What will we do about the Oline?

[theJ]

For @Beck Bristow

[Beck Bristow]

Players under contract: 

Jonah Williams 

Trey Hopkins 

Jackson Carman 

Hakeem Adeneji 

Isaiah Prince 

D'Ante Smith 

Trey Hill

Free Agents:

Riley Reiff

Quentin Spain

Fred Johnson 

So that's what we had. In my mind, the only guy who's roster spot is secure is Williams.  Not sure if LT is his best spot, but he seems ok there. I doubt we change his position. I don't see much likelihood in getting a superior player at that spot. So here's where I'm at.  

Williams, Carman, Smith stay. Re-sign Rieff, sign a free agent center (Jensen?) Then draft o line in the first and second  (Zion Johnson/ Daniel Falele i don't think there's a huge difference in the players I'm seeing at tackle in 1 and 2. Only thing I'm struggling on is backup center. Maybe restructure Hopkins, or keep Hill. If Johnson is drafted he's the long term center

Williams-Rookie 1-FA center-Carman-Rieff

Backups - Smith-Rookie 2-Adeneji-backup c

[THE DUKE]

Reiff was a lot better than Prince, but he was still just ok this year, and is now a year older and coming off an injury.  

Bates gets tagged or extended
Re-sign Hill and maybe Ogunjobi if he isn't too expensive coming off an injury.
Give Scherff OG1 money in FA
Sign Trent Brown away from NE for about 10 mil a year
Sign a mid level FA CB that Lou likes (Kevin King?)
Re-sign Uzomah if he can be had for the money he's been making or less
Cut Waynes
Let Apple go, he had a decent year, but his attitude ******* sucks
If there is money left then go after Ryan Jensen or Ted Karras at C

Do that and we are in a position to go BPA at 31, though I wouldn't be opposed to trading that pick if the right player becomes available.

Need to get better at interior pass rush, need to hope Ossai looks as advertised pre-injury for another pass rusher, need to build more CB depth with guys Lou likes.

 

[ochocinco4pres]

I do not want to rely on rookies to fix this line. Go spend your money on proven vets and protect Joe. Resign Spain. Go after a new RG and RT. I was not happy with what they did last offseason with the O line. Felt like they did the bare minimum and it bit them in the butt. Go hard after guys. Be willing to trade your pick for a proven vet. 

Williams is a fine LT. But I would still look at a LT like Armstead and move Williams to RT. Spain is a fine LG. Hopkins was coming off injury, but is just solid when healthy. You have to go sign a RG immediately. Jansen would be great at C, Norwell at G. Would love Armstead at T. But this team needs to attack the O line

[Beck Bristow]

49 minutes ago, ochocinco4pres said:

I do not want to rely on rookies to fix this line. Go spend your money on proven vets and protect Joe. Resign Spain. Go after a new RG and RT. I was not happy with what they did last offseason with the O line. Felt like they did the bare minimum and it bit them in the butt. Go hard after guys. Be willing to trade your pick for a proven vet. 

Williams is a fine LT. But I would still look at a LT like Armstead and move Williams to RT. Spain is a fine LG. Hopkins was coming off injury, but is just solid when healthy. You have to go sign a RG immediately. Jansen would be great at C, Norwell at G. Would love Armstead at T. But this team needs to attack the O line

Norwell would be a good get at right guard. I don't love going after Scherff or Brown just because of injury history.

I thought Spain was fine and would have kept him until he couldn't give Burrow three seconds on the biggest play of the year. He already failed when it mattered. 

Hopkins, I got awfully tired of plays where he blocked no one while the guards got beat. Happened all the time, just waiting for someone to come to him and got 0 push in the run game. Have to do better there.

I'm hesitant to trade picks for a starter. You can sign a starter. If there's an elite talent,  then yeah, but we need 9 offensive lineman we trust or hope to trust. Our backups need to be better than our starters were this year. No Isaiah Princes going into the season. So I'm good to bring in a few solid versions there and draft your long term depth early.

Edited February 15, 2022 by Beck Bristow

[ochocinco4pres]

I don't disagree with your Spain and Hopkins takes at all. The main thing we all agree on is they need to be aggressive on the O line front and not rely on just FA or the draft. Invest picks and FA money to get multiple O lineman who you can rely on. 

[Beck Bristow]

12 minutes ago, ochocinco4pres said:

I don't disagree with your Spain and Hopkins takes at all. The main thing we all agree on is they need to be aggressive on the O line front and not rely on just FA or the draft. Invest picks and FA money to get multiple O lineman who you can rely on. 

For sure. I just want to make sure we're looking at quality depth too. I can live with Spain and Hopkins as back-ups. I  think we can get pretty good guard play in the firstborn days of the draft. If the money works, since we obviously have to pay two DTs Bates and Uzomah this offseason too, I'd be good with

Armstead-Rookie 1-Jensen-Norwell-Williams

With Spain, Hopkins and a 2nd round rookie as depth, then figure out if anyone out of Carman, Smith or Adeneji should be your 9th guy. Maybe keep Williams on the left and find a veteran for the right side. 

[THE DUKE]

Kansas City completely revamped their interior oline in one offseason and this year maybe had the best interior oline in the league with one high priced FA, one early pick, and one late pick who fell because of medical concerns.  We need that kind of turnaround, except one of those has to be a RT, preferably under the age of 32.

[ochocinco4pres]

1 minute ago, THE DUKE said:

Kansas City completely revamped their interior oline in one offseason and this year maybe had the best interior oline in the league with one high priced FA, one early pick, and one late pick who fell because of medical concerns.  We need that kind of turnaround, except one of those has to be a RT, preferably under the age of 32.

My fear is this team clearly has not been able to evaluate O line very well in the draft. We could have had Humphrey but choose Carmen instead. We have 60 mill in cap room and can create even more with Waynes being let go and potentially Hopkins. Obviously need to resign Bates, Uzomah, Hill (most likely) and a few others. But beyond that I am spending every penny I have on O line. Go into the draft being able to go BPA and not rely on drafting guys that have to start and be great to keep Joe from dying. 

[THE DUKE]

Absolutely, I want two proven, good NFL starters on the oline in FA.  I'd much rather draft a CB than OL at this point unless we go Lindenbaum or Zion for IOL.  You can also never have too many edge rushers if a good one is there at 31.  I'm not totally opposed to trading 31 if the right player is available.

[Beck Bristow]

55 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

Absolutely, I want two proven, good NFL starters on the oline in FA.  I'd much rather draft a CB than OL at this point unless we go Lindenbaum or Zion for IOL.  You can also never have too many edge rushers if a good one is there at 31.  I'm not totally opposed to trading 31 if the right player is available.

On top of Spain if he's resigned. 

[INbengalfan]

1 hour ago, ochocinco4pres said:

My fear is this team clearly has not been able to evaluate O line very well in the draft. We could have had Humphrey but choose Carmen instead. We have 60 mill in cap room and can create even more with Waynes being let go and potentially Hopkins. Obviously need to resign Bates, Uzomah, Hill (most likely) and a few others. But beyond that I am spending every penny I have on O line. Go into the draft being able to go BPA and not rely on drafting guys that have to start and be great to keep Joe from dying. 

That 60 mill figure includes savings after Waynes gets axed, not before.

[ochocinco4pres]

8 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

That 60 mill figure includes savings after Waynes gets axed, not before.

Its close. Its 55+ currently and I think it could open up 10 by cutting waynes. Either way, we have top 4 cap space available heading into the offseason. 

[INbengalfan]

3 hours ago, ochocinco4pres said:

Its close. Its 55+ currently and I think it could open up 10 by cutting waynes. Either way, we have top 4 cap space available heading into the offseason. 

I guess numbers are all over the place.  I've seen 4p mill several times, so with Waynes gone, that gets us to 60.  One place was either Dehner or Goodberry for sure.  I don't remember where else I saw that figure.

 

Either way, we can keep most of our important players, a bunch of back end guys and still have the money to grab two OL, then draft the rest

[Johnny Nix]

I’d trade our 1st right now for Ryan Ramcyzk.

Sign Ted Karras and the draft a guy like Thayer Munford in the third.