Post draft review

Call it mountainizing a molehill. However, finding a solution to the backup OT problem is relatively important.

I used Gorin (who’s no longer with the team) as an example of wasting a roster spot, since his only real function on the team last year — besides a trivial amount of playing time — was to serve as an emergency backup. It’s an important enough position to necessitate keeping one but it always seems like a waste when a roster spot is used on a player whose job is to sit on the bench, just in case he’s needed.

The basic problem of roster numbers on the OL is one of most important, and recurring, problems in determining the roster. I addressed this before the draft under posts related to our 1st pick. In those posts (and there are many), I discuss using our 1st pick on Trent Williams (OT). My suggestion that Trent Williams might be a good pick should be understood in two ways — firstly, as a value pick for that range (#11), and secondly, as a way of resolving our ongoing problems at OT and OG, and I suggested that we use him as an OG & backup OT.

NFL teams don’t want to carry an abundance of bench-sitters. And the OL best illustrates this tension between having an emergency reserve and getting some use out of the members of the roster. The idea being illustrated in this case is the idea of ‘platoon depth’ versus ‘situational depth.’ And the problem is exacerbated in the case of the OL by the 53 man roster, which makes it difficult to carry backups at every position on the OL. Further exacerbating the OL’s depth problem is the active list, which limits the amount of players in any single game to 45 ( + a 3QB).

Our current situation involves injuries to Clady and Harris, which makes the decision regarding backup OT even more critical since we’ll probably need to find a replacement for Clady for the initial games and the long term looms larger, in part, because of the precarious nature of recovery from the type of injury Harris suffered.

An added aspect of the backup OT problem is the salary cap, and the basic structure of the problem will remain even if the cap is changed because it involves a basic allocation of resources dilemma. No team wants to overspend on a reserve (“bench-sitter”) but no team can afford to go without a competent LT backup. The structure of the problem has discrepant values of importance, since the reserve LT can be a non-issue, because he almost never gets to play when the starter remains healthy, but can become a major issue when there is an injury to the starter. Teams often resolve this problem by using older vets who are in decline or younger players who are (still) inexpensive. And a considerable amount of inexpensive young OTs are looked at and sorted through to find the magic combination of reasonably competent yet cheap enough. The continual bargain hunting that goes on is a focused effort to find an OT who reflects these contradictory characteristics.

A final twist in our situation is the difference between RT and LT. OT/OG hybrids who can play RT are easier to find than LT types. A number of our OLs — Hochstein, Kuper, Beadles — could handle RT with its lessened demand for pass blocking skills, but LT is a somewhat different story. And the final decision on roster cuts could mirror the difference between the two Tackle positions. A bigger run blocker type such as Batiste might be passed over for a LT type such as Polumbus for the simple reason that our immediate need is at LT. On the other hand, the PUP roster exemption would allow us to carry both temporarily, and we’d need the added depth at the position.

Balancing all the concerns in the decisional criteria for the membership of the OL will be the last decision we make going into the season. Since it’s nearly impossible to carry 10, we have to go 1-deep at one of the positions. That position would normally be in the interior but we don’t want to sabotage our efforts to rebuild at LG and OC. Therefore, a solution that allows us to double-up a player from another position — such as Beadles, a LG, as a backup RT, or Hochstein, a G/C, as an OT — would allow us to carry adequate depth at OT while still developing the interior OL. One fewer Tackle may not seem like a big deal but it could allow us to carry a power back such as Toney Baker. And uncertainty over the OT position could force us to protect ourselves and carry someone like Brandon Gorin, who rarely saw the field and made a negligible contribution.