1st off, I am one of the Draft Chris Long bunch, and still feel he is going to be a special player, but some here really need to get the big picture about Jake Long....sorry about the length, but had to speak my mind. 
Many of the Draft Chris Long or Matt Ryan have at least seen that if we did not draft the player you wanted, but instead drafted Big Jake, it would still have to make you very happy. The guy is massive with long arms, the guy is smart, and the guy has a bit of a mean streak. Those three things are key to being a top linemen, here is why:
Massive: Guys that size are hard to move, or go around especially when the get an arm on you. Jake is very strong, and his arm span is above average for a L-tackle (Average for a premier L-tackle). Speed rushers need to go a long way, very fast to get around Jake, and Bull rushers need to out-power a man that is 6'8 and is between 315 -325 (By the way, with his frame, that still leaves even more room to add some more pounds of muscle without slowing him down).
Smart: He has his mind on the game, knows what needs to be done, and is rarely seen making a dumb mistake, he might get beaten a 1st time (Extremely rare, but...), now watch how tough it becomes for the player to do it again, he learns from his mistake, and believe me I saw a few videos, this guys does take it a bit hard, he does not went to even be beaten 1 in the whole year, let along in a game. The only thing he may make a mistake here and there is on being overly aggressive (See Mean Streak). This is a football player playing on the O-line, not a huge player that is there because of size and Just enough coaching.
Mean Streak: Jake does not want to beat an opponent, he wants to BEAT an opponent, consisting not just of stopping a defensive player of doing his job, but defeating his will to even think he will ever get the job done, beating him down to the point where his body is not able to take much more, beating him down to the point where mentally, the defensive player is afraid, confused, and exasperated. The only thing Jake maybe needs to work on is trying to stay in control as the mean streak does tend to make him overly anxious, which could result in being overly rough or to move a little too early. Once he gets used to the speed of the NFL, he is going to make most defensive players have to work very hard just to put some pressure on the QB or get a hand on the RB.
The big question is, does he really belong on the Right, or is he a L-tackle. I also felt that with all these experts saying he is a right tackle and how slow he is to move around, that maybe there was something to that, but if you watch any film on him, you will see that he is as effective on the Left side as many now playing the position in the NFL have looked when they were in college...that includes Joe Thomas. I personally think he is a victim of being such a good run-blocker, that pass-blocking shadows in comparison, but the guy is very effective, nobody needs to again repeat how few sacks he gave up ON THE LEFT SIDE in his career, check it out for yourself, check how many sacks he was responsible for against the top defensive players.
Finally to all those that also believe Ronnie is the real deal, you should be very excited, because Jake is the real deal, and even though he might start his career on the Right side (Most do), Jake is such a monster blocker against the run, Ronnie is going to see holes that he has never ever see before, this is going to make his stats that much more impressive, and because he will get less hits at the line of scrimmage, he will be less likely to get injured. Jake will also make Beck (Yes, I believe Beck is the starter) will have way more time to throw as he will not have quality tackles on both sides of him, so the only way they might get to him is bull rush from the middle where Beck can see it coming, giving him better chance to grow and get his timing with his receivers finally.
I may still be a Chris Long fan, but if we get Big Jake, I will be very happy. :up:
Many of the Draft Chris Long or Matt Ryan have at least seen that if we did not draft the player you wanted, but instead drafted Big Jake, it would still have to make you very happy. The guy is massive with long arms, the guy is smart, and the guy has a bit of a mean streak. Those three things are key to being a top linemen, here is why:
Massive: Guys that size are hard to move, or go around especially when the get an arm on you. Jake is very strong, and his arm span is above average for a L-tackle (Average for a premier L-tackle). Speed rushers need to go a long way, very fast to get around Jake, and Bull rushers need to out-power a man that is 6'8 and is between 315 -325 (By the way, with his frame, that still leaves even more room to add some more pounds of muscle without slowing him down).
Smart: He has his mind on the game, knows what needs to be done, and is rarely seen making a dumb mistake, he might get beaten a 1st time (Extremely rare, but...), now watch how tough it becomes for the player to do it again, he learns from his mistake, and believe me I saw a few videos, this guys does take it a bit hard, he does not went to even be beaten 1 in the whole year, let along in a game. The only thing he may make a mistake here and there is on being overly aggressive (See Mean Streak). This is a football player playing on the O-line, not a huge player that is there because of size and Just enough coaching.
Mean Streak: Jake does not want to beat an opponent, he wants to BEAT an opponent, consisting not just of stopping a defensive player of doing his job, but defeating his will to even think he will ever get the job done, beating him down to the point where his body is not able to take much more, beating him down to the point where mentally, the defensive player is afraid, confused, and exasperated. The only thing Jake maybe needs to work on is trying to stay in control as the mean streak does tend to make him overly anxious, which could result in being overly rough or to move a little too early. Once he gets used to the speed of the NFL, he is going to make most defensive players have to work very hard just to put some pressure on the QB or get a hand on the RB.
The big question is, does he really belong on the Right, or is he a L-tackle. I also felt that with all these experts saying he is a right tackle and how slow he is to move around, that maybe there was something to that, but if you watch any film on him, you will see that he is as effective on the Left side as many now playing the position in the NFL have looked when they were in college...that includes Joe Thomas. I personally think he is a victim of being such a good run-blocker, that pass-blocking shadows in comparison, but the guy is very effective, nobody needs to again repeat how few sacks he gave up ON THE LEFT SIDE in his career, check it out for yourself, check how many sacks he was responsible for against the top defensive players.
Finally to all those that also believe Ronnie is the real deal, you should be very excited, because Jake is the real deal, and even though he might start his career on the Right side (Most do), Jake is such a monster blocker against the run, Ronnie is going to see holes that he has never ever see before, this is going to make his stats that much more impressive, and because he will get less hits at the line of scrimmage, he will be less likely to get injured. Jake will also make Beck (Yes, I believe Beck is the starter) will have way more time to throw as he will not have quality tackles on both sides of him, so the only way they might get to him is bull rush from the middle where Beck can see it coming, giving him better chance to grow and get his timing with his receivers finally.
I may still be a Chris Long fan, but if we get Big Jake, I will be very happy. :up: