Quinton Spain looking like a bargain

[fredtoast]

I am not ready to eat the crow after just two games, but I do have it in the oven.

During the offseason I was very skeptical of Spain simply because we signed him for peanuts (league minimum?). Since I believe in a free market setting a players value I don't think any other team in the league thought much of him.

But so far he has looked pretty solid.

[*ochocincos*]

(09-24-2021, 11:05 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I am not ready to eat the crow after just two games, but I do have it in the oven.

During the offseason I was very skeptical of Spain simply because we signed him for peanuts (league minimum?).  Since I believe in a free market setting a players value I don't think any other team in the league thought much of him.

But so far he has looked pretty solid.

I was excited for Spain to come in last year.
I thought he'd be able to solidify one of the OG spots.
He did not play to expectations for sure.

However, this could be attributed to him not being a fit in Turner's blocking scheme, playing mostly out of position (I believe his worst performances were at RG when he's probably a better fit at LG), and/or Turner not being able to teach well enough.

He's impressed so far this year, looking like the best OL (or at least one of the top 2-3).
Not sure if it's Pollack, the scheme, being solely at LG, or a mix of these, but it seems to be working thus far.

As you said though, it's only 2 weeks in. Let's see how the rest of the season plays out before we determine that LG is set.

[jj22]

I think we had more faith in Spain then we did XSF. I thought XSF would have been cut.

[fredtoast]

(09-24-2021, 11:16 AM)jj22 Wrote: I think we had more faith in Spain then we did XSF. I thought XSF would have been cut.

No one should be too excited about Su'a-Filo starting for us, but he is a former second round pick who had 53 career NFL starts before we signed him.  No way we would have cut him as thin as we are at O-line.

[fredtoast]

(09-24-2021, 11:15 AM)ochocincos Wrote: However, this could be attributed to him not being a fit in Turner's blocking scheme, playing mostly out of position (I believe his worst performances were at RG when he's probably a better fit at LG), and/or Turner not being able to teach well enough.

After training camp is over there is not a lot of live snaps or time to learn a system.  Once the season starts practices and meetings are geared more toward preparing for a specific team than teaching players our scheme.  So what Spain did last year was actually very impressive.

Just 3 days after we signed him he replaced Shaq Calhoun who had started at RG against the Titans and played 85% of the snaps that game.  In the next game against the Steelers he started at ROT.  It was the first time he had played tackle in his NFL career.  After that he started the rest of the season at either LG or RG.  So despite having to learn on the run he started at three different positions over the last half of the season.

[jj22]

(09-24-2021, 11:32 AM)fredtoast Wrote: No one should be too excited about Su'a-Filo starting for us, but he is a former second round pick who had 53 career NFL starts before we signed him.  No way we would have cut him as thin as we are at O-line.

Yes, we are think now so he fits. But that was when I thought Price and/or Jordan would make the team.

[Au165]

Spain actually had some upside. Last year we kept moving him all across the line out of necessity, and even doing that he had some really solid games. If Carman can figure it out we could have a decent offensive line.

[NUGDUKWE]

I do think Spain was responsible for the 1st sack against the Bears but he seemed to do better after that so I shouldn't hate him too much for one play. The sack went to Jonah and Spain got pushed back so bad it allowed Jonah's guy to come way inside while also blocking Jonah from getting inside to block him. It also makes me question PFF because someone posted Spain had a 100 pass pro score and gave up 0 pressures which I don't either of those are accurate.

[NUGDUKWE]

But yes overall he is probably a steal.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

I never had a problem with Spain starting as I always thought he and XSF should compete for 1 starting spot and the loser become a quality backup. My problem was when you had Spain+Hopkins+XSF all starting. They are all guys you'd be quite happy to have as your 5th best OL without complaint. You can't have 40-60% of your OL be those type of guys.

[ezekiel23]

I said all along that I liked Spain,and couldn’t understand why people were so down on him.I guess everyone was just so focused on what happened last year.But he was placed in a very difficult situation.He’s above average I think,and the Bengals are fortunate to have him.Especially at the bargain price they signed him at.If he continues to play well,then I would upgrade his contract,and sign him on for a couple more years.

[Amalone002]

I been on the Spain gang since the off-season, said from day 1 he would be a good starter and he was good last year given the circumstances. Glad yall are coming around to the Spain Gang. Like I said before their is only 1 position on the OL that I'm worried about and that's RG and Carmen looked good.

[TheFan]

(09-26-2021, 07:03 PM)Amalone002 Wrote: I been on the Spain gang since the off-season, said from day 1 he would be a good starter and he was good last year given the circumstances.  Glad yall are coming around to the Spain Gang. Like I said before their is only 1 position on the OL that I'm worried about and that's RG and Carmen looked good.

Center so far has probably been our weakest position. Obviously he's coming back from injury but he's struggled as much or more than anyone so far. Obviously the whole line looked better today though and the hold that brought back Mixons run was meh. See that every running play and it gets called about 20% of the time.