Update: Alex Leatherwood waived

[RaidersAreOne]

It's no secret Leatherwood has sucked. He hasn't progressed and if anything looks worse this preseason than last year. Rumblings about a potential trade or cut are starting to pop up.

What should we do with #70?

[Heart of Oak]

Obviously I would trust Josh Zeigler to make the right decision, but I kind of feel while he has been bad and I did not want the pick when it was made, we have a duty to try to develop him. Also, this is the kind of player we will release and somebody else will turn into a superstar. Lets just keep him as a depth piece and work on him - remember he is only going into his second season.

[G]

Move to Guard and have him be a reach not a bust.

[MrOaktown_56]

Keep him as a backup and hope he improves. Too expensive to cut and no trade value.

[drfrey13]

Here is an idea.  He played his best ball on the left side,  He has a timing and coordination problem on the right side.  I think everyone should get where I am going here.  Same thing as Parker.  Leatherwood looked bad last year but no where near as bad as Parker in his first couple years.  Try him on the left and see what happens.  

[raidr4life]

put him LG let him develop

[BayRaider]

Starting Guard and hope he develops. Only second year. If he’s terrible 4-5 games in, pull the plug.

[agarcia34]

People keep on saying put him at OG, but the people in charge are not even given that as an option. That right there says a lot. Even the guy who helped him this offseason Duke said to not put him at OG.
 

He suck’s his hands suck. Don’t think he’s an NFL offensive lineman at this point and that is crazy to say cause he was a first round pick last year. He got worse and worse in each preseason game. 
 

I would trade him or release him. It’s at the point where you’re not even seeing any progress. This team is better off without him. 

[agarcia34]

 

[drfrey13]

15 minutes ago, agarcia34 said:

 

This play stood out to me when thinking about him on the left side.  Also this type of play is what happens sometimes in preseason or when you have young players that do not communicate or understand their blocking assignments.  There were 3-4 NE players that where in a position to get the sack.  I really want to see him on the left before we cut him.  Has there been any word that they have let him play on the left in practice?

[Darbsk]

This is a tough one, I like the individual, hope he succeeds and he's got a rep for hard work and being a good kid plus of course he's only in his second year after suffering Tom Cable last year but he simply has to show improvement. What was disconcerting was that he was in late in the game against New England against 3rd string guys and looked bad. That is a worry. He just looks totally lost out there to me, Eluemunor looks so much better and we know he's barely average to half decent. I just get a bad feeling with Leatherwood that he's just not an NFL calibre player.

Watching him play, he doesn't seem to show any real positives, if his run blocking was good but his pass protections were poor you could say there's something to work on but I really didn't see any aspect that was encouraging. Now, granted I'm not an Online expert or even know that much about it but he was a mid first round pick and he ought to show something. The above options don't really have the option I'd choose, which is look for a trade to try and recoup a mid round pick, if we don't get the interest keep him as a backup OG and hope he improves. The trouble is the more bad work he puts on tape, the more he's reducing his value. He's likely still of interest to some teams with that first round pedigree and coaches usually suffer from a little hubris thinking they can turn any player into a gem so he probably has some trade value still.

[ronjon1990]

Cut the loss and be done. 

There is someone on this team that deserves a spot more than him. If not, someone will be cut that deserves it more than him. He's a failed 4th round talent that was over-drafted. Let's stop pretending the potential is there when it's just not. He's done. 

[Totty]

I hit the wrong frigging button.  Trade him if possible.  

[NickButera]

Cut him. Sometimes in order to move forward it costs you something. Whether it be buying a big name (Adams) or by cutting liability and replacing it with something stable. Leatherwood's play right now is trash and it's going to get Carr hurt if he gets playing time. We could find someone to play better than him in a heartbeat after tuesday.

Yes it would cost more than a new players' cheap contract because you're eating leatherwood's dead money. But what's better, paying leatherwood and risking you're season or paying extra for a step towards stability. We have plenty of cap space right now and it needs to be invest d in the o-line, however that looks.

[drfrey13]

2 hours ago, NickButera said:

Cut him. Sometimes in order to move forward it costs you something. Whether it be buying a big name (Adams) or by cutting liability and replacing it with something stable. Leatherwood's play right now is trash and it's going to get Carr hurt if he gets playing time. We could find someone to play better than him in a heartbeat after tuesday.

Yes it would cost more than a new players' cheap contract because you're eating leatherwood's dead money. But what's better, paying leatherwood and risking you're season or paying extra for a step towards stability. We have plenty of cap space right now and it needs to be invest d in the o-line, however that looks.

We have enough cap space to cut him but it will cost an extra $8.5 million to do so.  We would then have $14 million.  Now you have no flexibility because next year you only have $5 million cap with very little room to create cap space.  This does not count the draft picks which will put us in the negative.  I think we stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Better to keep him and see if he can develop or play on the left side.