Offensive Line Discussion

[beachcomber]

I just saw Brown go up against Alabama. He made a few plays, but was pretty much kept in check by #65 (Deonte Brown 6'4" 338 lbs).

Pretty unimpressive performance against a top Oline in the Iron Bowl.

these kind of statements give me pause, and then there is the (curious) case of Elgton Jenkins, who I pretty much wrote off last year after reading that he had struggled against Quinnen Williams, and.... viola, according to my Pack fan friend, dude is top rookie lineman from last year's draft, which not only makes me wonder what the true value of D. Brown's draft stock is, but also gives me pause re: OC Darryl Williams, who apparentlyt had a rough outing vs. Derrick B.

on the other hand Jake Hanson was said to have held his own against Brown.... the nuance/subtleties of the draft.

[beachcomber]

Very recently, Duke Manyweather and Brandon Thorn posted their All-Pro Oline.
These two respected pundits ought to be every fans go to online Oline gurus.

POS // Ist Team // 2nd Team // 3rd Team

LT // Armstead // Stanley // Bakhtiari
LG // Incognito // Nelson // Marpet
C // Hudson // Jensen // Kelce
RG // Brooks // Yanda // Martin
RT // Schwartz // Ramczyk // Bulaga

There are plenty of Small Schoolers,
Round Three and beyond picks,
and players the Chargers could have easily drafted.

[wu-dai clan]

I know you touted Ramczyk, too.
The medical info that was available
sealed the deal for me. Was it a case od risk/reward for the Chargers ? Was it too early at our selection.

Now comes Tua. There was a huge meeting for him and his people in New York with third party medical experts yesterday. Monday will bring his announcement.

Pouncey will have some news for us soon, after talking to his doctor.

Lots of moving parts.

[powderblueboy]

these kind of statements give me pause, and then there is the (curious) case of Elgton Jenkins, who I pretty much wrote off last year after reading that he had struggled against Quinnen Williams, and.... viola, according to my Pack fan friend, dude is top rookie lineman from last year's draft, which not only makes me wonder what the true value of D. Brown's draft stock is, but also gives me pause re: OC Darryl Williams, who apparentlyt had a rough outing vs. Derrick B.

on the other hand Jake Hanson was said to have held his own against Brown.... the nuance/subtleties of the draft.

You never really now with one game. Maybe he suffered an injury the previous game; maybe he had the flu; maybe he just found out his girlfriend was cheating on him.
You don't really know what are his responsibilities from play to play. But if auburn wanted Brown to be disruptive, that wasn't happening.

It does give one pause if the thought process is that he will wreck NFL interiors day 1.

Although he doesn't look it, he's 6'5" with long arms: that won't be his problem.

BTW, i briefly considered Jenkins in the first. Wouldn't of been unhappy if the chargers selected him there.

[Topcat]

I just saw Brown go up against Alabama. He made a few plays, but was pretty much kept in check by #65.

Pretty unimpressive performance against a top Oline in the Iron Bowl.

That would be 'Bama OG Deonte Brown...6-4, 338 lbs.--now, THAT'S some serious beef...could be a nice value pick in the mid rounds...

[Sb4Rivers]

We try to fix the Oline.
Joe D'Alessandris was fired by the Chargers.
Now he has developed All Pros @ BAL.

That not fair to our excellent HC and FO.

[richpjr]

Poppers solution to our offensive line:

A four-step plan for fixing the Chargers’ offensive line in 2020
By Daniel Popper

At his end-of-year press conference last week, Chargers general manager Tom Telesco was asked how much work needs to be done to his offensive line this offseason.

“How much work?” he said. “That’s a tough question.”

It is. But it’s also a crucial question. And how Telesco answers could ultimately determine whether his team will rebound from a 5-11 finish in 2019.

“There’s work that needs to be done, obviously,” Telesco continued. “That’s part of the evaluation process as we move into the offseason. It’s not a finished product by any means.”

That indicates changes and additions are likely for a group ravaged by injuries this season. But how many? And to which positions? And who are the replacements?

Fear not. We continue our season-in-review week with a blueprint of sorts: a four-step plan for fixing the Chargers’ offensive line.

One ground rule before we dive in. I’m writing this under the assumption that the Chargers re-sign Philip Rivers as their starting quarterback. I view that as the likeliest scenario. And in that hypothetical, improving the offensive line is absolutely essential. Rivers’ regression last season was clearly exacerbated by poor pass protection. Most of that came from the Chargers losing their two best offensive linemen to injury, in left tackle Russell Okung and center Mike Pouncey. Some of that was lack of talent at the other positions.

Here is what is clear to me: If Rivers comes back, the Chargers have to add a number of capable bodies to their offensive line room.

And with that, let’s get started.

Step 1: Sign a starting guard in free agency

When mulling this plan, I saw two different avenues the Chargers could take. In each, they would add both a starting-caliber guard and a starting-caliber tackle. The means of getting there would just be different.

One option involved signing a free-agent right tackle and drafting a guard. The other option was to sign a free-agent guard and draft a tackle.

The second option made more sense to me for two main reasons:

1. The top of this year’s offensive tackle draft crop could be historically good. The Athletic’s NFL draft expert, Dane Brugler, had three tackles going in the top 10 of his first mock draft. And the Chargers will be in position to select one of those guys with the No. 6 overall pick. (More on this in Step 3.)

2. The offensive guards slated to become unrestricted free agents are better than the tackles. Three guards are included in Sheil Kapadia’s rankings of the top 50 pending unrestricted free agents. All of them are in the top 40. All of them are 28-or-younger. Only one tackle is included in those rankings. Last year, Sheil only had one guard in his top 50, Rodger Saffold, who was 31 at the time. This is a rare opportunity. Young, talented players could be available on the open market.

So that’s the logic.

The three guards ranked in Sheil’s top 50 are Washington’s Brandon Scherff (No. 13, age 28), the Saints’ Andrus Peat (No. 24, age 26), and the Patriots’ Joe Thuney (No. 36, age 27).

Scherff, a right guard, is going to command a sizable contract. The Eagles’ Brandon Books set the market for right guards when he signed a four-year, $56.35 million extension in November. That’s an average annual value just above $14 million. Scherff should wind up in that ballpark. That might be too expensive for the Chargers, who will enter this offseason with around $56 million in cap space. So Peat, a Pro Bowler in 2018, or Thuney could be better possibilities.

There are cautionary tales at this position that must be mentioned. Giving big money to guards can sometimes backfire. The Jaguars signed Andrew Norwell to a five-year, $66.5 million deal prior to the 2018 season, and he’s mostly been a disappointment. That is the third-most-lucrative contract for any guard in the NFL in terms of AAV. Norwell hasn’t played at that level.

So, as always, discretion is paramount in making these signings. Overpaying for a mediocre or bad player is the easiest way to destroy a roster.

Still, I think the Chargers need to be aggressive. They must add a solid piece to the interior of their offensive line, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Pouncey’s neck injury.

Step 2: Re-sign Michael Schofield

We are going in chronological order with these steps. First, secure a starting guard in free agency, which begins on March 18, the opening day of the new league year. Next, secure depth. And that means re-signing right guard Michael Schofield, the only Charger to play every offensive snap this season.

Depending on how Step 1 shakes out, the Chargers could end up with either a starting left guard or right guard. In my mind, the side is not overly important. They need an upgrade at both spots. Scherff would slide in at right guard. Peat or Thuney would slide in at left guard.

Schofield is a valuable depth piece because he can play both guard and tackle. I would bring him back to battle for the starting job at the other guard spot — opposite whoever the Chargers sign in free agency. And this would be a four-man competition — Schofield, Dan Feeney (the 2019 starter at left guard), Forrest Lamp and Trent Scott, who played both left and right tackle this season.

Anthony Lynn said at the end of December that Scott could move inside next season. I think he could flourish in that situation. Scott struggled in pass protection. He wasn’t quick enough to consistently match up with NFL edge rushers. A change to guard could help mask some of those deficiencies. It worked for Schofield, who played tackle with the Broncos before the Chargers picked him up on waivers and eventually moved him to guard.

I think a two-year, $8-to-$10 million deal for Schofield could work for both sides. That’s about the going rate for a fringe starter at guard.

Michael Schofield. (Jake Roth / USA TODAY Sports)

Step 3: Draft a tackle in the first round

In this scenario, we’ve now reached the end of April. And it’s time for the Chargers to make a final splashy move to put the finishing touches on their offensive-line overhaul.

Spend the No. 6 overall pick on a tackle.

With Rivers coming back (in our hypothetical), there’s no reason to spend that first-round pick on a quarterback. Rivers needs protection. That’s the glaring need. So address it with your most valuable selection, then look to draft Rivers’ replacement in the later rounds.

The tackle they select at No. 6 will, if everything goes according to plan, replace Sam Tevi at right tackle.

Telesco said last week that he believes Tevi is a starter in the NFL.

“He is tough beyond your dreams and he’s got great feet,” he said.

But the Chargers can absolutely upgrade with one of the three best tackles coming out: Alabama’s Jedrick Wills, Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs, and Georgia’s Andrew Thomas. As previously mentioned, Brugler had all three of these guys going in the top 10 of his mock draft.

All three started multiple games at right tackle in their college careers, so they would be comfortable sliding into that position right away — assuming they earn the job, of course. Wills was a full-time starter at right tackle for the Crimson Tide. Both Wirfs and Thomas started their careers at right tackle before shifting to the left side.

Tevi is super-athletic and does things in the running game and screen game that not many NFL tackles can do. But his weakness is in pass protection. And that’s where the Chargers have to improve if they’re going to win with Rivers in 2020.

Step 4: Pray to the football gods for healthy Pro Bowlers

Football coaches will tell you that luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity.

I prefer this adage: It’s better to be lucky than good.

There are plenty of factors and variables one can control as an NFL GM. One thing that is almost impossible to control is injury luck. And Telesco suffered through the worst of it last season, especially along his offensive line.

Okung missed most of the season after a freak blood clot scare. Pouncey missed most of the season after a freak neck injury. The two Pro Bowlers never played a snap together.

With both guys healthy, the Chargers have a much different offensive line. That’s what Telesco and the Chargers have to hope.

A lot of this is going to come down to luck.

Pouncey’s future is still up in the air. If he comes back and starts a full season, the Chargers all of a sudden look a lot more promising up front.

Okung’s status is less uncertain. He’s past any complications from the pulmonary embolism he suffered in June. He missed time over the final half of the season for various muscle-related issues, but he’ll actually have a full offseason and training camp to get his body ready this year. That should help him.

In a perfect world, the Chargers’ starting O-line for the opener would look like this:

LT Russell Okung, LG Forrest Lamp, C Mike Pouncey, RG Brandon Scherff, RT Jedrick Wills

You could swap Feeney or Schofield in for Lamp, but I think Lamp — who broke his ankle in his second start of 2019 — has the most potential. He just needs to stay healthy.

You could swap Thomas or Wirfs for Wills.

Here’s another option:

LT Russell Okung, LG Andrus Peat, C Mike Pouncey, RG Forrest Lamp, RT Jedrick Wills

The point being, Okung and Pouncey make this a much more formidable group.

If Pouncey can’t play, the Chargers do have options. Here’s a possibility, if they sign Scherff:

LT Russell Okung, LG Forrest Lamp, C Dan Feeney, RG Brandon Scherff, RT Jedrick Wills

You could swap Scott Quessenberry in for Feeney. The Chargers are excited about Quessenberry’s development. But the unit is obviously better with Pouncey in there.

There is your formula.

Let’s see what Telesco does.

[Lone Bolt]

Popper's plan is pretty much mine...he must be reading my posts!!

Of course...the trick is to add at least one upgrade via FA...Guard for instance...but you not only have to find a guy that fits us, but you have to be able to afford them...and they actually have to want to come here. If we are willing to pay them x amount of dollars, so will other teams, and probably the teams they are already members of as well.

Another issue is whether we will actually be able to add that blue chip tackle in the first round. Even if Rivers returns, we may not be able to pass up a QB, picking as high as we are...who knows what TT is thinking, really...

Fans make plans, and God laughs...

[wu-dai clan]

Popper's plan is pretty much mine...he must be reading my posts!!

Of course...the trick is to add at least one upgrade via FA...Guard for instance...but you not only have to find a guy that fits us, but you have to be able to afford them...and they actually have to want to come here. If we are willing to pay them x amount of dollars, so will other teams, and probably the teams they are already members of as well.

Another issue is whether we will actually be able to add that blue chip tackle in the first round. Even if Rivers returns, we may not be able to pass up a QB, picking as high as we are...who knows what TT is thinking, really...

Fans make plans, and God laughs...

The huge assumption is that Andrew Thomas, Tristen Wirfs, or Dedrick Wills are plug n play, or even scheme fits that interest our decision makers and staff.

It is a false premise that if we draft an OT, at 6, all will automatically be good.

Overinvest at Oline to the detriment of the whole team.

[Boltjolt]

Popper's plan is pretty much mine...he must be reading my posts!!

Of course...the trick is to add at least one upgrade via FA...Guard for instance...but you not only have to find a guy that fits us, but you have to be able to afford them...and they actually have to want to come here. If we are willing to pay them x amount of dollars, so will other teams, and probably the teams they are already members of as well.

Another issue is whether we will actually be able to add that blue chip tackle in the first round. Even if Rivers returns, we may not be able to pass up a QB, picking as high as we are...who knows what TT is thinking, really...

Fans make plans, and God laughs...

8 to 10 million for Schofield for depth is too steep. Popper called him a fringe starter but he isn't that good.

[Lone Bolt]

8 to 10 million for Schofield for depth is too steep. Popper called him a fringe starter but he isn't that good.

Actually, I was joking a bit...like a lot of the plan, but not the Schofield part...

[Gwynning_Spirit]

Poppers solution to our offensive line:

Popper's plan is pretty much mine...he must be reading my posts!!

Yeah, I'm ok with most of this. Hopefully something similar plays out this way.