Offensive line status

[richpjr]

Eric Williams had a nice article summing up the status of the offensive line:

Chargers position outlook 2018: Finding a home for Forrest Lamp

Eric D. WilliamsESPN Staff Writer

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- The Los Angeles ChargersLocks: Russell Okung, Dan Feeney, Forrest Lamp

Looking good: Spencer Pulley, Joe Barksdale, Sam Tevi

On the bubble: Donovan Clark

Free agents: Kenny Wiggins, Matt Slauson, Chris Hairston, Michael Ola, Michael Schofield

The good: For the first time in three years, the offensive line mostly stayed healthy. The Chargers used just four different starting offensive line combinations during the 2017 season. Having more consistency up front led to better chemistry and cohesion. The Chargers allowed a league-low 18 sacks and paved the way for Melvin Gordon's 1,105-yard campaign. Okung, an expensive free-agent acquisition, helped to solidify things up front with his consistent play at left tackle and also added leadership to the offensive line room. Feeney stepped in at left guard in place of Slauson and played well in nine starts as a rookie. Schofield also did a nice job in spot duty, with five starts at right tackle in place of Barksdale, who dealt with a nagging foot injury most of the season. First-year offensive line coach Pat Meyer did a nice job of getting this group to mesh, along with building depth on the back end of the roster with players like Tevi, Brett Boyko and Schofield.

The bad: While Gordon totaled 1,105 rushing yards, the Chargers as a team still averaged just 3.81 yards per rush, No. 26 in the NFL. Lamp, selected in the second round, suffered an ACL right knee injury during the first week of training camp that required surgery, cutting short his rookie year. Okung and Barksdale had the the most penalties among the offensive linemen with six apiece during the 2017 season.
The money: Okung is scheduled to make $12 million in guaranteed base salary for the upcoming season. Barksdale is set to make $4.5 million in nonguaranteed base salary in 2018. The Chargers could create $3.8 million in cap savings by moving on from Barksdale. However, the LSU product played injured, missing six games over the last three seasons and is one of the better pass-protectors on the roster. Lamp will make $768,041 on the second year of his rookie deal, while Feeney will earn $634,000 and Tevi will make $555,000. Pulley will make $630,000 in the third year of his rookie contract.

Draft priority:

[bonehead]

Man that OLine looks THIN......All I see is a lot of average to below average....Bolts were very fortunate they stayed relatively healthy

[Steve]

With Feeney, Lamp and potentially bringing Wiggins back, the OG spots are pretty set. Donovan Clark could even surprise if the can finally get healthy.

Slausson and Pulley could be allowed to compete at C, but Slausson is getting pretty old and C is not his best spot. Add in it that he was not playing that well even before he went down. Still, he is a great locker room guy who would be nice to have around with all the younger guys on the roster and to add depth at C/OG. Pulley has great physical tools. He pulls and leads, and gets into space as well as any C in football. But he struggles with combo blocks and it still looks like Rivers is making a lot of the line calls for the OL, rather than have the C do it (like most NFL teams do). He also needs to anchor better against physical DT pushing him back into the pocket. Adding a C via the draft or FA might be hard to turn down.

OT is another problem space. Barksdale is still his usual inconsistent self. He can dominate like the best OT in football for a couple of plays and then turn into someone who looks like they deserve to be cut on another. He has elite physical tools, but can't seem to put it all together. Okung quietly had a pretty good year. He has never been the elite pass protector his salary and position (LT) would suggest. But he is a good run blocker and in our quick passing game with Rivers checking out of a lot of the worst protections, Okung is still playing reasonably well. Tevi didn't exactly distinguish himself in his start against the Jets. While he was somewhat effective, he needs a lot of work before he looks like a starting OT. I thought Schofield played much better than I ever saw him play in Denver and hopefully will get a chance to compete against Barskdale. He doesn't play as well as Barksdale when Barksdale gets hot, but he avoids most of the mistakes.

Looking at the FA lists and the draft, this is not a good season to want to go out and replace our starting OT. Plus the going rate for top OT types is starting to approach $10 million per season. We don't have that much cap space given the number of FA we will have in the next couple of years, so throwing huge amounts of money at a position is problematic.The FA lists are always short on OT in any case.

The top of the draft is not very good this year. The top guys are mostly there because of their potential but lack the steady technique that helps guys like Ryan Ramchek (sp?) and Jack Conklin excel from day 1. There are the usual middle of the draft prospects, but those guys are usually developmental guys, taking a year or two to develop.

Probably the easiest way to add an upgrade to the OL is to draft a C, or resign Wiggins and move Freeney or Lamp to C.

[Panamamike]

Or keep wiggins, cut Barksdale, and have Lamp play RT. There are quite a few options. To me, the mental errors Barksdale makes, and when he makes them are a big weak spot. Way too many pre-snap penalties which indicates a lack of focus to me.

[bonehead]

Lamp played left tackle in college....RT, why not

[MasterOfPuppets]

I agree with PanamaMike, Okung - Freeney - Pulley - Wiggins - Lamp, keep Slauson, Schoefield and maybe Tevi, draft a OT in round 1 or 2

[Porterparty]

I agree with PanamaMike, Okung - Freeney - Pulley - Wiggins - Lamp, keep Slauson, Schoefield and maybe Tevi, draft a OT in round 1 or 2

Would be very happy with this approach. I imagine so would Rivers!!!

[Boltjolt]

I have a feeling they will let Wiggins test the market and he will sign elsewhere. Also doubt they bring back Slausen unless he wou;d sign pretty cheap. I dont think he would be a starter now....unless Wiggins goes elsewhere but then they have Lamp to play RG and draft a RT and keep Barksdale.

[Formula 21]

I have a feeling they will let Wiggins test the market and he will sign elsewhere. Also doubt they bring back Slausen unless he wou;d sign pretty cheap. I dont think he would be a starter now....unless Wiggins goes elsewhere but then they have Lamp to play RG and draft a RT and keep Barksdale.

Concur.

[blueman]

That would be dumb, keep him and make sure Lamp comes back 100% (Teurk comes to mind..).

[Boltjolt]

That would be dumb, keep him and make sure Lamp comes back 100% (Teurk comes to mind..).

Teurk apparently just wasnt that good. His knee wasnt the problem. If they thought he was good, they wouldn't have cut him.

[richpjr]

Teurk apparently just wasnt that good. His knee wasnt the problem. If they thought he was good, they wouldn't have cut him.

Isn't he on the practice squad?

[Bolt-O]

Signed away by the Cardinals, IIRC.

[blueman]

[Steve]

Lamp did play OT for most of his college career. However, the Chargers have said they see him only as an OG (TT last year post draft). Also, given the fact that he missed all year and that he yet to settle in against NFL caliber players, it is probably unreasonable to think he is going to take the RT job away, at least right away.

If someone is going to displace Barksdale, the only reasonable candidate right now seems to be Schofield. He has struggled as a pro overall but played well for us when he got his chances.

As far as Lamp goes, a bunch of teams thought he could play C, which means if we leave Freeney at OG (Freeney was also viewed as a possible C by many teams) then Lamp is a potential C fill in as well, although it would most likely take him time to change positions.

Pulley has the tools to be a great C, but he was the weakest link on the OL last year. He is really bad at working with people on combo blocks which is a lot of them in the zone part of the running game and part of the power running game too. Add into it that he really doesn't do a good job of blocking down, he needs a lot of work before he becomes a quality C. While I hope he does become a quality starter, the fastest and easiest route to a strong line will probably be to go out and get a better C.

IF FA last year is any indication, Wiggins is probably going to get some really stupid money thrown his way. I don't see anything less than $3.5 million on the low end, and the high end of the OG positions is in the $5-7 million end. IN my mind that means a $4 million per year contract is not out of the question, especially since he is fairly young and getting better by the week.

Looking at the draft, I see a lot of players I like at OL, but more in the sense of being prospects. I don't see a lot of guys who are going to come in and lock down the position for 10 years as a day 1 starter.