OL

[Steve]

Are those Barksdale dead money numbers correct? I could have sworn it was a much worse financial situation if we cut him this year.

I like both scenarios you present. I first thought that Lamp would end up at RT. But then we drafted Freeney and i almost considered it a lock. But it may not happen. I completely agree with moving Freeney to the opposite side of where Lamp is though. 2 rookies next to each other could be an issue.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers/cap/

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/los-angeles-chargers/

Barksdale
I am going off the "Over The Cap" numbers, just because I find them more reliable. The Spotrac numbers still show we can't get rid of him, or at least more painful.

Even if we play Feeney and Lamp at OG, I think the line will be better. The OG play last year was very inconsistent, and most of that is Franklin. And Slausson, while he played well, would be a lot better with 2 solid teamates on either side.

We are a quick passing game team. OG need to be good in pass protection to give Rivers a chance to get rid of the ball quickly. AS long as Okung and Barksdale can set quickly, and take away the inside rush, then we can avoid a lot of the sacks and hits on Rivers, which is the key. The D is gotten to the point that it is going to keep the game close. Now, with the WR corp, the big play RB in Gordon, we should be able to make the plays and win some games.

I heard Whisenhunt and TT say they think Lamp is going to be a OG first. Some of that may be going along with the crowd to avoid criticism. Some of it may be that they want to let the players win thLamp is a terrific short set guy, who needs to work on his kick, but then he might be. But he can take awaay the edge from all but the best edge rusher and he is just impossible to counter against. Give him some help witha chip or TE, and I think he is a fine OT. Great, great balance and feet. I don't think the arms are an issue at all.

Feeney has some very nice film too. When he is playing RT, he can't mirror around the edge either, but he really sits back and just doesn't get beat. Most good short set guys try too hard to punish the guy across, and try locking up quickly and end up missing. Feeney just waits until it is time to hit then just stones the guy with a well timed blow. He doesn't lunge, he doesn't bit on moves, just sits back then hits when it is time and not before. And he has great footwork too. I would not be suprised if he ended up being a RT before his career is done although I think he will take few years before he is ready for it.

Marty is the guy who used to talk about not wanting 2 rookie OL on the same side.

[Fleet]

I see what you are saying on the numbers. I was looking at the dead cap numbers. You were saying we save 450K. I saw the 6M.

I think part of the reason TT said that Lamp would be an OG for us was because we hadnt drafted Freeney yet. Unless he mentioned that after we took Freeney as well.

Should be interesting to watch this whole thing develop. I think Lamp would maul at OT. I mentioned that i felt more comfortable with him at OT than at OG before the draft even started. I probably have a little bit of fear after the Fluker project didnt work out. If we dont use Lamp at RT i do think we could have one of the better interiors if not this year than going forward.

Slauson could also play LG with Lamp at Center. But you are getting 2 rookies right next to each other.

Just hope our staff can figure out the best combination for us. I dont want to play musical chairs every single game.

[blueman]

Im referring to his dead money hit. Not his play. Is that what you are asking? lol

Was thinking of last year's OL, and could two rooks side by side really be worse? Freeney next to Lamp sounds a helluva lot better than most any combo we had last year.

[Fleet]

Was thinking of last year's OL, and could two rooks side by side really be worse? Freeney next to Lamp sounds a helluva lot better than most any combo we had last year.

Absolutely we are better this year. I misunderstood your question. Im just saying splitting the 2 rookies may actually give us a better OL than having them right next to each other. But either way is monumentally better than last year.

[RTPbolt]

Id say let camp decide. Try out the combinations. Good news is we have guys than can be flexible and 3 young guys in Tuerk, Lamp and Feeney that have played multiple positions and should all be healthy. I hope 1 of them will standout as a tackle then this line really might come together for a long time.

[SDFan]

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-chargers/cap/

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/los-angeles-chargers/

Barksdale
I am going off the "Over The Cap" numbers, just because I find them more reliable. The Spotrac numbers still show we can't get rid of him, or at least more painful.

Even if we play Feeney and Lamp at OG, I think the line will be better. The OG play last year was very inconsistent, and most of that is Franklin. And Slausson, while he played well, would be a lot better with 2 solid teamates on either side.

We are a quick passing game team. OG need to be good in pass protection to give Rivers a chance to get rid of the ball quickly. AS long as Okung and Barksdale can set quickly, and take away the inside rush, then we can avoid a lot of the sacks and hits on Rivers, which is the key. The D is gotten to the point that it is going to keep the game close. Now, with the WR corp, the big play RB in Gordon, we should be able to make the plays and win some games.

I heard Whisenhunt and TT say they think Lamp is going to be a OG first. Some of that may be going along with the crowd to avoid criticism. Some of it may be that they want to let the players win thLamp is a terrific short set guy, who needs to work on his kick, but then he might be. But he can take awaay the edge from all but the best edge rusher and he is just impossible to counter against. Give him some help witha chip or TE, and I think he is a fine OT. Great, great balance and feet. I don't think the arms are an issue at all.

Feeney has some very nice film too. When he is playing RT, he can't mirror around the edge either, but he really sits back and just doesn't get beat. Most good short set guys try too hard to punish the guy across, and try locking up quickly and end up missing. Feeney just waits until it is time to hit then just stones the guy with a well timed blow. He doesn't lunge, he doesn't bit on moves, just sits back then hits when it is time and not before. And he has great footwork too. I would not be suprised if he ended up being a RT before his career is done although I think he will take few years before he is ready for it.

Marty is the guy who used to talk about not wanting 2 rookie OL on the same side.

How are you so sure this will remain a quick passing game team with a run game oriented Head coach, new OL coach and OL that will be a work in progress for some time? I know they kept Whisenhunt and we still have Rivers, but Gordon had his breakout year last year and needs to be the guy to ride to have long term success. Big passing stats are nice for Dan Marino, err Rivers, but it doesn't get us to the Super Bowl.

[Formula 21]

Gordon's breakout year is this year. I expect the o line to be solid this year. Finally.

[Beerman]

Gordon's breakout year is this year. I expect the o line to be solid this year. Finally.

Don't see them moving Slauson off of C. Didn't Okung have an awful year at LT for Denver last season? I hope he isn't just handed the LT position and Lamp gets a shot to compete there. I'd love to see if he could be the answer there long term.

[Steve]

How are you so sure this will remain a quick passing game team with a run game oriented Head coach, new OL coach and OL that will be a work in progress for some time? I know they kept Whisenhunt and we still have Rivers, but Gordon had his breakout year last year and needs to be the guy to ride to have long term success. Big passing stats are nice for Dan Marino, err Rivers, but it doesn't get us to the Super Bowl.

Your the only one talking about big passing stats. I never did. We also drafted a WR #1. Another big sign.

The only thing I can infer from your reseponse is that you think we aren't going to throw the ball at all? I know that isn't what you mean, although since you don't seem to be reading the post, who knows what you are thinking. Don't read the post if you don't want to, but don't post a response if you aren't going to read it.

Every offense decides how they want to throw the ball. It doesn't matter if they are a run first team or a pass first team. Sooner or later you throw the ball, and you have to decide how to go about that. I am just saying that when we throw the ball, which WILL happen from time to time, it will be off short 3 or 5 quick steps, with the OL setting quickly and then Rivers getting the ball out of his hands quickly. There will be some mixing in of some play action and mis direction stuff, like EVERY offenses uses, down the field, and some longer developing crossing routes. Rivers has one of the quickest releases in football. And we have a receiver corp that can run quick routes and attack the whole field.

If we got to a long passing game off of 5 deep, 7 and 9 step drops, then are sunk because we don't have the kind of pass protection skills. We need an entire line of elite pass blockers, even in a running offense. Deep routes that take long time to develop put a ton of pressure on the pass protection, but especially the OT. Even if Lamp and Feeney move to OT, they aren't going to stand up to the repeatedly being isolated in pass protection and have to hold the pass rush out for a long, long time. No one is playing a deep passing game anymore, so it stand to reason we will do it for mostly the same reason everyone else does it. It saves the QB and shortens the throws.

Why would anyone think we would keep Whisenhunt if we aren't going to keep at least some semblance of balance on offense? Lynn can run a strong running game and play action offense. He doesn't need a passing game guy like Whisenhunt to stay unless he wants some help in the passing game. No one is saying that we aren't going to run a lot more and mix in the passing. No team can just run, run, run and enjoy success anymore. We need to keep getting ifrst downs and wear down defenses and let Gordon get stronger as the game goes on.

I also disagree with the idea that Gordon had a breakout year. He played much better, but he is still not eactly an elite player. I think he has the tools to do it, and I think Lynn is the guy to bring out the best in him, but Gordon is not there (yet).

[Fleet]

I think despite our yards before contact numbers being so terrible i thought Gordon fought hard for yards last year. I think this year will be the breakout year. But he needs to be healthy.

[Steve]

I think he can too. The issue to me with his development has always been the OL. I think with solid OL, Gordon will explode and be one of the most dominant back in football. The tools are there.

I think Slausson is the key to the line. While he had a good year at C last year, we only played him there because of the lack of a true C. We had big money guys in Fluker and Franklin at OG last year. Slausson can be a good player at C or OG, so unless you want 2 rookies starting next to each other, you can shift Slausson around between them and avoid the problem. It also allows us to get the best 5 players on the field. HE may end up at C, but he should be the last guy to get his starting spot set, just because he can be a good player no matter where we need him.

[Fleet]

Yep. My fear was that the longer we force Gordon to make adjustments behind the line of scrimmage the better the chances of him spending a lot of time developing the negatives. You dont want to change the kids natural ability and that can happen when a player is mentally conditioned to overcome obstacles like getting hit behind the line of scrimmage on every carry. Youd like to be able to see him slow down a bit and let blacks develop. Like you see with Bell. I think he has the explosion and vision to make those big plays. But he had to be at the point where he just knew there would be guys in his face every play. It also affects Rivers play.

His best runs come up the middle. And the take on him coming out of college was that he was an outside runner etc. So hes had alot of opportunities to find ways to overcome terrible blocking and still made something out of nothing often last season. I think every game i was blown away by a particular run where he just grinded. A few a game it seemed. Hes gonna put up some big chunk yards this year if we can just get him through the 1st tier of defenders.

If you listen to him a few days ago he said hes packed on a bunch of weight. It almost looks chunky to me. I think that may be a sign of him trying to compensate for getting hit so soon. Id like to see him stay lean and pack on muscle. But it seems like hes trying to simply put on pounds for the sake of increasing his chances of getting the better of that first shot in the backfield. It concerns me a bit. I dont want him to lose his speed and fluidity because hes packed on fat to have a better chance of increasing his pre contact numbers. Its like hes trying to become a full blown power back. But hes more finesse than power. Hes a nice combo to be honest. He needs to stay healthy and i dont think putting on weight is necessarily the way to go about it.