The state of our OL

[toffee]

After the FA and draft, this seems to be the state of our OL, do we have reason to think coaching was the reason why our OL sucked in 2023?

LT:
Charles Cross hasn't played like someone drafted #9 overall. He is mediocre and was often pushed back toward the QB after Cross landed his hands on the pass rusher.

LG:
We do not have a starting LG unless we start Laken Tomlinson, who is old and has played subpar in the past two seasons. He is the only one with LG experience.

C:
Olu is it? The same Olu that started one game and couldn't out-compete Evan Brown.

RG:
Christian Haynes is to compete with Anthony Bradford who sucked in 2023.

LT:
Lucas may or may not be back, then we have George Fant who is serviceable, but not great.

I think Cross will improve some, and Fant could be adequate. I'm not so sure about our internal linemen, we might be ok if Laken can play like he did with the 9ers and Haynes can step right in and be good enough.

 

[King Dog]

 

[Maelstrom787]

LT: Cross is fine. He's a technical pass blocker who doesn't get himself in trouble too often. He'll have significant room to improve under Grubb and Huff, who have experience in seriously maximizing tackles who were far less talented than Cross is.
LG: Laken is Mike Iupati at worst. He'll get us through. We have quite a few options. Bradford might switch over. Laumea could figure in at some point.
C: Olu is the biggest unknown and Nick Harris is a non-factor. Olu is known for being savvy, competent, and cerebral. We'll see if he's got the required anchor and agility.
RG: Haynes isn't a lock to start, but he's close to it once he gets up to speed. He's a bit raw, but he's got flashes of dominance regardless.
RT: Abe Lucas is a top-10 RT, but boy, that knee is one hell of an elephant-in-the-room.

George Fant is excellent depth at both tackle spots and would be an upgrade at starter for many teams.
McClendon Curtis seems to be a sleeper who they really, really enjoy. Not only survives a regime change, but is now running with the 1s while Haynes/Bradford are out.
Stone Forsythe kinda sucks overall but he's an alright pass protector at the least.

I think both of the later round linemen we drafted are likely cuts/PS stashes. Laumea less so, but it's significantly non-zero chance.

There's a lot of upside. I expect Olu to be around average, Laken to be serviceable, and Haynes to be bad for the first few games and then rapidly improve as the season wears on, eventually playing at an above-average level by year end. Cross will take a big leap and Lucas will be as advertised if the knee holds. If Fant has to start, he'll be bang average.

We'll need to keep taking a day 2/early day 3 interior lineman at minimum yearly and start stocking up on depth tackles for insurance.

 

[HOF Hater]

After the FA and draft, this seems to be the state of our OL, do we have reason to think coaching was the reason why our OL sucked in 2023?

LT:
Charles Cross hasn't played like someone drafted #9 overall. He is mediocre and was often pushed back toward the QB after Cross landed his hands on the pass rusher.

LG:
We do not have a starting LG unless we start Laken Tomlinson, who is old and has played subpar in the past two seasons. He is the only one with LG experience.

C:
Olu is it? The same Olu that started one game and couldn't out-compete Evan Brown.

RG:
Christian Haynes is to compete with Anthony Bradford who sucked in 2023.

LT:
Lucas may or may not be back, then we have George Fant who is serviceable, but not great.

I think Cross will improve some, and Fant could be adequate. I'm not so sure about our internal linemen, we might be ok if Laken can play like he did with the 9ers and Haynes can step right in and be good enough.

You should probably stick to something else because your assessment is dreadful

 

[BASF]

If a person has never tried to play with turf toe while facing some of the best athletes in the world, it's hard to take their opinion seriously on Cross. Learning to deal with turf toe is hard enough for normal people, then add in the fact that for his job, he has to plant his feet while resisting being pushed backward.

 

[Maelstrom787]

If a person has never tried to play with turf toe while facing some of the best athletes in the world, it's hard to take their opinion seriously on Cross. Learning to deal with turf toe is hard enough for normal people, then add in the fact that for his job, he has to plant his feet while resisting being pushed backward.

And just like pre-draft, he somehow is still mirroring rushers like he was born knowing how to do it.

If there's any one player I'm excited for under this new staff, it's him. His floor is so high, and his ceiling is now higher.

 

[chris98251]

Well we can't use the old scheme as a measurement tool first off, how many of the lineman we had here moved on and became pro bowlers or ranked very high after not being resigned, our scheme and Russell made everyone look vulnerable in some way.

Secondly Grubbs offense is about getting the ball out fast not playing hero ball, it will make the O lines job easier as well.

 

[Maelstrom787]

Well we can't use the old scheme as a measurement tool first off, how many of the lineman we had here moved on and became pro bowlers or ranked very high after not being resigned, our scheme and Russell made everyone look vulnerable in some way.

Secondly Grubbs offense is about getting the ball out fast not playing hero ball, it will make the O lines job easier as well.

We were getting the ball out decently quick last year. Lot of short concepts. Also about the same motion percentages.

I think it'll look more similar on paper than many expect for those who quantify the game through percentages rather than eye test, but it'll look like an entirely different beast on the field.

Underrated part of this is simply getting the run game going. They're gonna tee off on us anyway if they force us into a single dimensional attack.

 

[toffee]

You should probably stick to something else because your assessment is dreadful

Share you vision?

 

[Hawknight]

View attachment 66333

I saw that one...i can't wait for the sequel

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

I didn't realize Bradford graded so bad last year. Hopefully he comes into camp in shape.

A lot hinges on Lucas being healthy, Cross taking a step forward and Haynes becoming a starter.

If that works you have good depth in Fant for the tackle spots and can maybe put Bradford at LG.

At center I still think Nick Harris will get a chance to compete given his UW history with the coaches. If anything he's okay backup.

On the plus side, o line coaching probably makes the most difference. A good coach can do wonders. Look at Ethan Pocic at the Browns for example. Sucked for us but the Browns have a good o line coach.

 

[SeaWolv]

I didn't realize Bradford graded so bad last year. Hopefully he comes into camp in shape.

A lot hinges on Lucas being healthy, Cross taking a step forward and Haynes becoming a starter.

If that works you have good depth in Fant for the tackle spots and can maybe put Bradford at LG.

At center I still think Nick Harris will get a chance to compete given his UW history with the coaches. If anything he's okay backup.

On the plus side, o line coaching probably makes the most difference. A good coach can do wonders. Look at Ethan Pocic at the Browns for example. Sucked for us but the Browns have a good o line coach.

As the Olu video in my thread indicates there are those around the program that don't think there's much of a competition at C right now. Looking at 2023 PFF grades it shows Harris was a bit better at run blocking but Olu was better at pass pro. Olu has more upside and I think that will show this season due to Huff.

Huff is gonna make a big difference on the OL overall. I hope Laken can step up his game, Bradford can as well or Hayes steps in. Then we just need Cross to keep improving like he has and get Lucas back healthy. If all that happens, which is not likely, Geno should have what he needs to post some big numbers.

 

[warden]

Our big unknown which could make or break us this upcoming season

Can only hope all our young players on the OL can step up and grow. If not everyone will just blame Geno

 

[chris98251]

You can't just look at physical traits, a Center is also usually making a lot of the line calls and assignment changes. Remember Chris Spencer? He couldn't tell if a 18 wheeler was coming in or a puppy.

 

[toffee]

I didn't realize Bradford graded so bad last year. Hopefully he comes into camp in shape.

A lot hinges on Lucas being healthy, Cross taking a step forward and Haynes becoming a starter.

If that works you have good depth in Fant for the tackle spots and can maybe put Bradford at LG.

At center I still think Nick Harris will get a chance to compete given his UW history with the coaches. If anything he's okay backup.

On the plus side, o line coaching probably makes the most difference. A good coach can do wonders. Look at Ethan Pocic at the Browns for example. Sucked for us but the Browns have a good o line coach.

Bradford hasn't done much at camp, I think he was injured on the first day or something like that. Lucas being healthy no doubt is key, but Fant is starter quality, so we might be ok on RT.

 

[King Dog]

 

[SeaWolv]

You can't just look at physical traits, a Center is also usually making a lot of the line calls and assignment changes. Remember Chris Spencer? He couldn't tell if a 18 wheeler was coming in or a puppy.

That's very true, competitiveness and playing intelligence also matter a lot. Which makes hearing people say Olu is such a smart player encouraging in terms if his future development.

 

[Scout]

Cross is out playing a lot of the other OL in the same draft in round 1, but Cross can be better.

• Ekwonu was very sloppy and Canales will have to find a way to squeeze out better production from him.
• Kenyon Green had issues with his conditioning and he wasn't consistent.
• Penning is a major disappointment because his replacement was drafted this year (Taliese)
• Strange looked promising before injury, but the Patriots went out and drafted a slew of potential replacements for Strange in this year's draft.
• Zion Johnson and Tyler Smith are playing at a higher level than Cross at the moment IMO.

Tomlinson is fine as a stop gap and fits well with what Grubbs wants to do on offense.

Olu is definitely a big question mark but that is what Nick Harris is here for as a backup plan if Olu doesn't take the job by the reigns.

Bradford may be in the mix at LG or RG and Haynes is incredibly gifted so he will push for playing time sooner or later.

Lucas is the best OL On the roster when healthy and Fant as a backup swing is as good it gets at the NFL level.

 

[seabowl]

Do not sleep on our late round tackle pick Sataoa Laumea, Utah. He actually has a lot of potential and in my opinion will not be cut as somebody else mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[Scout]

Do not sleep on our late round tackle pick Sataoa Laumea, Utah. He actually has a lot of potential and in my opinion will not be cut as somebody else mentioned earlier in this thread.

I think he sticks because there isn't much else behind the the three guards projected to be ahead of Laumea. McClendon is also a possibility too.