Offensive Line Discussion

[Cdn Bolt]

So what other position would you rather be struggling with? That's the choice. You need good players everywhere.

I don't think any of our other units are ranked near the bottom of the league. LT is a critical position. I would be happy if all the units were just mediocre but it included the OL.

[Cdn Bolt]

I find the OL argument disingenuous. Unless you are going to go player by player, and review the UDFA lists, it is hard to say we should have taken an OL here instead of Bosa or this OL in place of James and think we will necessarily be better off.

When it comes down to it, I thought the roster was a complete gut job when we hired Lynn (close to it anyway). We got back on top in basically 1 season. We are still in the rebuilding mode and the OL is the last area, with the possible exception of QB. A lot of teams do have championships with less talented OL.

I don't think we have ever had an OL better than middle of the pack since Telesco arrived here in 2013. If it is a 'gut' job it was his own team that he was gutting.

Telesco came from the IND under Bill Polian who was the godfather of building shitty lines. He stocked the O w #1 pick skill players (Anthony Gonzalez, Dallas Clark , Reggie Wayne , Joseph Addae, Edgerrin James, Donald Brown etc) for Manning and went on the cheap on the OL and other areas.

Telesco is from the same mold. We have used a #1 for a WR, RB and a #2 for a TE. They also got Keenan Allen w a #3. Brought in Travis Benjamin. Meanwhile they have not used a high draft pick for a LT yet. Russel Okung is good but there was noone behind him and now we are screwed.

[Steve]

Colts got a good o line in basically one season so get the hell outta here with that bullshit argument dude.And what is this o line ranked genius?It can't get much worse so stick that in yer panties and walk on.

So Indy is such a solid roster?


Name one top notch pass rusher for them????

How about their RB depth????

How about their backup OL?????

Backup S???

Colts got lucky with almost no injuries last season.

My point was always that they did it at the expense of other positions, and they went heavy D with their draft. They are far from a complete rosters.

We are doing the Chargers typical thing. Where we are weak, we are really weak. Every other positon if pretty strong. Where were you when everyone wanted to add LB via the draft and FA???? Still think we should give those FA and draft picks to stick with Pollard and Emmanuel??? Because that is the alternative, if we had gone all OL like Indy did. And no TIllery or Adderley. So we would have Liuget back too, costing big money we will need for All our FA next season.

[Steve]

I don't think any of our other units are ranked near the bottom of the league. LT is a critical position. I would be happy if all the units were just mediocre but it included the OL.

What would the DT and LB spots be looking like if we had ignored them in the draft and FA?

There were not enough resources (FA money and draft picks) to address every need.

Tell me we could live with last years LB corp and last years DT and still be a championship quality roster even with a solid OL????

[Steve]

I don't think we have ever had an OL better than middle of the pack since Telesco arrived here in 2013. If it is a 'gut' job it was his own team that he was gutting.

Telesco came from the IND under Bill Polian who was the godfather of building shitty lines. He stocked the O w #1 pick skill players (Anthony Gonzalez, Dallas Clark , Reggie Wayne , Joseph Addae, Edgerrin James, Donald Brown etc) for Manning and went on the cheap on the OL and other areas.

Telesco is from the same mold. We have used a #1 for a WR, RB and a #2 for a TE. They also got Keenan Allen w a #3. Brought in Travis Benjamin. Meanwhile they have not used a high draft pick for a LT yet. Russel Okung is good but there was noone behind him and now we are screwed.

We haven't. Not the point.

Have we had as good a group of any of the position groups??? No. The roster is very good overall. BUt it has a major weakness, the OL.

I just don't see how in a shitty OL draft THIS year with VERY FEW OL and NO decent OL in FA. Not sure how we were going to put a top-notch OL together??? Unless you think TT has a magic wand and conjures them out of thin air.

We added the best players who fit OTHER areas of need. We did major upgrades to our major weaknesses. I thought that was the point of the draft.

We added a FS, which hamstrung our coverage all year.

We have 2 fresh DT this season, and another from last, so the DT situation looks a lot better than last year. Green, but good prospects.

We rebuilt the LB corp this season. After everyone's bitching after NE, it seems like we needed that, or am I remembering that wrong? We added Tranquill, Davis, and Egbule this offseason. So what OL were we going to add with those draft picks that would make the impact that they will at LB?

Player personnel is not order off the menu. You can't say you want a Johnathan Ogden type LT if there isn't one in that years draft. Probably the best OT for pass blocking was Dillard, and he got his QB wrist broken on his 1st play of preseason. Not even top draft resources necessarily pan out.

[Cdn Bolt]

What would the DT and LB spots be looking like if we had ignored them in the draft and FA?

There were not enough resources (FA money and draft picks) to address every need.

Tell me we could live with last years LB corp and last years DT and still be a championship quality roster even with a solid OL????

This is Telesco's fault for not bringing in enough FA to address all areas evenly IMO. DT is still a little concern. RB is a huge concern too if Gordon holds out. Again, we have the 29th ranked OL . Not an area where you want that sort of ranking. Just unacceptable and can't see how you can defend that . Why do we need 3 QBs too?

[sonorajim]

If the Colts are the shining light on a hill at Oline, I say this.

It remains to be seen if Braden Smith can continue to hold up at ORT vs pass rushers. He faltered down the stretch last year. Was anybody around here watching ? Does anybody even know that detail ? I only liked Braden Smith as an OG in his draft.

Can Ryan Kelly remain healthy and durable for two years in a row ? Maybe, but he has had health issues in the past.

A generational OG, Quentin Nelson, fell into the Colts lap. This is where most of the talk comes from.

They are one injury, one blood clot, away from throwing a player by the name of Le'Raven Clark out there. He's terrible.

With the turn of a card, the Chargers Oline storyline could change.

Let's see what happens.

Maybe 1 great O lineman is all it takes to get popular acclaim for an OL group.
We had 2 good-very good ones last year, Okung & Pouncey and our OL were top 10 in pass pro. Pouncey returns with more experience with his coaches & teammates. Okung is a maybe but not counting him, we need our young guys (Feeney, Lamp, Scott, Tevi, Quis, Pipkins) to take a step up. It doesn't seem too much to ask. Other teams do it. There are a lot of decent starting OL around the NFL who were undrafted or late picks. We have a 2nd, two 3's, a 5th, 6th and a UDFA that look like players a good OL coach could build a decent OL with.
HC Lynn & his OL coach, Pat Meyer are entering their 3rd year. Show us what a you can do with NFL level raw material- and they are that IMO.

[Steve]

If the Colts are the shining light on a hill at Oline, I say this.

It remains to be seen if Braden Smith can continue to hold up at ORT vs pass rushers. He faltered down the stretch last year. Was anybody around here watching ? Does anybody even know that detail ? I only liked Braden Smith as an OG in his draft.

Can Ryan Kelly remain healthy and durable for two years in a row ? Maybe, but he has had health issues in the past.

A generational OG, Quentin Nelson, fell into the Colts lap. This is where most of the talk comes from.

They are one injury, one blood clot, away from throwing a player by the name of Le'Raven Clark out there. He's terrible.

With the turn of a card, the Chargers Oline storyline could change.

Let's see what happens.

This is the point. ^^^^^^^^^^

How many people support the idea that we should have traded up to draft Nelson, remembering it would have taken our 1st AND 2nd round picks to do so.

Is everyone willing to give up Nwosu and James for Nelson?

The other thing to keep in mind was that Indy was not going to trade him, so we would have had to probably give up more than the 7th pick value listed above. So, add the other picks in that range are at least a 3rd, which means no Justin Jones either.

[Cdn Bolt]

We haven't. Not the point.

Have we had as good a group of any of the position groups??? No. The roster is very good overall. BUt it has a major weakness, the OL.

I just don't see how in a shitty OL draft THIS year with VERY FEW OL and NO decent OL in FA. Not sure how we were going to put a top-notch OL together??? Unless you think TT has a magic wand and conjures them out of thin air.

We added the best players who fit OTHER areas of need. We did major upgrades to our major weaknesses. I thought that was the point of the draft.

We added a FS, which hamstrung our coverage all year.

We have 2 fresh DT this season, and another from last, so the DT situation looks a lot better than last year. Green, but good prospects.

We rebuilt the LB corp this season. After everyone's bitching after NE, it seems like we needed that, or am I remembering that wrong? We added Tranquill, Davis, and Egbule this offseason. So what OL were we going to add with those draft picks that would make the impact that they will at LB?

Player personnel is not order off the menu. You can't say you want a Johnathan Ogden type LT if there isn't one in that years draft. Probably the best OT for pass blocking was Dillard, and he got his QB wrist broken on his 1st play of preseason. Not even top draft resources necessarily pan out.

All of that is well and good but will be for nothing if we lose games due to poor LT play. Telesco has had 7 drafts to have a a decent LT backup in place and failed. You would think w Rivers it would be even a priority. He deserves criticism Not sure how you can defend him.

[Steve]

This is Telesco's fault for not bringing in enough FA to address all areas evenly IMO. DT is still a little concern. RB is a huge concern too if Gordon holds out. Again, we have the 29th ranked OL . Not an area where you want that sort of ranking. Just unacceptable and can't see how you can defend that . Why do we need 3 QBs too?

Ask that question if we don't resign Rivers next season.

How many teams go into a season without a hall of fame QB under contract, at an age where he could go at any time. Or do you think Cardale Jones from last year was an option????

Again, which of our current players would you say we use our WAYBACK MACHINE to remove from our roster and not replace?????? Jones at DT??? TIllery???? Nwosu???? DJ???? Mike WIlliams?????? (or would you have rather we paid TW $11 mil per year)????? And which positions???

[Cdn Bolt]

Ask that question if we don't resign Rivers next season.

How many teams go into a season without a hall of fame QB under contract, at an age where he could go at any time. Or do you think Cardale Jones from last year was an option????

Again, which of our current players would you say we use our WAYBACK MACHINE to remove from our roster and not replace?????? Jones at DT??? TIllery???? Nwosu???? DJ???? Mike WIlliams?????? (or would you have rather we paid TW $11 mil per year)????? And which positions???

3 Qbs is a luxury not a need but we'll leave that

I don't care how you spin it but all he had to have was a swing tackle backup $2-3M/yr max player. Like what every other team seems to have so the next LT man up isn't some UDFA scrub w no exp.

[Sgt Schultz]

3 Qbs is a luxury not a need but we'll leave that

I don't care how you spin it but all he had to have was a swing tackle backup $2-3M/yr max player. Like what every other team seems to have so the next LT man up isn't some UDFA scrub w no exp.

If you can have only experienced quality backups, how do you develop talent?