Quote:
Originally Posted by SNR
I think even though RT is an unknown, there are some posters who equate "unknown" with "dumpster fire." And that's stupid, because we have to be even 50/50 on getting worse at RT to legitimately consider that the offensive line as a whole could get worse, provided that Kush is the worst thing since Rudy Niswanger
It is overwhelmingly likely that between Stephenson and Allen there is a player who is better than Ryan Harris as our starting RT, and that's just without an extra OT at some point in the draft. The chances increase if we do.
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I absolutely agree.
However, when looking at the offensive line, the right side from the center over is a question mark.
Kush is a completely unknown. As many have said, including myself, if he was good enough to allow the Chiefs to let Hudson walk and become our starting center, then he should have been good enough to have manned either guard position last year rather than the dumpster fires that the team continued to roll out there every week. If he's good enough to start at C, he's definitely good enough to start at guard and you get him reps so he becomes a better player. Huge question mark and I think that the team got caught with their pants down regarding Hudson. They should have signed him to a long term earlier versus letting him hit the free agent market. I'm sure that they never envisioned him getting that much money, but here we are.
Fulton at right guard was nearly as bad as McGlynn/Linkenbach at left guard. There were times during the season that he was a turnstile. Hell, at least a turnstile has those metal arms and can get in your way. Fulton often did not. You can point to him as being a rookie and the arrow only points up at this juncture, but he's slow of foot (was noted as such during his entire time at Tennessee) and lack lateral agility.
Right tackle was an abortion. Sure, I'd be the first to believe that between Stephenson, Allen and Sherrod, all very talented and skilled tackles when they came out of college, that there is no way in hell that they don't find a guy who will perform at a level that is markedly better than what we saw last year from Harris. However, there are questions. Can Stephenson play at this level without the aid of PED's? Can Allen even play at the NFL level effectively? He hasn't yet. Can Sherrod get his head back into the game of football after his broken leg? Despite his enormous upside, he hasn't yet.
Now, my opinion is that we are going to be just fine. Hudson was basically playing the three interior line positions by himself last season. Grubbs is an enormous upgrade at LG. Fisher will be better. Fulton will be better and if he's not, Allen can play RG at a 60% level, which should be good enough. And between Stephenson and Sherrod, they'll have a decent RT - maybe even something special if either finally gets it to click.
That being said, I think that the team would be foolish not to look at potentially upgrading the C, RG and RT positions in the draft in the event that none of these guys "get it." With ten picks available, there is ample opportunity to fill the holes and build the depth at WR, DB and LB while also addressing the potential hot spots on the offensive line.
This should be a "core" draft class for Dorsey. The team is on the verge right now and this should be a draft class that allows them to get over the playoff hump and stay there for a while.