Cam Erving

[SBBlue]

Next to Darnold, I don't know of a more derided acquisition than Cam Erving.  I've watched the videos where he wiffed and got plowed over.  I know the PFF scores suck.   He played fewer snaps than Okung last year as a swing tackle in Dallas.  

So what did our team see in him to give him a 2 year, 5mil a year contract?

Re-signing Cam Erving an Underrated Offseason Priority for the Cowboys ✭ (insidethestar.com)

"

Erving is a versatile offensive lineman that can compete at guard and play both tackle spots. Though he struggled with injuries of his own, he was solid in his one season with Dallas. In five games played, Erving allowed just one sack and eight total pressure per Pro Football Focus. To put that into perspective, he allowed a pressure on just 5% of his pass-blocking snaps. Brandon Knight allowed a pressure on 7.1% of his snaps. All-Pro Guard Zack Martin allowed a pressure on 7.7% of his snaps.

Now, this isn’t to say that Cam Erving is better than Zack Martin or even Brandon Knight, but he certainly showed a capability that the Cowboys could use more of. His versatility allows him to play both guard and tackle and with some questions as to who might be the left guard in 2021, Erving is a name the Cowboys could consider thrusting into that competition as well.

Again, you can never have too much offensive line depth and Erving provides really nice depth for when the Cowboys need a fill-in for one of their starters at tackle or guard.

"

Erving had fewer penalties and sacks per snap than Okung last year with  only 8 pressures in five games. 

If he does win a spot on the line and plays like he did last year.  I can live with that.

[Madwolf]

Would love to see it happen, I'm just really jaded with our lackluster efforts to fix our LT situation since Gross left.

[Khyber53]

I think we're trying hard to address LT. I think we've tried in the past and have just had some terrible judgement calls and terrible luck. Right now we have what, like four or five LT candidates going into training camp. Surely one of them will not just win it but cement the position.

Right?

 

[SBBlue]

7 minutes ago, Khyber53 said:

I think we're trying hard to address LT. I think we've tried in the past and have just had some terrible judgement calls and terrible luck.

 

Mostly bad judgement.

We've tried, its not like we have invested high picks (Little) or thrown money at it (Kahlil).  We just keep whiffing. 

Moton, BC, Erving,  and Scott may all whiff at LT.  We'll see.

[Captain Morgan]

I'd rather see him start the season than Little.  I think that's why he was brought in.

[SBBlue]

7 minutes ago, Captain Morgan said:

I'd rather see him start the season than Little. 

God yes.

[LinvilleGorge]

46 minutes ago, Madwolf said:

Would love to see it happen, I'm just really jaded with our lackluster efforts to fix our LT situation since Gross left.

Yep. We've repeatedly thrown trash at the wall. Oher turned out to be a really good signing. Sucks that concussions derailed his career. He seems to be getting his life together off the field at least after it looked like he was starting to go down a bad road. That's good to see. Then we paid the bad Kalil stupid money hoping that money would make him a better player. Shockingly, that didn't work out. Then Hurney over-drafted a guy in Greg Little who looked atrocious at the Combine and who very well may have been looking at a Deonte Brown type draft slide except for Hurney thinking he was outsmarting everyone. That turned out predictably. 

[SBBlue]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

 Oher turned out to be a really good signing. 

I think the Oher signing was criticized at the time. Oher was about 30, coming off surgery and appeared to be declining.

Best LT since Gross, even if it was for one good season.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 minutes ago, SBBlue said:

I think the Oher signing was criticized at the time. Oher was about 30, coming off surgery and appeared to be declining.

Best LT since Gross, even if it was for one good season.

A lot of people didn't like it, but I did simply because our OL coach at the time was Oher's OL coach in Baltimore early on in his NFL career when he looked promising. His play dropped off after Matsko left.

[frankw]

Names and faces have changed but damn if it doesn't feel like it's the same tune as yesteryear with this o line. Darnold will be putting that mobility to the test early.

Edited July 6, 2021 by frankw

[Seltzer]

I feel like the offensive line definitely has better depth than last year, but there are still a lot of questions about having 5 guys that are both starter caliber and can play well as a unit.

If Christensen (or anyone else) looks good at RT, I think the team needs to strongly consider putting Moton on the left side.  

Moton looked really good at LT in the short amount of time he played there.  Maybe he's not the dominant LT he is at RT, but it still is probably by far our best option.

This may have been forgotten over the years, but Jordan Gross played LT in college but was put at RT his rookie year to help with the transition.  Gross was moved to LT when it was determined Travelle Wharton was a better guard than tackle and the team never looked back.

It seems like versatility is perhaps the most important thing Rhule looks for in offensive lineman.  If so, I hope Moton at LT remains on the table unless there is someone else who looks markedly better.

Maybe Erving can lock down the LT spot (or someone else for that matter) and Moton can stay at RT.

But the bottom line is no matter how we get there, we need better and more consistent play from our LT if we want to have a top-tier offense.

 

[AU-panther]

A lot of us were not that high on Little, especially with a trade up involved, but I can appreciate the fact we did try to draft one.

Fact is most LTs in the draft don't work out, outside of QB its probably the most difficult spot on the field to find quality.  

Good ones don't really hit free agency that often.  You either over pay for someone like Kalil, hoping he becomes better than he has shown or you go cheap and hope to get lucky with someone like Bell.  Everyone hated that experiment but looking back it hurt us less than the Kalil contract.

Oher and Okung were actually good signings relative to cost, just injury issues.

Your best chance is to invest early draft picks, give them 2-3 years to develop, and even then you might have to throw multiple "darts".

2020 draft is a perfect example of part of the problem, hard to pass on someone that feels like a sure thing (Brown) to draft a LT that might have a bit lower of a chance of succeeding.  Same thing this year, outside of Sewell we probably felt a lot better about Horn than any of the LT prospects in the first.

You almost have to commit to finding LTs, even if it means passing on better prospects.

 

 

 

 

[Jon Snow]

23 hours ago, Khyber53 said:

I think we're trying hard to address LT. I think we've tried in the past and have just had some terrible judgement calls and terrible luck. Right now we have what, like four or five LT candidates going into training camp. Surely one of them will not just win it but cement the position.

Right?

 

Cement it is probably too much to ask from this group.  But one of them should at least hold it down until one who will can be found, surely?

[kungfoodude]

That write up on Erving sort of illustrates my overall point about he and Elflein. They are good quality backup players. The issues becomes when you try to have extended periods of them starting. Neither has had much success so far in those situations.