The Offensive Line - Okung Could Miss All Of Camp

[Formula 21]

[blueman]

Okung: not broken yet and likely not a better option for next season.

Feeney: sucks. Worse, he played about the same at the end of the season as he did at the beginning of it, not buying the he can get better with more playing time argument, cuz did not happen. Is Lamp ready and an improvement? Is there a FA available we can afford who is blessedly average? This spot is up in the air imo.

Pouncey: started great but finished barely above average. Not sure what the deal is but like Okung not seeing a better option.

Schofield: played better than Feeney. All I got. Except I would keep him in the lineup, for some reason I think he does have a higher ceiling, how much higher I dunno but I doubt we can replace both OGs so keeping him.

Tevi: so green, yet like Schofield there seems enough there to keep him in the mix and hope he gets better, cuz again who else is gonna take that spot? FA? Draft pick?

Backups: did not see enough of Quessenbury to get a read on him, so like Lamp a question mark.

Forecast: hoping for at least one change, but if they could somehow swing two that would be awesome - need to replace Feeney, and if they can land a FA/draft pick to challenge Tevi that would be swell too. But fuck, we need all the quality help on the Oline we can get, from wherever.

[richpjr]

Eric Williams reported that Tevi's position is under scrutiny. Hard to imagine that Feeney's couldn't, unless they hope Lamp comes back and replaces him.

[Formula 21]

Tevi and Feeney need to be upgraded. Hopefully Lamp can take a G spot.

[like54ninjas]

Little tidbit about Lamp and his injury recovery......

[Formula 21]

Little tidbit about Lamp and his injury recovery......

I'm glad to hear it wasn't a lingering injury or reduced athleticism.

[Bolt-O]

I'm glad to hear it wasn't a lingering injury or reduced athleticism.

Still, the article wasn't all that specific. He said he wasn't ready. What does that mean? Was he not ready at the start of the season due to missing reps as he wasn't game shape, or not able to take the place of someone on the line because he couldn't mentally handle the position. Not that it matters, but I wish the reporters would pull the string on that with either Lamp or Coach Lynn.

[Steve]

3 things with Lamp

1). The offense is installed during the offseason. They do a quick refresher at the beginning of TC, but mostly at that point, they are working on specific skills and groups working together. They are not going to make the whole rest of the offense wait, while Lamp gets reps to catch up. There is a very limited (and timed) amount of practice, so they don't want to waste any time Lamp missed all of that and had to learn the offense on his own, once he came back from his knee, which wasn't until fairly late in TC. He had to learn the offense on his own.

2). No HS and most college teams I know don't issue playbooks. Or if they do have de-emphasized the amount of study. Young players have to learn how to pick things up with just mental reps as opposed to seeing it on the field, which is up until the NFL, how most of them have been learning the game of football. Guys like Lamp don't get the time on the field to learn things, and that is even truer because they are behind.

3). He missed the offseason program and much of TC. There is no way he was in game shape right away. Even a player in great cardio shape needs a couple of weeks to be really ready to get on the field. The hitting and extra twisting and torquing on all the joints and muscles is different from running in a straight line, doing drills, or lifting in the weight room. Also, coming off a bad knee, how much can he be expected to be in top conditioning. You can't do blasters (intervals) on a bad knee. TC has 2 practices a day, so when you miss TC it takes 2x as long to make up the time.

[SDFan]

3 things with Lamp

1). The offense is installed during the offseason. They do a quick refresher at the beginning of TC, but mostly at that point, they are working on specific skills and groups working together. They are not going to make the whole rest of the offense wait, while Lamp gets reps to catch up. There is a very limited (and timed) amount of practice, so they don't want to waste any time Lamp missed all of that and had to learn the offense on his own, once he came back from his knee, which wasn't until fairly late in TC. He had to learn the offense on his own.

2). No HS and most college teams I know don't issue playbooks. Or if they do have de-emphasized the amount of study. Young players have to learn how to pick things up with just mental reps as opposed to seeing it on the field, which is up until the NFL, how most of them have been learning the game of football. Guys like Lamp don't get the time on the field to learn things, and that is even truer because they are behind.

3). He missed the offseason program and much of TC. There is no way he was in game shape right away. Even a player in great cardio shape needs a couple of weeks to be really ready to get on the field. The hitting and extra twisting and torquing on all the joints and muscles is different from running in a straight line, doing drills, or lifting in the weight room. Also, coming off a bad knee, how much can he be expected to be in top conditioning. You can't do blasters (intervals) on a bad knee. TC has 2 practices a day, so when you miss TC it takes 2x as long to make up the time.

is this equally true for both OL & DL players? I'm thinking of Bosa here as a comparison example and all the foot injury problems and missed time, but came back late season and worked himself into game shape in a couple weeks of playing.

[Panamamike]

is this equally true for both OL & DL players? I'm thinking of Bosa here as a comparison example and all the foot injury problems and missed time, but came back late season and worked himself into game shape in a couple weeks of playing.

No. Oline success takes group reps and cohesion, and is vastly more mentally demanding. I think we will finally see him as a starter and will be glad we have him next season.

[richpjr]

I completely understand the thought process about not wanting to mess with the oline chemistry, but... Feeney was just so absolutely bad, especially down the stretch, that it's hard to imagine that Lamp would not have been an instant upgrade. But maybe that is just wishful fan thinking.

[SDFan]

No. Oline success takes group reps and cohesion, and is vastly more mentally demanding. I think we will finally see him as a starter and will be glad we have him next season.

I know that's the conventional thinking, but they still cut Barksdale in favor of starting Tevi with almost half the season left. So apparently it's a case by case basis on this team.