How would you address the OL in the offseason?

[1of10Charnatives]

Fixing the OL via the draft I would hope the team regards as it's top priority this offseason.  Unless they have the chance to draft one of the top qb prospects in the first, I would be thrilled if we drafted OL in all of the first 3 rounds. At an absolute bare minimum I would regard spending at least one of those first 3 round picks on a solid OL prospect. Failing to do so would have to be regarded as a disaster. We can't keep plugging away with subpar talent and expensive and oft injured free agent signings. Okung is good when he's in, but he's not in enough for me to feel comfortable depending on him next year, because as well all know, offensive linemen get healthier and more durable the older they get.

Ideally we should be spending at least one pick in the first 3 rounds on the OL for several years to build up line depth. Oh and Moton definitely needs to be paid.

[MHS831]

In a perfect world, we would upgrade 4 of the 5 positions.  However, we will probably only upgrade 2 or 3.

Okung?  No.  We are not squeezing another year out of an old vet who stays hurt.  Like buying a Corvette with a blown motor.

We need a LT, and this is a good draft. Find a LT in free agency--bring your wallet and most good LTs do not hit free agency.  Leave Marty at home when picking the LT.  To me, this is why you could wait a year or two and go with a QB later.  Upgrade LT, you upgrade the QB spot.  I am really into QB Zach Wilson. He is a stud, but the OT class at the top is solid as well.  Frankly, I think they are happy with Teddy and do not think they are looking to upgrade this year---could be wrong.  And for those of you who think Moton needs to be converted to LT?  We have had 4 people at LT this year, and none were named Moton.  Draft Cosmi, Leeatherwood, in the first or Little or Mayfield in round 2.  Mayfield has been impressive but at RT-not sure if he has played LT. 

LG:  Here you have to go with a free agent simply because you do not want the possibility of 3 rookies playing beside one another.  The LG must me a strong veteran.

C:  Yes, please.  I think we play a veteran for a season while possibly developing a mid-round C prospect.  There are quite a few in the draft, actually.  I simply hope the vet is not Paradis.  I really like Lindstrom from BC or Myers from Ohio St in that area. Of course Georgia has a C (Hill) who is turning heads.

RG:  I think we stay with Miller.

RT:  I think we re-sign Moton.

So--draft a LT early and a C in the middle of the draft.  Sign a 1-year C veteran deal to some aging vet, and sign a solid LG in free agency.    I would love to see Daley or Little step up, but one is not developing and the other gets hurt going to rehab.

 

[imminent rogaine]

Bring Moton Back. Keep Miller. spend two of your top 3 picks on Oline.

Paradis is terrible. Absolutely terrible. I think our first pick is Creed Humphrey. The guy is nasty and mean. Lock to be a pro bowl caliber player. It’s basically this year’s Quenton Nelson. Take him and don’t look back. Looking for LG in the third would allow us to address the position while also leaving the second pick to address MLB. Just looking at the projected board, this could be a decent plan. The problem, as is frequently the case, is LT. Do we roll the dice on Okung being healthy? Do we roll the dice on Little or Daly progressing? I don’t feel warm and fuzzy about either of those plans. Idk what the FA market looks like but typically they are old or bad. 

 

[Icege]

20 hours ago, Mr. Scot said:

Person took some questions about the line in his Q&A.

Said that it is "a priority" to re-sign Taylor Moton and mentioned "the questions at left tackle" in that context. Not sure if that means Moton will get a shot at that spot, but it's possible. Doesn't really sound like the team is interested in bringing back Russell Okung.

Also mentioned that the team has "little faith" in Greg Little. Definitely doesn't sound like he's going to get a shot at another position. At this point, I question if he'll even be kept around next year.

Said that they do seem to like Dennis Daley. Not sure if they like him at left tackle though.

Also mentioned that they would likely look to bring back John Miller at RG

[DaveThePanther2008]

The absolute first thing that needs to be done.  Is fire the hell out of Hurney.  It always feels like he seems to believe he has this super power that he sees talent that one one else sees.  The list goes on and on with him.  Edwards., KB (oline man) and Little just to name a few. For every stud that he has drafted he has drafted 3 wiffs. 

The line has to be addressed first.  We went all in on defense in 2020 and hopefully, at least our first two picks, will be O-line.

As everyone has already said Moton needs to be our #1 priority. Tagged if necessary.  We don't need to go into the off-season having to start at zero on our O-line.

Free agency will change our priorities some and could put us to the position of partial BPA (LT, C, MLB or CB)

Unless one of the true franchise QBs are available I would not draft a QB early.  Teddy is ours for 3 years and nobody is going to take on his salary if we decide to move on.  So let's protect him with a solid O-line and get this our team to a position where when we replace TB we have a line that can protect him.

 

 

 

[thefuzz]

I would start by firing up the DeLorean, go back....say 10 years and fire Marty Hurney's ass.

As long as that man has any say, and is in the building, I fully expect us to have a trash offensive line.  He has proven me right too many times to have any faith in him.

That said, we should have signed Moton last season, not waiting until this season to try to scrap something together.  Never would have moved up for Little either, sit tight there and with the Grier pick and select interior offensive linemen...like a smart team would do.

However, at this point, I'm not convinced that we can solve the O Line this season, but maybe we can at least help it vs. hurting it.

Shrinking cap makes it tough to tag, or sign Moton, but I think that you have to do it, but please don't back load the deal Marty, even if it hurts next season...we ARE NOT going to be in a position to really compete yet.  Then we will have to sign a couple of mid tier G's or a C....move on from Paradis and Okung, and hopefully draft O Line in the 1st and 2nd, assuming the QB of the future isn't there, and even if he is, maybe you still go O Line unless it's one of the top 2 guys.

Once again, we will be heading into an offseason where almost every single position group will need an upgrade.  That's somewhat hard for me to believe, but here we are....once again.

[Mother Grabber]

create a big buffet with ribs and mac n cheese and wings and cheese sticks and burgers and brats and puddin and such. First five people to the table are the new OL.

[1of10Charnatives]

46 minutes ago, Mother Grabber said:

create a big buffet with ribs and mac n cheese and wings and cheese sticks and burgers and brats and puddin and such. First five people to the table are the new OL.

I have a bad feeling this is how we've acquired a significant percentage of the folks who played Oline for us over the past decade.....

[1of10Charnatives]

15 hours ago, thefuzz said:

Once again, we will be heading into an offseason where almost every single position group will need an upgrade.  That's somewhat hard for me to believe, but here we are....once again.

Yes but this time Rasul Douglas, Robbie Anderson and Mike Davis give me hope that at least some of those position groups can be meaningfully addressed through FA to a more substantial degree than in the past.

[Icege]

22 hours ago, thefuzz said:

I would start by firing up the DeLorean, go back....say 10 years and fire Marty Hurney's ass.

As long as that man has any say, and is in the building, I fully expect us to have a trash offensive line.  He has proven me right too many times to have any faith in him.

That said, we should have signed Moton last season, not waiting until this season to try to scrap something together.  Never would have moved up for Little either, sit tight there and with the Grier pick and select interior offensive linemen...like a smart team would do.

However, at this point, I'm not convinced that we can solve the O Line this season, but maybe we can at least help it vs. hurting it.

Shrinking cap makes it tough to tag, or sign Moton, but I think that you have to do it, but please don't back load the deal Marty, even if it hurts next season...we ARE NOT going to be in a position to really compete yet.  Then we will have to sign a couple of mid tier G's or a C....move on from Paradis and Okung, and hopefully draft O Line in the 1st and 2nd, assuming the QB of the future isn't there, and even if he is, maybe you still go O Line unless it's one of the top 2 guys.

Once again, we will be heading into an offseason where almost every single position group will need an upgrade.  That's somewhat hard for me to believe, but here we are....once again.

The more that I think about it, the more impressed I am with the process that is being implemented. They spent the offseason throwing together an offense that can go for a season while they restocked the defense for Snow who is likely not going anywhere until he retires. This year and next, they'll have to address the OL and continue to fill in the roster gaps. I'm most interested in seeing how the team is going to approach not so much this season but the following when a lot of the 2 - 3 year deals come off of the books. We can either see a very different offense in the case that Joe Brady gets poached in a year or two, or we get to see a new core of players executing it.

[catnip]

We will also need a DT to replace Short .  Teams are loading up on Brown because we have no DT help .

[thefuzz]

10 hours ago, 1of10Charnatives said:

Yes but this time Rasul Douglas, Robbie Anderson and Mike Davis give me hope that at least some of those position groups can be meaningfully addressed through FA to a more substantial degree than in the past.

True.

Obviously, we have a LOT of time before the start of next season, I'm just looking at a team...that IMO...will need to be heavily restocked again.

Position groups that we are Good at:

Running back. 

 

Position groups we are OK at:

Defensive Line (OK is kinda strong here).  Quarterback.

 

Every other position group needs to be completely rebuilt.

[DaveThePanther2008]

On 11/9/2020 at 1:17 AM, Icege said:

Currently, the only members of the offensive line group under contract are Matt Paradis (who will free up $8.53M in cap space if cut at the expense of $3.6M in dead cap in 2022), Greg Little, and Dennis Daley.

Taylor Moton is going to need to be paid, but his contract can realistically be offset by cutting Kawann Short (freeing up $14.5M in cap space). This seems as close to a "must" as there possibly can be this offseason imo.

Other FAs:

• Russell Okung (LT)
• John Miller (RG)
• Tyler Larsen (back-up C)
• Chris Reed (LG)
• Michael Schofield (back-up G)
• Trenton Scott (back-up OT, RFA)

Possible practice squad guys that can be signed to future deals: Mike Horton (OG), Matt Kaskey (OT), Aaron Monteiro (OT), Sam Tecklenberg (iOL)

Teams carry anywhere from 9 - 10 offensive linemen during the season. Greg Little has not looked like the franchise LT that Marty Hurney imagined he would be when he traded up in the 2nd round to get him (famously trying to get into the 1st for him). There were talks during the offseason about kicking him into LG and seeing what he can do. So where do you go from there?

Are there any particular draft prospects that you're looking at? I'm looking at the interior OL exclusively, as I would rather retain Russell Okung than go after any current LT prospects that I expect to be available when the Panthers pick in comparison to other prospects. Currently, I'm watching the following players:

• Wyatt Davis, Ohio State
• Creed Humphrey, Oklahoma
• Trey Smith, Tennessee
• Trey Hill, Georgia
• Tyler Linderbaum, Iowa
• Deonte Brown, Alabama
• Cade Mays, Tennessee
• Michal Menet, Penn State

Potential UFA targets include:

• Forrest Lamp
• Dan Feeney
• Ethan Pocic
• DJ Fluker
• Pat Elfein
• Ryan Groy
• Rashaad Coward
• Mike Pouncey
• Ted Karras
• Hroniss Grasu

Possible cap casualty targets:

• Andrew Norwell, G, JAX (Cap Hit: $15M, Cap Savings: $12M)
• Brandon Linder, C, JAX (Cap Hit: $9M, Cap Savings: $9M)
• Anthony Castonzo, LT, IND (Cap Hit: $16M, Cap Savings: $16M) 
• Kevin Zeitler, G, NYG (Cap Hit: $14.5M, Cap Savings: $12M) 
• Trai Turner, G, LAC (Cap Hit: $11.5M, Cap Savings: $11.5M)
• Maurkice Pouncey, C, PIT (Cap Hit: $14.475M, Cap Savings: $8M)
• George Fant, LT, NYJ (Cap Hit: $9M, Cap Savings: $8.4M)
• Terron Armstead, LT, NO (Cap Hit: $16.2875, Cap Savings: $11.75) 

So, what do you do?

Personally, I like going after Forrest Lamp on a prove it deal due to his injury history to start at LG, giving Mike Horton a shot as a back-up LG, retaining Scott as a back-up LT, signing Moton, cutting Paradis + targeting Tyler Linderbaum/Creed Humphrey in the draft to start at center, and drafting Wyatt Davis/Trey Smith/Deonte Brown to start at RG (or start Dennis Daley there). I hate the idea of Greg Little as the starting LT, but I don't see a whole lot of cap space to work with to retain Okung + Moton.

Additional resources:

• 2021 UFA OTs
• 2021 UFA Guards
• 2021 UFA Centers

Bring back Norwell?  I loved his nastiness.