That's a pessimistic take, which is understandable given our OL struggles over the last couple of years. It just doesn't tell the full story.Spin Doctor":3mxxl25g said:
LT: Brown was excellent last year at age 34, giving up just one sack despite a tough schedule against some very good defensive lines. Even if he does slow down, he should still easily be in the upper half of LTs in the NFL. He has also been very durable over his career and I doubt his injury risk at age 35 is any higher than that of the average LT around the league. Jones may not be the same caliber, but that's a high bar to set for a backup T and if Jones needs to play and can stay healthy he'll likely be serviceable.
LG: Iupati was above average last year (25th OG via PFF), a major factor in the running game, and had the 2nd most snaps (over 1000) on the OL behind only Ifedi. He has only ever missed more than the half of the snaps in a season once (2017 Arizona). Simmons looked good in a small sample size until he got hurt, and is now healthy again.
C: Britt played less than half the season so Hunt is the better comparison, or at the least a Britt/Hunt combo. Finney looked best at center in Pittsburgh and we haven't seen Pocic at center yet here. Britt himself was hot garbage as a guard, so if you want to compare him to Finney/Pocic's play at guard then that's a better comparison as well. Leverage is much less of an issue at center and being lanky is actually an asset (as the other linemen can gain an extra inch or two on the snap). I think it's highly likely we get better center play this year than last year.
RG: Lewis was the second guard off the board (if you count Hunt as a G) because we thought he was NFL ready. I suspect he will take over the job part of the way into the season, and will immediately be far better in pass protection then Fluker ever was. Like Simmons, Haynes also looked promising in a small sample size, then got hurt, and is now healthy again.
RT: Ifedi's best offer was a non-guaranteed $1m as a right guard in Chicago where he will be in competition for a job. You may not like Shell, but he had much more interest league wide and you are very much overstating Shell's 5 penalties in 2019 vs. Ifedi's 13 penalties.
I am quite certain that many here will consider the OL a liability next season regardless of how things go. I don't agree that there is no room for optimism here.
