blueboys69
From what I’ve been told, they feel like they have the starting center on the roster right now. Some in the draft could happen and someone could fall in their laps, but the closer we get the more I think OT or OG in the 1st or 2nd round. And judging how round 1 plays out, maybe both by round 3.
some more on this, ie. roster guys possibly developing …
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from off the net
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CoachO
Offensive linemen routinely take a couple of years to develop into quality players. There are many more 3rd & 4th year players turning into quality starters than “plug & play” impact players in years one and two. While most fans tend to under value guys they don’t know much about, IMO, if this coaching staff wasn’t comfortable with guys that are still here, it would have been very easy to let them go as well. At some point, guys who they have chosen to keep around for the 3rd and 4th year, will show why. As I said, I think there are a whole lot more cases of players such as Barnes who entering his 4th year develop into a solid NFL player, than can be made when talking about the “plug and play” success stories.
For example Washington has obviously shown them something to still be here. He missed a lot of training camp last year, but the first day back, he was inserted immediately into the mix. I will be the first to admit, he looked much improved over his first training camp here. So, at least for me, if he improves over what I saw last year, he could be a shining example of developing.
Saying that drafting Barrett Jones was a mistake because he was still recovering from his foot injury just doesn’t make sense to me, unless people who are saying that somehow expected him to be an immediate “plug and play” addition. IMO, they never planned on his first year being anything more than a “red-shirt” year, and they would and could develop him. Last year’s back injury did more to delay his progress than the foot injury coming out. It was the back injury from LAST YEAR that has hindered his progress. He was rendered totally inactive for 10 weeks and was hardly close to being in game shape even when he was activated in late October. And based on early reports, he is bigger and stronger and HEALTHY reporting to the team workouts this week.
There is a huge difference between a player who cannot play due to legitimate injuries (B. Jones) and someone who isn’t able to get on the field because of a lack of talent (Givens).
Barnes can and has played Guard. So has Barrett Jones. That they didn’t use them, should only exaggerate the point that they just weren’t available. Just run down the list of players who ended up on the injured list at one point or another: Scott Wells (infection, elbow injury); Barrett Jones (back surgery); Tim Barnes (pinched nerved, shoulder injury, bruised ribs); Demetrius Rhaney (knee injury – IR); Jake Long (ACL – IR) Rodger Saffold (shoulder injury); Mike Person (shoulder); Brandon Washington (missed 3 weeks in training camp). Mike Person was the #10 man on the depth chart and he was pushed into duty due to all of the injuries. Plus players such as Jones, Washington, Barnes and Rhaney all offer a lot of versatility in that they ALL can play multiple positions.
When they signed Scott Wells, he was coming off a ProBowl season. Wells wasn’t injured when they signed him. He had a MINOR procedure to clean up his knee. He was ready to go in game one. His knee had nothing to do with his broken foot. His knee wasn’t the reason he broke his foot in the 1st half of the 1st game of the season. Prior to that, he had been a model of consistency for the Packers in terms of durability. IMO, it’s a revisionist approach to second guess the signing based on his “being injury prone”.
It’s quite subjective to say that Wells has been bad for the last two years, when in fact, he was pretty good when healthy. There in lies the biggest issue with Scott Wells. When he came back from the broken foot in 2012, he played well, as did the entire unit at that point. When he was on the field in 2013, he played “well enough”. He missed the last 4 games, and Barnes stepped in.
Admittedly, at the time, Tim Barnes was not ready. Physically, he wasn’t strong enough. But that all changed when he came back to training camp LAST YEAR. I have posted this in a few other threads, all the talk was about how Barrett Jones had reshaped his body, and gotten stronger. But, the more noticeable change, was in Tim Barnes. The day he stepped onto the practice field, he “looked” the part of a legitimate NFL Lineman. He had a very good training camp. But being the last man standing , so to speak, (Wells recovering from the tick bite, Jones having back surgery, and Rhaney being a raw rookie), Barnes took 2 out of every 3 reps in camp for the first 3 weeks. As he became more dinged up, (pinched nerve in his neck), and with the return of a now undersized Scott Wells, they moved forward with the plan was to have the veteran presence on the field.
That being said, one has to assume they will add someone early in the draft to throw in the mix, and round out the unit heading into the OTAs and Training Camp. And until Barksdale and/or Blaylock sign elsewhere, I would think they remain part of the equation moving forward.
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