how likely is it that the interior OL can improve given Hunt and Williams are gone and they were both very good?
So to project how we can fix the Oline, first we have to analyze what happened last year and consider what are options and needs are this year.
The line was really good for the first few games last year and when our offense was most explosive it was because:
-Left Tackle. Terron Armstead was healthy, but also Kendall Lamm filled in for him quite well so we had the Left tackle position pretty well shored up both with our starter early in the year before his body started breaking down and later in the season when Kendal Lamm filled in for him. However, Armstead will not be back next year, and we could look to draft one of the top tackles in this draft and plug him in at left guard so that he can learn from Armstead. I’d also look to re-sign Kendal Lamm as he wouldn’t break the bank and he proved to be a good backup at LT. Then you’d have options when Terron Armstead inevitably misses a third of the season, and you’ll have his replacement developed and ready to go next year when Armstead retires, and one of the interior spots locked down with our developing rookie.
-Left Guard. Isaiah Wynn was really outstanding when he was starting at left guard. He was arguably even more effective than Robert hunt was on the other side in the running game (just because of the success they had running left vs right), but unfortunately, he has injury issues as he did before we brought him in, another Grier special in that he seems to like to bring in players with an extensive injury history, but I digress. We can’t have Eichenberg starting at any of these positions for a large number of games unless he improves significantly this off season which is possible, because the drop off from Wynn to Eichenberg, or Conner Williams to Eichenberg at center was precipitous. So both guard positions need to be addressed, not just Robert Hunts right guard position but the left guard too because we can’t count on getting what we need out of Eichenberg, although there is hope he will improve and take a leap this off season, but we can’t count on it, it would just be a bonus.
-Center. Conner Williams is coming back off of an injury, there are really three options here:
A. Resign him on the cheap because he’s coming off of an injury and bring him back to start at center. I don’t like this option because what do we do if he gets hurt again.
B. Re-sign him, but bring him back to fill in one of the open guard positions if we draft someone like JPJ or Graham Barton. Then we’d only have one hole to fill on the interior at the other guard position which we could fill with a solid but reasonably priced free agent, preferably one that doesn’t have an extensive injury history.
C. Sign a free agent that can come in and either start or compete with Eichenberg for the position.
-Right Guard. You saw my notes on Conner Williams, or another free agent at this position that we can afford. We can probably go to the $8 million a year or so range here and might be able to get a decent player such as maybe Dalton Risner from Minnesota?
-Right tackle. We are set at as we extended Austin Jackson Last year.
So, my thought is that in the NFL draft for our first 2 picks we will either go something like this:
-Tackle, WR
-Center, WR
-Edge, Center (or tackle)
-Tackle, Center (either order)
So that’s why we’ll have to:
-either re-sign Conner Williams and one more free agent
-or sign two new free agent interior Olinemen if we can’t re-sign Conner.
-We’ll need to use at least one of our first two picks on a lineman a tackle or center and I would guess tackle if it’s first round even though it might actually be better to draft someone like JPJ if Pittsburgh doesn’t draft him first
-We’ll need to resign Kendal Lamm and Isaiah Wynn or some other comparable players
-Wildcard. *Liam Eichenberg takes a leap in his third year which possible but not guaranteed.
In any case depending upon how it all shakes out, there is an opportunity to improve our Oline from where it broke down last year due to a lack of quality depth at center and left guard even though we also will likely have to replace Robert Hunt where there is speculation he will be signed for $16 million per year.