reed: Age 28

John Miller: Age 27

Taylor Moton: Age 26 (Please for the love of God bring him back as part of the youth movement)

All Free Agents other than Paradis 

[WarPanthers89]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Yeah, my first reaction when I heard him say this: "We need to be younger on offense?" 

But the OL is the one place it makes sense.

It made me specially think of two players (Okung and Paradis). After his toughness comment that immediately made me think of it being directed to Okung. I wonder if we finally draft another center as well, being that Paradis is on his final year and on the wrong side of 30. One thing for certain is that Rhule does not seem to be nearly as high on vets as Rivera and the Hurn dog was. I bet Hurney would be looking to extend Paradis this offseason to be one less hole to fill, but I get the impression Rhule prefers younger cheaper players to develop 

[DaveThePanther2008]

QB is also apart of this equation.  So I hope we address every non skilled position and QB.  Our weapons are good.  Our protection is not. 

[WarPanthers89]

8 minutes ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

QB is also apart of this equation.  So I hope we address every non skilled position and QB.  Our weapons are good.  Our protection is not. 

Absolutely. I feel like QB and O line will be #1 and #2 priorities of the offseason/draft. From Rhule today:

Rhule was frank, acknowledging that Bridgewater "hasn't played his best ball" the last month. Rhule mentioned the knee injury that happened in the second half of the second Tampa Bay game (though Bridgewater hasn't been on the injury report since Week 12), but also emphasized the need for improvements beyond the one guy.
 

Teddy has to have a tremendous offseason," Rhule said. "It's been a long time since he's played an entire year. And part of being a quarterback in this league is being able to withstand the physical toll of the season, and playing your best football at the end of the year. I don't know that I've seen that from him, so my encouragement for him has been to have a great offseason.

"In regards to draft and players and all those things, we'll look at every opportunity to have the best we can have at every position, and that includes quarterback."

That's a long way of saying, "Ask me later," though many are already making the connection between a top-10 pick and the inevitability of a young and pedigreed quarterback joining Bridgewater here.

[Hoenheim]

He couldn't be making it any less obvious that they really want a QB and oline help high in the draft.

 

[Daddy_Uncle]

All defense last year. All offense this year

 

[panther252]

Luckily for us this is a deep OL class, lots of good players. 

[onmyown]

I watched Moton closely a lot this year in comparison to the other olineman

reminded me of that giant, freak, athletic kid with the full beard that played 6 positions on your middle school football team

except he isn’t a freak, the oline is just utter garbage

[TheSpecialJuan]

yay

[WarPanthers89]

22 minutes ago, onmyown said:

I watched Moton closely a lot this year in comparison to the other olineman

reminded me of that giant, freak, athletic kid with the full beard that played 6 positions on your middle school football team

except he isn’t a freak, the oline is just utter garbage

It’s crazy we have to replace 4 starters on the line and not re signing him will be a devastating blow. This isn’t even including depth on the line,  so we are going to have to be busy in FA and the draft finding O line talent

[thefuzz]

2 minutes ago, WarPanthers89 said:

It’s crazy we have to replace 4 starters on the line and not re signing him will be a devastating blow. This isn’t even including depth on the line,  so we are going to have to be busy in FA and the draft finding O line talent

Actually, if you consider who our GM has been the last few years, it's not crazy at all...it's pretty normal.

[MHS831]

1 hour ago, WarPanthers89 said:

I watched Matt Rhule’s season ending press conference today and a few things stood out to me:

He mentioned multiple times that he wants tough, hard nosed football players who can fight throughout the season even when nicked up (he mentioned specifically the QB position and how you must fight through the wear and tear of a season to play your best football in December, and how Teddy hasn’t played a full season in some time, and how he hasn't played his best football).

He also mentioned how this past offseason we focused on getting younger on defense through the draft, and how he wanted to get younger on offense in this years upcoming draft.

Looking at our roster we are young everywhere on offense other than the offensive line...so with that being said I fully expect us to go O line heavy during the draft, and for us to let Okung hit the market as he rightfully should (going back to Rhules comments about fighting to play and being there for the team when you are nicked up). On a side note, Taylor Moton was the opposite of Mr. Bitcoin, and played every single snap this season without missing any time for injury. 

OFFENSIVE snap.