I'm a big proponent of building a good OL. It makes your running game just work, and almost every QB in the league can be successful if he is given enough time. They're the unsung heroes, but make no mistake about it, they are heroes.
We really should recognize though, that we have made great strides this year. IMHO, pulling together an OL where ZERO people played next to anyone else on this OL the previous year is nothing short of miraculous. The ability of Jesse Davis to pull those guys together, and Ted Karras to make all those great line calls to protect so many people new to the mix is just fantastic. I give a ton of credit to three rookies--two of whom were quite raw--being able to have successful rookie seasons in a Covid-shortened pre-season. Our OL Coach Steve Marshall and Assistant OL Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre (try saying that five times fast) did a phenomenal job getting those random pieces to come together to form an improved OL in record time.
Considering we took the youngest OL in the draft--Austin Jackson--who had missed the previous offseason entirely because he donated bone marrow to his sister, and spent much of the regular season getting back to fitness, then gets plugged in as a starting Left Tackle for a QB who is a wildman gunslinger and the team's returning top runner, is asking a lot of the kid. Then switching his QB to be a small lefty who reacts completely differently to pocket stimuli ... I can't really see how we could have expected any more from Jackson. I'm quite pleased with him despite his rough rookie season. Then we drafted a guy from Louisiana Lafayette ... a very low division school with almost no competition level, and who played almost exclusively as a run blocker, and we thrust him into the NFL level and ask him to also be a pass protector for a left-handed QB and he doesn't completely explode in awfulness ... that's a much better than expected rookie season. Then we also added a kid from a big program--Solomon Kindley of Georgia--who had previously performed at a high level in the SEC but was downgraded because he's not nimble, and saw him produce decently at the NFL level before he's even gotten his body in shape yet. High kudos to those players. And even higher praise is due our OL coaching staff of Marshall and Jeanpierre.
Is our OL fixed. No. But I have more faith in the people fixing it than in a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time. And, I no longer feel like we're on the Island of Misfit Toys trying to piece together an OL from parts that have been rejected elsewhere.
Yes, draft OL. I think #3 overall is too high to draft an OL. We already have Austin Jackson to play LT, and we can find a good RT later in the draft. I'm game for drafting 1-3 more OL, because you should draft at least 1 OL every year. There is a lot of talent in this draft that will fall outside of round 1, so yeah, scoop some of it up, but let's do it at draft slots where they represent value, and I don't see the positional value at #3 overall.
I'm usually criticized for pounding the table to draft more connfed, but if we actually draft a position player at #3 overall, I'd rather have Ja'Marr Chase, who I believe will become a great WR. My first choice would be to trade the pick for value, either up for Trevor Lawrence (1 in a million chance of that happening), or down to a QB needy team for more picks.
I kid, I kid! Welcome to finheaven. Fins Up!
