05-10-2020, 01:04 PM
On the topic of the OL, I encourage people to watch Matt Minnich's breakdown of our OL last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iktDzo5XM98
It's from January, but I just recently watched it, and took away a few things:
1. Trey Hopkins was our only good lineman last year. And he's really good.
2. Hart was mostly bad early, but settled down. I wish we had something better, but he's not as bad as you might think. In the prime of his career, let's call him average.
3. Fred Johnson did nothing special. I guess the hype is that "transplanted college guard was better than Jerry and at least as good as Glenn, when he gets reps his arrow will shoot way up." Frankly i'm not banking much on that.
4. Billy Price wasn't a total embarrassment at guard. I think he's fine as a backup.
5. Redmond doesn't get much screen time in this video but when he does he's horrible. Still scratching my head over the fact that we tendered him. Somehow, he's still only 25 so maybe that's why.
6. To Racer's point above, there are plenty of plays where (even if Minnich only hints at it) you think sure that's a muddy pocket, but imagine what Burrow throwing to Green and company does in that situation. The "sometimes QBs making OLs look better" narrative starts to take shape and gives on hope. With that said, having a mobile QB isn't an excuse for neglecting the OL, and we shouldn't.
7. In some cases the OL looking bad was Drew Sample being a rookie. In the Jax game Calais Campbell just blew him up a few times. And I can't pin that all on Sample - he's a kid and wasn't up to the task this early in his career. Campbell is a beast. Let's remember, when we failed to trade up for an OL in the 2019 draft, we pivoted by trading down for Sample, figuring a great blocking TE was the next best thing to a better OT. And while I'm as critical of the Sample pick as anybody, I do think he'll make a fine blocking TE in the NFL (which is not worth a 2nd round pick but I digress).
8. I'm still bullish on Mike Jordan. Athletic, big, and smart, but I wish he was a better finisher. Guys slip off his blocks a lot. Maybe that will come as his body develops into an NFL body and he gains confidence.
With all that said, there's reason to believe our OL MIGHT be solid. But there are so many IFs in that it makes you nervous. I mean we *did* have a plan going into last year (first round pick at LT, Cordy Glenn at LG, solid NFL veteran at RG, etc) and look how fast it fell apart.
It's from January, but I just recently watched it, and took away a few things:
1. Trey Hopkins was our only good lineman last year. And he's really good.
2. Hart was mostly bad early, but settled down. I wish we had something better, but he's not as bad as you might think. In the prime of his career, let's call him average.
3. Fred Johnson did nothing special. I guess the hype is that "transplanted college guard was better than Jerry and at least as good as Glenn, when he gets reps his arrow will shoot way up." Frankly i'm not banking much on that.
4. Billy Price wasn't a total embarrassment at guard. I think he's fine as a backup.
5. Redmond doesn't get much screen time in this video but when he does he's horrible. Still scratching my head over the fact that we tendered him. Somehow, he's still only 25 so maybe that's why.
6. To Racer's point above, there are plenty of plays where (even if Minnich only hints at it) you think sure that's a muddy pocket, but imagine what Burrow throwing to Green and company does in that situation. The "sometimes QBs making OLs look better" narrative starts to take shape and gives on hope. With that said, having a mobile QB isn't an excuse for neglecting the OL, and we shouldn't.
7. In some cases the OL looking bad was Drew Sample being a rookie. In the Jax game Calais Campbell just blew him up a few times. And I can't pin that all on Sample - he's a kid and wasn't up to the task this early in his career. Campbell is a beast. Let's remember, when we failed to trade up for an OL in the 2019 draft, we pivoted by trading down for Sample, figuring a great blocking TE was the next best thing to a better OT. And while I'm as critical of the Sample pick as anybody, I do think he'll make a fine blocking TE in the NFL (which is not worth a 2nd round pick but I digress).
8. I'm still bullish on Mike Jordan. Athletic, big, and smart, but I wish he was a better finisher. Guys slip off his blocks a lot. Maybe that will come as his body develops into an NFL body and he gains confidence.
With all that said, there's reason to believe our OL MIGHT be solid. But there are so many IFs in that it makes you nervous. I mean we *did* have a plan going into last year (first round pick at LT, Cordy Glenn at LG, solid NFL veteran at RG, etc) and look how fast it fell apart.
