Why OLine is the most important position on offense | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Why OLine is the most important position on offense

Look, Rick just gave up a 2nd round pick for Feeley. The only way I see him taking a QB in the first round is if they were able to get a stud OL in FA. Since there are none left, I think that he has to get a OLineman. And besides that, how's that going to go over with Feeley who just got paid starters money to come in and groom a QB for 8-10 games? Rick would look like an idiot for giving up a 2nd round pick for what essentially would be a starter for no more than 1 season and paying him a truckload of cash on top of it. I don't know this for a fact, but I think Ron Wolfe suggested Feeley to Dave and Rick.

Also, Rick knows that if the patchwork oline that currently is assembled fails this year and he didn't make an attempt to upgrade it through the draft, the media and the fans will want his head on a platter.

I agree that this draft is not full of 1st round OLineman, however to say that Andrews would be the 4th or 5th best olineman in any other draft is highly debateable. Many "experts" say that he's the best run blocker in the last 10 years to come out.
 
I agree that OL is important, but that only answers half of the question. The draft is not just about what you want. It's also about what's available. This draft is, without question, one of the worst OL crops in years. I see a player like Snee, who would be at best a 3rd rounder most years, included among many poster's 1st round wishes. This is ridiculous. All we end up with is a 3rd round talent were paying first round money to. He is Whitley (a 3rd rounder we already have) with a higher price tag. The only OL players with clear 1st round grades are Gallery and Andrews. That's it. Every other OL is a reach. They have no greater liklihood of starting this year than Yates or Whitley or even a vet we grab after June 1st.

The only thing worse than reaching and overpaying for avg. talent is passing up superior talent to do so. If a stud is available at another position, you take him. I don't see the logic in passing up a probowl talent to get another 3rd round G.

Look, if RS has Smiley, Carey or Snee rated the same as the other players available at #20, then taking OL makes sense. However, if all the available OL are rated much lower then other positions, then it's foolish to take OL.

Seriously, how many of you would go back in time and pass on Marino? I know some of you are young, but tell me how that scenario was different. In that draft, QB was not among our top three stated needs. Our #1 need was OL. Miami was coming off of a SB loss, so we were clearly close. They had a young QB who was, at the time, the youngest SB starter ever.

Miami is on the clock. A young QB named Marino is available. He has a quirky delivery and was coming off of a sub-standard year at Pitt yet you have him rated higher than any of your need positions. What do you do?
 
Originally posted by KyPhinfan13
Look, Rick just gave up a 2nd round pick for Feeley. The only way I see him taking a QB in the first round is if they were able to get a stud OL in FA. Since there are none left, I think that he has to get a OLineman. And besides that, how's that going to go over with Feeley who just got paid starters money to come in and groom a QB for 8-10 games? Rick would look like an idiot for giving up a 2nd round pick for what essentially would be a starter for no more than 1 season and paying him a truckload of cash on top of it. I don't know this for a fact, but I think Ron Wolfe suggested Feeley to Dave and Rick.

Also, Rick knows that if the patchwork oline that currently is assembled fails this year and he didn't make an attempt to upgrade it through the draft, the media and the fans will want his head on a platter.

I agree that this draft is not full of 1st round OLineman, however to say that Andrews would be the 4th or 5th best olineman in any other draft is highly debateable. Many "experts" say that he's the best run blocker in the last 10 years to come out.
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We didn't pay Feeley a truckload of cash. His cap number this year is lower than signees James and Howard and just a bit above St. Clair's. As for the pick, JJ used two #1s on the QB position in the same year. Aikman was better so JJ traded Walsh for a 1st, 2nd and 3rd the next season. He didn't look stupid when he did it.
 
Rafael, you make some interesting points. Maybe if Rick looks at Ben/Eli/Rivers (doubtful any of them will be available at 20, so point is mood) and sees potential that Shula and company saw in Marino-then obviously they would go for it. However, they've made statements that Feeley was on their radar when he was drafted and that they've had their eye on him for a while.

Also, I agree that there are only 2 OL worth #20 in the draft. I'd say Grove will go late first-top picks of 2nd round. Smiley about the same. Snee 2nd rounder. I've said in other posts that I'd trade down if Andrews is gone. Right now, I feel as comfortable going into the draft as I ever have with Rick at the helm. Whoever he picks, I'll trust him as long as it isn't a RB, K, P, or Corner.
 
We need to land one beast.
Everything else comes second.

If we pick at 20 (andrews, smiley?, carey??) I wouldn't take carey @ 20, some would, I have no problem taking smiley @ 20 if thats what happens.

If we trade down ( smiley, carey, grove, snee) depending where were at. I would take wr or de, dt, lb with either our 3rd rounder if we stay or 2nd pick if we trade.
 
Lets just forget about taken qb earlier please. Feeley will be solid imo, thats just what we need. Solidarity & consistency is what feeley will bring, i strongly believe that.
 
Originally posted by TheBostonBomber
Lets just forget about taken qb earlier please. Feeley will be solid imo, thats just what we need. Solidarity & consistency is what feeley will bring, i strongly believe that.
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Are you prepared to gamble the next 3 years of our franchise and millions of dollars on it?

That's the real question. If he flops our only choice next year will be to try for another reach of a QB, sign an over priced FA, or draft a QB high and groom him in, and there's still no gurantee he'll pan out. In the meantime we're stuck with Jay Fiedler, who will all of the sudden have a bargaining chip to stay on next season if Feeley flops.

The guys has started a total of 5 games in this NFL career. He's new to the system, his #2 receiver is new to the system, and we're re-tooling our OL. To say that he'll "be solid" is one hell of a claim.

And the actions from the FO aren't exactly ringing with faith in him either. They offered him a paultry contract for 2 years.....perfect grooming time for a rookie QB, then it balloons into a big contact. Safe? yes, I agree, it's exactly what I would have done wtih him, but had it been a KNOWN solid QB, they would have given him more. At this point, their keeping Jay on with his old starters salary as a fall back plan. If AJ flops they kept Jay and "he's the best man for the job" for yet another year and their geniuses for signing him to such a miniscule contract, if he rules their geniuses for getting him.........which is fine with me, I REALLY HOPE he's a fracnhise QB, but their taking one hell of a chance on this kid, and he's been a 3 year 3rd stringer.
 
I think OL is the way to go as well. Spielman is not going to draft QB when (1) they've got 2nd rounder invested in Feeley already, and (2) they've got so much uncertainty on the right side of the line.

Two months ago, Andrews was really looked at as an equal talent as Gallery - Gallery was probably rated a little higher because he plays LT and Andrews is more of a RT. There were a number of mocks that had Andrews at #7 to the Browns and at least one that had him going #4 to the Giants.

Not saying that Andrews should go as high as Gallery, but he's probably a top 10 talent that may fall to #20 because he (a) gained weight after the season, and (b) he may have bailed on his team in the bowl game. Andrews said both (a) and (b) were related to his medical condiction - which I believe was some sort of sinus condition - if that's true, Dolphins could get helluva steal at #20. Is up to Spielman and his staff to do their research and see if the reasons given were legitimate or not. Apparently, he's already lost 60 or so pounds to get in the 345 range.

If Andrews is not there - I favor Carey more than Smiley just because of his versatility to play any of the line positions other than Center. I probably would favor drafting Carey instead of trading down because I would like to see someone besides St. Clair starting the season at RT (I don't think McIntosh will be ready).
 
If we trade down, the only way I see us being sucessful in getting one of these "stud" OLman that everyone mentions is by trading down to the latter part of rnd one and getting their 2nd rnd pick also. otherwise, the best of these guys will be gone, unless we luck out by trading for the 33rd or 34th pick and others. This year, trading down is particulary risky for us since OL is our greatest need along with the draft being pretty thin at the position. Just MO.
 
Originally posted by ncdolfan
I think OL is the way to go as well. Spielman is not going to draft QB when (1) they've got 2nd rounder invested in Feeley already, and (2) they've got so much uncertainty on the right side of the line.

Two months ago, Andrews was really looked at as an equal talent as Gallery - Gallery was probably rated a little higher because he plays LT and Andrews is more of a RT. There were a number of mocks that had Andrews at #7 to the Browns and at least one that had him going #4 to the Giants.

Not saying that Andrews should go as high as Gallery, but he's probably a top 10 talent that may fall to #20 because he (a) gained weight after the season, and (b) he may have bailed on his team in the bowl game. Andrews said both (a) and (b) were related to his medical condiction - which I believe was some sort of sinus condition - if that's true, Dolphins could get helluva steal at #20. Is up to Spielman and his staff to do their research and see if the reasons given were legitimate or not. Apparently, he's already lost 60 or so pounds to get in the 345 range.

If Andrews is not there - I favor Carey more than Smiley just because of his versatility to play any of the line positions other than Center. I probably would favor drafting Carey instead of trading down because I would like to see someone besides St. Clair starting the season at RT (I don't think McIntosh will be ready).
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If Andrews is available then he may well be the BPA. I think it is a logical pick. However, I don't agree with OL if he is gone. You don't pick G in the 1st, or you end up with overpriced Gs and a skewed salary cap. If Miami is one of the few teams reported to think that Carey can play T (I doubt it) then he makes some sense. I believe that if Andrews is gone Miami will rightly pick another position.
 
I'm new here but an old fan and a frequent visitor to Curt's site.

I agree that the oline is definitely the foundation of any offense, and this was never better illustrated than by Joe Gibbs' Hogs, winning 3 SB's with 3 different qb's and 3 different rb's. They made guys like Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, and Timmy Smith??? look like perennial pro-bowlers.
Gibbs used to stockpile offensive linemen, and it paid off when injuries popped up. Now, that doesn't mean you draft ol in round 1 every year, but good ol's usually have at least one franchise-type lineman. I don't think you can build a pro-bowl caliber line with nothing but 3rd and later rounders.
 
Originally posted by brparkway
I'm new here but an old fan and a frequent visitor to Curt's site.

I agree that the oline is definitely the foundation of any offense, and this was never better illustrated than by Joe Gibbs' Hogs, winning 3 SB's with 3 different qb's and 3 different rb's. They made guys like Mark Rypien, Doug Williams, and Timmy Smith??? look like perennial pro-bowlers.
Gibbs used to stockpile offensive linemen, and it paid off when injuries popped up. Now, that doesn't mean you draft ol in round 1 every year, but good ol's usually have at least one franchise-type lineman. I don't think you can build a pro-bowl caliber line with nothing but 3rd and later rounders.
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EXCELLENT point and you'll get no argument from me !!
 
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