Tim McGee's great idea

[3wt]

(04-15-2021, 03:53 PM)Yogo Wrote: But probably is the best and most effective way to protect Burrow considering all phases of the game and coaching staff etc.  Big difference from top of round 1 to 2nd round in terms of tiers and positional space filler.

Yeah, it's hard to pass up a talent like Sewell no doubt.   And I'll be very happy if we take him.


But there are other ways to protect a QB.   The first is not relying on very obviously limited linemen like we did last year. Hart could not reliably cover the right edge, and the revolving door of back up and inexperienced guards were not able to give Burrow a decent interior pocket.  And we had no adequate depth.

We have done a passable job of shoring up those two aspects, and there are equal to better prospects in the 2nd and 3rd round of this draft for at least the necessary depth that we did not have last year.   While elite offensive lines are the goal, there are good teams that protect their players with average to above average players (as opposed to elite).  You just cannot have sub par linemen.

Another way of protecting your QB is getting receivers open quickly.  Burrow had the hardest time (though it was hard all year d/t incompetent and injured linemen) when teams with good secondaries were able to bottle up our entire receiver corps.  Drafting a guy like Chase or Waddle would open things up.   Those guys are good at getting open and are tremendously competitive at the catch point - especially Chase.  There are only so many good receivers you can keep bottled up, and if you have one who really is able to get open it puts a lot less pressure on the other receivers.

Obviously a better running game opens things up for your offense.  The defense can't just tee off every play.

I believe that there will be players in the 2nd and 3rd round that will not only give us better depth at an average plus level, but be an improvement to what we have now - especially in the interior.   I truly do not know how Burrow functioned with that line last year.  It was a total sieve.   And his grotesque injury came primarily (though not entirely) from a failure in the interior.


But clearly - as demonstrated in the Super Bowl - your backups can not be trailer trash.