Switch on the OL....

Zane Beadles completely sucks as a RT. Much worse than Orlando Franklin in run block and worse than Franklin in pass block.

But Ryan Harris (if healthy – rarely) is a much better pass blocker than Franklin. But he isn’t as good in the run game.

If you asked if we could flip Franklin and Harris… Yes. Franklin and Beadles… heck no.

We’re a run heavy offense so there must be a slight emphasis placed on run blocking. I am going to go out on a limb and say Beadles is quite a bit better at pulling on traps and the patented Tebow QB draw. Franklin is more of a straight ahead road-grader. He is better off in this offense as a Tackle. I think a better solution might be to flop the left and right side of the line, but even that is a drastic solution to a problem that will get better with time and patience.

I agree that we should move Franklin to LG but I don’t think Beadles or Harris should be protecting Tebow’s blindside. I hope we go after Mitchell Schwartz, RT, Cal in the late 3rd round. It would be a small reach but he’d fit perfectly.

Dudes…. he was a rookie, and one who played REAL well. His run blocking (along with Kuper’s) was elite. He made several All Rookie teams at RT… why in God’s green earth would we switch him out now?

But then we need to replace him with a very good veteran tackle. And there unfortunately isn’t one out there in free agency. I’d rather not use our 1st round pick on a tackle and put another rookie on our o-line, so unless we go get via trade, I see our line staying the exact same.

He is questionable at best.

he would be the tallest interior linemen in the league. He is built to play tackle and did decent which for a rookie is a good thing.

There’s a lot that we don’t know about the line. Two things that surprised me – PFF had our line rated as one of the worst in the league. And the area they scored worst in was run blocking – ranked worst in the league, by far. A huge gap between us and #31 Indianapolis. If that’s true, imagine how good the zone read could be with better run blocking.

Beadles and Walton were the two lowest-rated players, but everyone scored below par. I don’t know what it all means. Some of it might be reacting to a new scheme of course, but there might also be some bad coaching, or talent mismatched to scheme, or just some really bad players. On top of that, Clady had a very bad year according to them. Maybe we should be hoping he had some sort of secret injury, and that a surgery will be coming soon.

my eyes tell me this:

franklin was bad at protecting the blind side of our qb, and that is the reason he is injured right now. for the life of me i can’t figure out why we didn’t give him more help(te/rb/chip) in pass-protection, it was killing us steadily. only team in the league with this issue, and it’s big. either he improves a whole lot there, or he needs to be moved somewhere before game 1. flipping with clady would provide the best short/long-term reults, but do we go all in? i doubt it. i think we might have a problem here, i’m not seeing the lateral movement for this road-grader. another reason to run the ball, though, he is a beast.

beadles and walton do some things real well, but just don’t have good size/strength for the interior. i know, they are meant to move, etc., but in short-yardage/between the tackles(no option), and protection, they get moved around too much. zane is especially weak, here. i don’t know how much that can improve, but him and franklin need help if we want to pass more. one may have to go or move for us to take the next step in the passing game. pressure up the middle just ended the seasons of aaron rodgers and drew brees, so it is not ok for us, either.

i have no major problems with clady or kuper at all. franklin i really hope improves where he is, or moves, we really need to lock down that side better. i’m not sure about walton and beadles, they remind me too much of weigman and hamilton in their last year. if we’re not zone-blocking/pulling, they can be more of a liability. honestly, i would like a bigger interior that blocks better in both attacks. this line does open up some potential for leading the option, zb, and wrinkles in the running game. i just don’t feel we are going to do that, and teams will be blitzing us now.

as far as being crowned the best OL in football, well, you saw the pats game, right? they were dominated and confused against the #32-ranked defense, for you stats people. running for his life from the snap is how i put it. any qb had no chance. we discovered in the lions game that we cannot fend off an attacking defense with a rookie qb and raw receivers. so, we ran. i say we should devote more resources to the line, because it is all about the o-line. upgrade 1 position a year for continuity, which we have already started. let’s start with a lg/c prospect.

they usually do whatever they want anyway. I have not noticed them listening to us anyway. LOL

So our ideal pick at #25… is Center Peter Konz…from Wsconsin.
INSTANT UPGRADE!!!
Don’t laugh to hard…. but an excellent pick if he is still available… at #25

Walton and Beadles are definately our weak link on the line.

However, I don’t think NOW is the time do it. I think we need 1 more year to evaluate it properly.

First of all, nobody here had a full offseason to improve. It makes a big difference when we think a rookie was just put there to play in preseason without enough previous coaching. If we watch Franklin’s 1st game and last game, oh there is a huge improvement there. The kid made a great job, besides not losing any game due to injuries.

I do think he can be a pro bowler LG, but I’m not sold on that yet. We need more info about his possible development as a tackle, and about at what position we need to look (Guard or Tackle) to improve our OL. I think this next season will be crucial to decide it.