Offense Next Year... does anyone retain a starting spot?

Langlier

Langlier

Settle Down...
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With Moss/Porter potentially being traded. Jordan making too much to start. Brooks and Walter as who knows, Gallery's issues, Groves Issues, Sims not likely to be around, walker definately not around, Anderson not likely to be the #1... does anyone that started out of the gate last year start at the same position?

Gallery is about the only one i see starting again at the same position. since McQ and Boothe split time at RG i guess ill give the benefit of the doubt that one of them will retain that spot... but i see every other position up for grabs.
 
Unfortunately I think some people are going to retain by default simply because we won't be able to find anyone better, or at a better price.

Curry is the only guy I'm definitely cool with starting and think earned it.

Boothe is a distant second; I'd be more or less fine with him starting again.

Other than that it's all a wash.
 
while im pretty sure that other then Walker our OL will consist of Gallery, Grove, McQ, and Boothe with an FA/Draft choice filling in that other spot... I'm not sure if any of them will return to thier positions last year. Gallery may shift to RT again, McQ and Boothe could play either G, LT, or RT, Grove could be a center or could move to LG if we can find a better center (Newberry?)

Curry would be fine as a starter for me but he wasnt one last year. That belonged to Moss and Whitted.
 
I think some will be back, some won't of course. Again this is on Kiffin. You can either trust him on this or worry yourself sideways in a severe ulcer about who's gonna be where. Whether we keep or trade Porter/Moss is of no concern to me outside of what we'd get in return. But I'm fairly indifferent when it comes to who stays and goes. If the O-line is good enough for Cable and Knapp, then cool. Thats my main concern and honestly I still think alot of parts of the offense are unfairly judged on last season. Though I do think Lamont Jordan at his best may not be what we need from a Lead RB which isnt based on last year, but overall. Just isnt dynamic or durable enough to me.
 
Seraph24 said:
If the O-line is good enough for Cable and Knapp, then cool. Thats my main concern and honestly I still think alot of parts of the offense are unfairly judged on last season. Though I do think Lamont Jordan at his best may not be what we need from a Lead RB which isnt based on last year, but overall. Just isnt dynamic or durable enough to me.
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I agree for the most part. I don't think there will be any free lunches this offseason although I really think we need to upgrade the center position. There has to be better options than Jake Grove.
 
Jake Grove has no real tutors imo, with that said thats not a good enough excuse. but with all that i disliked about him, when he actually knew what was going on on the field, he wasn't that bad. If Cable and Knapp see him as our Center, i'm not the least bit mad about that. Of course having Newberry(a guy who knows the system very well) for insurance would make starting Grove even less of a worry for me.

i think what will happen is ultimatum extravaganza of cuts and contract restructuring. For instance i can see Barry Sims being told, "Look Barry we want to keep ya, but not at the current price. We can reworked the contract to a more manageable sum for us to improve the team."..Maybe not those words but something like what happens every year, some restructure, some get cut and resign for lower, and some get cut like Greg biekert and move on. i think we want to keep most of these guys though, its just a matter what at what price. I think Lamont Jordan is one guy who'll prefer to not resign if we cut him or turn down a restructuring offer. Never know though.
 
Hard to see any starting spots on lockdown...

QB and the O-line are obviously the most worrisome positions...

I think we're okay with a one-two punch of Porter-Curry at WR though maybe we'll look into a guy like Ashley Lelie as a straight line deep threat if/when we trade Moss...

A trio of Jordan/Fargas/Crockett would be 'servicable' for a year should the 'can't fix everything in a year' theory apply...

The QB dilema has been beaten to death... I personally think Jamarcus is pretty much a lock at this point...


The O-line shakeup should be interesting.... The switch to a zone blocking scheme may breathe new life into the careers of Gallery and Grove who are more angle type blockers much better fit for this particular scheme than the lead step one implemented last year...

Grove was an effective guard at VT before moving to center his SR year and played pretty well for us in spot duty at guard a few years back in Coletto's version of the ZB scheme... He could conceivably move there permenently if we get another center in town... McQuistan and Boothe were both primarily tackles in college and one of them could be switched to RT this year...


I dunno, offseason dreams of a big free agency score aside, between Al having to pony up and pay for last years and this years coaching staff and having to pay the toll on the #1 overall pick, I'm not expecting much in terms of free agency spending...

I expect we'll make a play on a vet like Rueben Brown to bring some stability to the young O-line and go with a lineup something like this and expect Kiffen to coach up the underachievers:

(LT) Gallery
(LG) Brown (FA)
(C) Grove
(RG) Boothe
(RT) McQuistan

(TE) Visanthe Shiancoe (FA)
(WR) Ashley Lelie (FA)
(WR) Jerry Porter
(WR/slot) Ronald Curry
(QB) JaMarcus
(RB) Jordan

I do think we may make a play at Jamal Lewis in place of Jordan should Lewis shake free at Baltimore as most Ravens fans expect...

While I'd want Al to do MORE than I entailed above, I'm not expecting it... With all the bad press we got and the abundance of cap space most teams have, IMO we're going to be really swimming upstream in FA...
 
Am I the only one that really liked what I saw from Hulsey at center? Seemed like he had the ability to move DTs off the ball and to get to the second level effectively. For whatever reason, he just seemed functionally stronger and more effective to me.

Gallery - Grove - Hulsey - Steinbach/Starks - Slaughter?


It's that RT position that worries me. Unless Gallery finally wakes up and plays to his potential at LT, I'd rather see him at RT where he was pretty good... but then what to do about the LT position. Sigh.
 
I don't think Slaughter and Hulsey are ideal fits for zone blocking. Sean Mahan is a guy I think could challenge Grove at center and he should be a good fit if we go zone. He also has started a lot at guard so he has some versatility if he doesn't win the center job.
 
hawaiianboy said:
Hard to see any starting spots on lockdown...
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Never said any were a lock, just said that we probably arent cleaning house as hard some want us to. And whether we do or don't isnt worrisome to me anywhere except on the O-line. i trust Kiffen not to start Whitted. :)
 
hawaiianboy said:
(LT) Gallery
(LG) Brown (FA)
(C) Grove
(RG) Boothe
(RT) McQuistan
Click to expand...

Nothing that really instills a lot of confidence in me. I'd like to have at least another veteran in there, preferably at center. I don't think McNasty is ready to start at RT. I think we'd be better served to sign another FA or draft someone like Joe Staley or Doug Free to move into that slot. We're starting with a new system anyway, so it isn't like McNasty would have a huge advantage here.
 
Turo said:
Am I the only one that really liked what I saw from Hulsey at center?
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T --- I like what I saw of Hulsey but this might fall under the "we were sooooo bad that ANYTHING started to look good" approach... I think really that Hulsey is what he is -- a career backup that we're (Raider Fan) trying hard to find something in him. Just sayin'.
 
I seen the Giants just cut 3 big names...Arrington, Emmons, and the OL Petiguet or however you spell his damn name
 
Luke Pett is awesome. He would be a good pick up.
 
If we can't get value with our FA dollars then I would like to see us extend contracts on some of our defensive players. We could pay out some of the bonus as a roster bonus rather than signing which could give us some salary cap room for future years.
 
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