QB & OL Musical Chairs--doesn't help ANYONE

[davos]

Title says it all.  This will bring us into the season unsettled, incohesive, with the starting unit not fully gelled as other squads around the league.  I don't understand how the hottest coaching seat is willingly doing this.  

OL:

We have Bradley Bozeman & Austin Corbett in the house, Christensen going into year 2 after increased playing time at the end of 2021, and a #6 overall draft pick. 

These aren't standard Erving type pickups.  Bozeman was a consistent starter for the last 4 seasons in Baltimore at guard and center.  Top half of the league good in both categories.  Corbett is a high draft pick that finally came into his own with the SB champs as a starter.  Got to play alongside generational talent +minds over there after escaping Cleveland unscathed and bloomed last season.

Icky, yeah, may have speedbumps, but it doesn't mean sit him dammit.  Detroit just dealt with something similar and stuck with Sewell, same goes for Andrew Thomas in NYG.  They looked bad at times, but they kept at it, kept them in, and got them the experience and are now following through with their talent in the big leagues.  And Brady C. was the 70th overall pick which is by no means a low pick for lineman with more experience and NFL level strength & conditioning now.  

We scooped this Michael Jordan off waivers the other year as scrap heap, released from a depleted & poorly graded Bengals line.  Not to mention have already waived him before and picked him back up.  He was the dude who missed the assignment that got Burrow injured back when.  

Pat Elflein has proven in his time here that his last two stints weren't aberrations, his rookie season was the aberration.  

Erving--sucks and is cuttable.

Deonte, meh not looking so promising.  Mays looked pretty good against backups defenders.   

It's all a bit obvious what needs to happen on the OL.  We don't even need to cut anyone, just slot the dudes into the correct roles accordingly.  

QB:

We all know it. We see what's up.  Rhule is in job save mode.  Development doesn't matter.

We are not having but staging a QB competition between Darnold & Mayfield when the entire NFL world know we'll be going with Mayfield.  I'll gladly eat those words if they for some god forsaken reason trot Darnold out against the Browns, that will look epically stupid.  Especially considering it is against Baker's old team where he has something to play for.  Sitting Baker to start the season is us spitting in his face after trading for him, & was willing to lose some dollars in the process.  

Meanwhile, we're keeping PJ Walker rostered over a draft pick we just traded up for and admitted during the process we may have pegged as a late 1/early 2nd type grade on.  

If we weren't having this QB battle, which again, is either entirely dishonest or completely telling on how poor of evaluators they are---then they could figure out preseason reps, but it's just awkward for the team.  We all know it's Baker and they need to drop the charade. 

Keep PJ if they want but that means get Sam out of the building and have Corral get meaningful reps at practice and this preseason.  HOU just managed this so much better with Tyrod and Mills and Mills was a 4th rounder.  Falcons have Mariota and Ridder, TEN Tannehill and Willis.  The Colts gave Sam Ehlinger more of a shot out of the gate.  It's one game, but if Baker goes down at any point, it's obvious Rhule wants PJ to fall back on to potentially win games, he doesn't want to have to develop Corral.  I'm not freaking out about this yet, but hope it resolves itself very quickly.

--

But the overall problem with both units--we're only making the starting unit more shaking by not having it resolved sooner.  Not many teams in the league don't have a certified LT, LG, C, and QB right now.  We may be the only one.  Only one of two without a settled starter at QB and the other is a team in obvious early build mode in SEA.  We're supposedly year 3 of a rebuild.  

Oy vey

Edited August 14, 2022 by davos

[MillionDollarCam]

I’d imagine it’s ridiculously frustrating for the OL having to look next to them every snap to see who they are playing beside.

[roaddog96]

Agreed. Rhule is literally a walking contradiction. Fitterer is our only hope. Cut his favorite scrubs and force his hand because Rhule can't make the right decisions to save his life. 

[davos]

I will see the point of maybe Pittsburgh QB room seeming a tad similar to ours but they are fresh out of Big Ben’s retirement and have a much more cohesive team built around the QB right now. Although…do have our old OL coach   
 

But they’re also having a very fair competition with adequate playing time for 3 guys. We’re splitting 1st team reps between 2, giving PJ the bulk and then Corral Chuck it up at the end.

Edited August 14, 2022 by davos

[KillerKat]

If this whole thing blows up in our face, I see Rhule fired by midseason.

[Jackie Lee]

8 minutes ago, KillerKat said:

If this whole thing blows up in our face, I see Rhule fired by midseason.

Some of us tried to warn all the people that bought into the Rhule training camp fluffy pressers thinking the guy had learned his lesson and turned a new leaf. As soon as he steps into a real game situation he can't get out of his own way. New position coaches obviously can't force him to play the right guys or know how to manage the clock/time outs

[Tomcatn]

14 minutes ago, KillerKat said:

If this whole thing blows up in our face, I see Rhule fired by midseason.

We can only hope

[Mr. Scot]

Truthfully, it could all makr perfect sense...

 

 

 

...if this were college football.

[jayboogieman]

1 hour ago, davos said:

I don't understand how the hottest coaching seat is willingly doing this.  

Perhaps his seat isn't as hot as people hope it is.

1 hour ago, davos said:

Rhule is in job save mode. 

He's not running the team that way. As Mr Scot pointed out, he's running the team as if it was a college program and that he has all the time he wants.

[davos]

2 hours ago, jayboogieman said:

Perhaps his seat isn't as hot as people hope it is.

He's not running the team that way. As Mr Scot pointed out, he's running the team as if it was a college program and that he has all the time he wants.

true true ugh

[Jackie Lee]

Watching the replay, Jonathan Allen is the nicest guy in the world. He destroyed Jordan multiple times and each time quit once he got to Baker instead of putting him on the ground

[CRA]

In before some says Gross didn’t play LT his first year. 

we had a 10 year vet LT (that never missed a start) and made multiple Pro Bowls to play LT Gross’ first year before he left and Gross would then take over.  Gross starting at RT made sense given we had a legitimate LT for one more season. 

We aren’t in a Gross type scenario.  BC isn’t a 10 year vet that started every game and has gone to multiple Pro Bowls at the position.  . 

[CRA]

17 minutes ago, Jackie Lee said:

Watching the replay, Jonathan Allen is the nicest guy in the world. He destroyed Jordan multiple times and each time quit once he got to Baker instead of putting him on the ground

Yeah, he could of legally blown Baker up pending he didn’t go high and opted out.   Allen prevented us from actually seeing the consequences of that bad OL play 

Also Elflein. that big play to Shi.  In a real game, Baker gets destroyed. 

[CRA]