I don't disagree that we are going into the season with major holes, nor do I advocate bypassing BPA. The point of my thread was that when the talent on the OL was there on the first three rounds we simply by- passed it year after year, probably over the last 9 years. We are in this mess because of the philosophy that you can always find offensive line help in the later rounds which is utter nonsense. You can find it in the later rounds no more or less frequently than any other position. Its time to stop treating the OL like a step child position. Further, the statement about size, athleticism and skill applies to the OL as well as the edges. The faster the defense gets the limber and more athletic the OL has to be. It's time we treat the OL with equal footing. I'm not recommending OL or bust on the draft, I'm recommending stop ignoring it in the early rounds because we think the position grows on trees. We have squandered plenty of draft choices over, and over, but we paid the OL nothing but lip service since we drafted Mangold and Brick.
some of u head coaches can answer this....Is there any possibility of shell eventually becoming a LT? tia
I'm no coach but to answer your question. Shell started his college career as a LT and was voted Freshman SEC honors and Freshman all American first team honors . Then he moved to RT. He could possibly play in an emergency role, not likely to well. Let's hope he can actually make it as a RT in the NFL . That's the bigger question and the answer remains to be seen.
He played LT in college & truthfully projects as an LT as he has better feet/movement than he does heavy hands,strength or girth. That said...he struggled mightily at LT in preseason...and actually performed well at RT during the year. I wouldn't say LT is out of the question long term...but let's face it...RT has been a hole since Damien Woody left...maybe it's best to leave Shell where he has already shown ability.
I got to watch him quite a bit in college and he seemed much more comfortable at RT than LT. His foot movement was pretty sloppy . He was much better at run blocking than pass protection from what I remember. Either way, let's hope Beachum's knee holds up and he returns to his pre injury form. If he does and Shell pans out at RT, our O line could be almost set and much better than expected.
