Kinzua
☠️ Banned ☠️
I think the premise of the article -- that Jimmy Johnson was responsible for the Fins' current o-line woes -- is ludicrous because the guy's been gone for several years -- and his drafting philosophy went with him. Even if Wannstadt had been a JJ disciple, and I'm not buying the idea that friendship = disciple, it was Wannstadt and whoever else was in charge of player development the last five or six years who bear major responsibility for the talent that's on the team today -- or missing from it. I think a bigger problem than JJ's philosophy was Wannstadt's willingness to trade draft picks for players (including 2 first rounders for Ricky), leaving the team with fewer opportunities to add more young talent (at considerably cheaper prices).
One of the problems with drafting "great offensive linemen" is that there aren't that many to be had! Think about what NFL teams want in olinemen: big guys (6'4"+, 300+) with the speed and agility to match up with lighter DEs and LBs yet strong enough to knock down DTs. Physically, that's a hard combination to put together. Many college linemen are simply considered "too small" to play in the pros today, although they would have been considered good prospects twenty-five or thirty years ago. This means that sometimes there aren't offensive linemen available who are worth drafting in first or second round.
Plus, many of the big guys coming out of college never learned much technique but relied on their size and strength, and few regularly faced the caliber of DEs that populate most NFL defensive lines. Many colleges will big linemen also tend to emphasize the run. This means that the OL coach has to be a teacher first, and then a coach.
Recognizing that Miami has an ol problem is only the first step in a process that takes years to fix. The Bills also suffered through the miseries of having a porous oline, and it's taken several years just to get to the level it is today -- a decent line but certainly not top notch by a long way. As a unit, it's easily the weakest link on the team. It's not like the Bills haven't "spent" draft choices to bring in OL talent, either: in 2002, the Bills used the 4th overall pick in the draft to take Mike Williams (RT), a kid who just in the second half of last season really started showing his stuff (my opinion: poor coaching in the past hurt Big Mike's progress). On the other hand, even OLmen with modest credentials (Jonas Jennings) are often too costly to keep when they hit the FA market, so it's hard to add top veterans and keep the ones you've got.
Coaching and scouting can go a long way in helping the oline improve. In 2004, the Bills added OL coach Jim McNally (and they have 2 OL coaches in 2005), a respected developer of good lines. Still, it took the Bills line about half a season to "gel", partly due to injuries in training camp that prevented the unit from learning to play as a unit early on. The Bills scouts may also have found the team's future LT to complement Williams: #71 Jason Peters. He was an undrafted FA in 2004 as a TE, but he's been converted to LT, and he's still a work-in-progress, but this kid has the size (6-4, 328), speed, and agility to become a premier LT. He's probably at least a year away, but watch for him on October 9 on special teams. He's a terror!
In rebuilding an offensive line, the operative word is patience because improvement is incremental. The Fish seem to have the right idea in getting a top notch line coach. Now they have to give him some time to make the most out of the talent he's got, and hopefully get him more talent next season.
One of the problems with drafting "great offensive linemen" is that there aren't that many to be had! Think about what NFL teams want in olinemen: big guys (6'4"+, 300+) with the speed and agility to match up with lighter DEs and LBs yet strong enough to knock down DTs. Physically, that's a hard combination to put together. Many college linemen are simply considered "too small" to play in the pros today, although they would have been considered good prospects twenty-five or thirty years ago. This means that sometimes there aren't offensive linemen available who are worth drafting in first or second round.
Plus, many of the big guys coming out of college never learned much technique but relied on their size and strength, and few regularly faced the caliber of DEs that populate most NFL defensive lines. Many colleges will big linemen also tend to emphasize the run. This means that the OL coach has to be a teacher first, and then a coach.
Recognizing that Miami has an ol problem is only the first step in a process that takes years to fix. The Bills also suffered through the miseries of having a porous oline, and it's taken several years just to get to the level it is today -- a decent line but certainly not top notch by a long way. As a unit, it's easily the weakest link on the team. It's not like the Bills haven't "spent" draft choices to bring in OL talent, either: in 2002, the Bills used the 4th overall pick in the draft to take Mike Williams (RT), a kid who just in the second half of last season really started showing his stuff (my opinion: poor coaching in the past hurt Big Mike's progress). On the other hand, even OLmen with modest credentials (Jonas Jennings) are often too costly to keep when they hit the FA market, so it's hard to add top veterans and keep the ones you've got.
Coaching and scouting can go a long way in helping the oline improve. In 2004, the Bills added OL coach Jim McNally (and they have 2 OL coaches in 2005), a respected developer of good lines. Still, it took the Bills line about half a season to "gel", partly due to injuries in training camp that prevented the unit from learning to play as a unit early on. The Bills scouts may also have found the team's future LT to complement Williams: #71 Jason Peters. He was an undrafted FA in 2004 as a TE, but he's been converted to LT, and he's still a work-in-progress, but this kid has the size (6-4, 328), speed, and agility to become a premier LT. He's probably at least a year away, but watch for him on October 9 on special teams. He's a terror!
In rebuilding an offensive line, the operative word is patience because improvement is incremental. The Fish seem to have the right idea in getting a top notch line coach. Now they have to give him some time to make the most out of the talent he's got, and hopefully get him more talent next season.
Somewhere I read an article addressing this "advantage" that Buttercup Johnson had and that Saban might have now because he is intimate with todays college ranks. Add to this that Bill Belicheck will no longer be benifiting from Sabans college know how. Good Stuff!:eek:
