Offensive Line

[Stuart Smith]

With injuries to Brady Christensen and Austin Corbett is the offensive line a concern for next season? Will they be ready? Hopefully we resign Bozeman. 

[pantherj]

I had been harping on getting a big center for years, and we finally have one. He's not the most athletic guy or quick, but that's a lot of weight to having leaning on you all game. He's trouble for smaller d-lines. We could upgrade anywhere along the interior of the o-line through the draft, but with more pressing needs elsewhere it's unlikely. Maybe we'll take a guy later for depth.

I prefer upgrading an o-line until it's the best in the NFL. I would keep upgrading this o-line until we could run on anyone and had excellent pass protection. We know this o-line has plenty of room for improvement because we were totally unable to run the ball against the Steelers, and we're built to run it.

Brady broke his ankle, but it should be fine in time for training camp. Corbett tore his ACL sadly, so don't expect him to be ready by training camp. He would be aiming for week 1 or 2 imo. Should we draft a guard? My answer is always yes to improving the o-line.

Edited January 11, 2023 by pantherj

[4Corners]

If they don’t resign Bozeman; find a new GM. 

[Wundrbread33]

Cade Mays was absolutely finishing the poo out of his blocks on Sunday (after Corbett went down).

Kid could end up being another Norwell.

[ECHornet]

Corbett will likely miss the beginning of next season. Really sucks as he was an excellent Fitt signing.  
 

Brady should be ready to roll. Resigning Bozeman will be huge and it sounds like both sides want that to happen. 
 

Currently signed through next year…

Tackles: Moton, Ekwonu, L Coleman

IOL: Brady, Corbett (INJ), Elflein, Mays, Deonte Brown

We’ll need to sign/draft another tackle. Christensen could kick out if needed. Again, signing Bozeman should be a priority. Elf/Mays can get us through until Corbett returns assuming Boze is back. 

[Stuart Smith]

29 minutes ago, ECHornet said:

Corbett will likely miss the beginning of next season. Really sucks as he was an excellent Fitt signing.  
 

Brady should be ready to roll. Resigning Bozeman will be huge and it sounds like both sides want that to happen. 
 

Currently signed through next year…

Tackles: Moton, Ekwonu, L Coleman

IOL: Brady, Corbett (INJ), Elflein, Mays, Deonte Brown

We’ll need to sign/draft another tackle. Christensen could kick out if needed. Again, signing Bozeman should be a priority. Elf/Mays can get us through until Corbett returns assuming Boze is back. 

I 

 

32 minutes ago, ECHornet said:

Corbett will likely miss the beginning of next season. Really sucks as he was an excellent Fitt signing.  
 

Brady should be ready to roll. Resigning Bozeman will be huge and it sounds like both sides want that to happen. 
 

Currently signed through next year…

Tackles: Moton, Ekwonu, L Coleman

IOL: Brady, Corbett (INJ), Elflein, Mays, Deonte Brown

We’ll need to sign/draft another tackle. Christensen could kick out if needed. Again, signing Bozeman should be a priority. Elf/Mays can get us through until Corbett returns assuming Boze is back. 

I agree we need more depth. Moton has not missed a game in forever. If these injuries had happened earlier we would have been hurting for sure. 

[WarHeel]

They’d be smart to hold Corbett for the first few weeks to get him past the 9 month mark. Studies show risk of 2nd ACL injury can be reduced if return to sport is greater than 9 months. 

[kungfoodude]

We would be smart to draft Corbett's eventual replacement. Frankly, since we have a good OL, we should be drafting at least 1 OL just about every year to develop. Our depth is still thin, so this just makes sense.

[Khyber53]

If we don't keep Bozeman, then it won't matter.

And I think Mays is Corbett's understudy and eventual replacement. The kid has a lot of potential and has learned a lot from the addition of Corbett and Bozeman to the linemen's group.

[Waldo]

51 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

We would be smart to draft Corbett's eventual replacement. Frankly, since we have a good OL, we should be drafting at least 1 OL just about every year to develop. Our depth is still thin, so this just makes sense.

Draft a Olinemand and Dlineman in every draft at some point would be a very practical approach.

[45catfan]

2 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Draft a Olinemand and Dlineman in every draft at some point would be a very practical approach.

Good approach, but we don't have 11 picks every draft to re-draft every position.  At some point the evaluators have to hit their mark.  We don't have enough picks THIS draft to fill all the holes we have, let alone re-draft for current positions where there isn't a hole.

[kungfoodude]

5 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

Good approach, but we don't have 11 picks every draft to re-draft every position.  At some point the evaluators have to hit their mark.  We don't have enough picks THIS draft to fill all the holes we have, let alone re-draft for current positions where there isn't a hole.

Well being bad at evaluation isn't going to work no matter how many picks you have.

Remember, you don't fill ALL your needs through the draft. There is free agency.

The draft is about injecting cheap and hopefully capable talent to build the core of the team. 

We should(and probably have) been adding DL and OL in just about every draft class. Those are two of the biggest positional groups on any team.

[Waldo]

11 minutes ago, 45catfan said:

Good approach, but we don't have 11 picks every draft to re-draft every position.  At some point the evaluators have to hit their mark.  We don't have enough picks THIS draft to fill all the holes we have, let alone re-draft for current positions where there isn't a hole.

Oline and Dline have a big effect on the game and there is a constant need for those big bodies. There are never enough draft picks and I doubt we could always pull it off but due to nature of the game and positions it's a solid strategy to shoot for, even if you can only get one or thr other that year. I understand there are no guarantees in the draft but it's a solid appraoch for the NFL.

[45catfan]

5 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

Well being bad at evaluation isn't going to work no matter how many picks you have.

Remember, you don't fill ALL your needs through the draft. There is free agency.

The draft is about injecting cheap and hopefully capable talent to build the core of the team. 

We should(and probably have) been adding DL and OL in just about every draft class. Those are two of the biggest positional groups on any team.

Normally I would agree, but remember, we are extremely cap poor this year and the last thing we need to do...ESPECIALLY with a new staff and club not contending is go out and blow a lot of money we don't have.