Jackson Carman confident he can be the Bengals starting left guard

[*SHRacerX*]

(05-27-2022, 12:29 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I agree with pretty much all of this. I don't care who wins the job at LG as long as he plays decent and the guy that wins it isn't
clearly worse than the guy behind him. Hate seeing this from our coaching. Late last season Adeniji was so weak it was pathetic,
I don't want that on my OL and I am sure Pollack didn't either but Adeniji was injured, Carman must of been injured, Spain was
injured etc.

Volson was the perfect pick to push Carman and be a backup everywhere on the OL except maybe Center? I don't know if he 
has played there much, but you can see him working out there in rookie minicamp and the dude exudes work ethic.

Brandon Williams was the monster DT of the Ravens Carman took for a ride BTW SHRacer.

Ah, yes...thanks man.  

One thing I heard about Volson that pins him more as a guard has to do with an off-balance kick slide.  Sure, it is something they can try to teach, but the guy has played 5 full seasons.  Old habits.  They seem to feel it won't be as big an issue at guard.

And when you described that about our coaching...I try to be a realist and think "what did they do in practice?".  Well, one thing is for certain, neither Adeniji, Carman, nor Smith took snaps with the first team all during preseason and training camp.  It was XSF at RG.  He got hurt the 2nd game.  Then it is learn on the fly.  I think some evidence of this was the expansion of the coaching staff specifically for the offensive line.  They can have more guys working with each individual guy to try and bring them up to speed.  


When I look at a guy like Prince, he actually graded out fairly well as a run blocker, but struggled in pass protection.  He did, however, improve both marks by about 10 points compared to his time in Miami.  If he can take that step again, you have a very serviceable backup RT. 

I think a part of what happened to Adeniji was the old "square peg, round hole".  He is a tackle.  Playing him at guard was out of necessity.  I'm sure they thought his body could adjust, but he just couldn't adapt to the bigger, stronger inside DTs.  His game is speed and balance.  I don't mean to say he can't improve, but I really see him and Smith fighting for the other backup tackle spot.  Maybe they carry all three (Smith, Adeniji, and Prince and think of Smith as a backup tackle and swing guy that could also play guard.  

Trey Hill is one that puzzles me.  He is a massive man and strength is supposed to be his best asset, but he consistently grades out better as a pass blocker than a run blocker.  His overall grades would be pretty good, but he has a whopping 6 penalties in just 210 snaps.  Zero sacks and only one pressure in those snaps, but those penalties are killers.  I think he just got away with a lot of holds in college.  

They kind of need him as a backup center.  I haven't seen Hopkins signed anywhere yet.  I would rather have him as a backup center and guard than Hill and believe he could be better the second year off surgery.  He didn't get much credit for what he did coming back so quickly off the surgery and I also believe he would grade out better with better talent around him.