Brady Christensen scores highest ratings of the season at LT again.

[ForJimmy]

8 hours ago, Shocker said:

@Zod are you really saying that Brady Christensen is our answer at LT?  Seriously man?

Why would you think he isn’t? He is basically a question mark that has looked promising in his little playing time despite terrible coaching. 

[mrcompletely11]

17 minutes ago, ForJimmy said:

Why would you think he isn’t? He is basically a question mark that has looked promising in his little playing time despite terrible coaching. 

I am not passing on the one of the top 2 Left tackles in this draft because a 25 year old rookie looks "promising" (which is debatable I guess) in a couple of games.   And to be perfectly honest I thought he looked totally overwhelmed against TB and NO. 

[d-dave]

I think the far bigger point is that Matt Rhule is a bad pro coach.  He makes arbitrary decisions, and Matt Rhule being right is far more important than doing the right thing.

Rhule's ego is enormous.  It's costing the team, and will continue to do so. 

[Ricky Spanish]

If a stud LT is available when we draft, we need to take them. BC could very well move inside if that happens and make Matt Rhule's wet dreams come true. I have no problem with that scenario.

Having said that, The fact that Rhule made BC learn damn near every position EXCEPT the one he played in college before sticking him in at LT only for him to out play every other guy that's played there all year is absolutely asinine and completely unforgiveable.

A fireable offense

[ForJimmy]

33 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

I am not passing on the one of the top 2 Left tackles in this draft because a 25 year old rookie looks "promising" (which is debatable I guess) in a couple of games.   And to be perfectly honest I thought he looked totally overwhelmed against TB and NO. 

I’m sure you did because you have been wanting a LT this whole time (understandably so), but the actual data aside from your eye test disagrees. I have no problem drafting Neal/Cross if we can’t trade down. I think we can slide BC over to LG while serving as a backup LT. LT is possibly the 2nd most important position outside of the QB. It’s the same reason I wanted Fields last year even after we traded for Darnold. Having several options until you have a solidified starter at one of these premier positions never hurts. One can always be flipped for trade capital like the Ravens did with Brown if they both look like great LTs. 

[LinvilleGorge]

27 minutes ago, d-dave said:

I think the far bigger point is that Matt Rhule is a bad pro coach.  He makes arbitrary decisions, and Matt Rhule being right is far more important than doing the right thing.

Rhule's ego is enormous.  It's costing the team, and will continue to do so. 

This. IF we have an answer on the roster at LT, it's Christensen. He's been by far the best LT we've put on the field and he's a rookie who played very well as a LT throughout his college career. It's a no brainer to have been playing him there for most of the season. BUT... Fatt Rhule decided his arms were too short so he's only played him there when absolutely forced to do so. This is the downfall of analytics. When you're so beholden to them that you can't see past them. Sure, analytics say Christensen is best suited at OG. Who cares? Every draft class, only the very elite of elite OT prospects are considered LT prospects. Everyone else gets labeled a RT or someone who will have to kick inside to OG at the NFL level. It happens every year without fail. None of it matters once they're on an NFL roster. Put them on the field and figure it out. Our coaches can't do that. They stick with their initial evaluation no matter what and that's why they're fuging morons. We SHOULD have a good sample size of Christensen at LT to study between now and the draft but instead we'll have to rely on much less because our coaches are fuging dumb.

[BrianS]

Disclaimer:  I don't know if BC is "the answer" at LT.  That blame falls squarely on Rhule.

However, I still see people saying "We can move him to LG".  No.  BC isn't a mauler.  He's just not.  If there is a hole in his game, it's power.  The last thing you want at G is a guy whose main concern is his strength at the point of attack.

This is why it was so important that we figure out what he is this year.  There just aren't options with this guy.  Rhule wants everyone to be "flexible", and he projects that onto guys where it doesn't make sense.  BC is one of those.  The guy is a tackle.  Maybe he's a backup tackle.  Maybe a swing tackle.  But the guy is a tackle, arm length be damned.

Unfortunately, here we are with one game to go and we've only really seen 2.5 games of him.  Promising games, but not consistently convincing.  Would he be more convincing if Rhule hadn't spent the last six months trying to round peg / square hole him?  Maybe, I dunno.  

[Barney]

So I watched the entire debacle.  From what I saw he is fine at LT and should get better.  F Matt Rhule and arm to short BS.  He is a rookie and more than held his own against a team that knew we were going to need to throw the ball and brought pressure every time.  What I cannot understand is how our receivers are not able to get open.  Any other team can get the call out fast and has someone open to get it to.  Time and again we had nobody open to get the ball to.  Speaks to lack of creativity on the play calling to me.  There were times where he had time to throw and nobody open.  I say get a real head coach and a real offensive coordinator and that line does not look as bad.  Teams know we cannot throw the ball as they are sitting on all of our routes every play.  Too predictable.  

[ImfromClayton]

If we trade down we are saying we trust Matt rhule to evaluate players. I don’t. Let’s draft a dude at 6. Happy with any O lineman. All indications are this kid is the Andrew luck/Trevor Lawrence of Centers. I can deal with that type of prospect despite positional value. 

[LinvilleGorge]

1 hour ago, ImfromClayton said:

If we trade down we are saying we trust Matt rhule to evaluate players. I don’t. Let’s draft a dude at 6. Happy with any O lineman. All indications are this kid is the Andrew luck/Trevor Lawrence of Centers. I can deal with that type of prospect despite positional value. 

If Matt Rhule is still here we already done fuged up.

 

[MHS831]

About Brady:  A lot of first round, starting left tackles in the NFL struggled their first year.  BC has been at G for most of this season because Rhule sees a T-Rex when he looks at him. 

Brady has excellent athleticism (check out his pro-day/combine) and has shown promise.

He is so scrutinized, he can't even have a bad day--and he was playing beside Jordan, who might  be one of the dumbest olinemen I have ever seen (excluding Silatolu), based on his head movement (confusion), his lack of certainty in his movement, and his blown assignments on stunts.  That puts the LT on a bigger island-and BC has done well.

I have not seen enough of BC to crown him the LT, but when he plays T, the bookends are not the problem--the Saints attacked A and B gap all day.  They know us better than we know us.

Edited January 5, 2022 by MHS831

[Icege]

3 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

About Brady:  A lot of first round, starting left tackles in the NFL struggled their first year.  BC has been at G for most of this season because Rhule sees a T-Rex when he looks at him. 

Brady has excellent athleticism (check out his pro-day/combine) and has shown promise.

He is so scrutinized, he can't even have a bad day--and he was playing beside Jordan, who might  be one of the dumbest olinemen I have ever seen, based on his head movement (confusion), his lack of certainty in his movement, and his blown assignments on stunts.  That puts the LT on a bigger island-and BC has done well.

I have not seen enough of BC to crown him the LT, but when he plays T, the bookends are not the problem--the Saints attacked A and B gap all day.  They know us better than we know us.

There are definitely some glaring limits to his game. He doesn't seem strong at the point of attack nor does he appear to move guys off of the spot. However, he's got good feet and holds his blocks. I've got to go back and re-watch the last two games to see if I was being hyper critical, but the dude looks like he could hold down either of those spots on the left for us.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Icege

[MHS831]

2 hours ago, mrcompletely11 said:

I am not passing on the one of the top 2 Left tackles in this draft because a 25 year old rookie looks "promising" (which is debatable I guess) in a couple of games.   And to be perfectly honest I thought he looked totally overwhelmed against TB and NO. 

Remember, the last sure thing LT who was drafted by the Lions in 2021 --Sewell-- was moved to RT and struggled for the Lions first six games.  Since then, he has been the second highest rated OT in the NFL, with an 86.6 rating.   BC has averaged about 70 and is still in his first six games--and he was obviously a third rounder.  BC is a better athlete than Sewell, based on combine numbers.  So you say, "Sit him and bring in a rookie to play LT!" before he has had the chance to learn the position?  Furthermore, he has been playing beside a LG for 2 games who is very poor week after week.  If BC has another solid outing vs. TB, I say any decision to move him inside is premature.  Spending nearly all of our draft capital on LT when we might just have a good one on the roster ignores other needs.  To me, trade back and grab Tyler Linderbaum--now you have a solid C, serviceable LT, good RT, and all you need in free agency is a guard or two.

 

[mrcompletely11]

13 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

Remember, the last sure thing LT who was drafted by the Lions in 2021 --Sewell-- was moved to RT and struggled for the Lions first six games.  Since then, he has been the second highest rated OT in the NFL, with an 86.6 rating.   BC has averaged about 70 and is still in his first six games--and he was obviously a third rounder.  BC is a better athlete than Sewell, based on combine numbers.  So you say, "Sit him and bring in a rookie to play LT!" before he has had the chance to learn the position?  Furthermore, he has been playing beside a LG for 2 games who is very poor week after week.  If BC has another solid outing vs. TB, I say any decision to move him inside is premature.  Spending nearly all of our draft capital on LT when we might just have a good one on the roster ignores other needs.  To me, trade back and grab Tyler Linderbaum--now you have a solid C, serviceable LT, good RT, and all you need in free agency is a guard or two.

 

To be a playoff team in the NFL you need more than a serviceable LT.  Not saying BC is or isnt but take a look at the playoff teams year in and out and they have above average tackles.  Its damn criminal that we are only going to have 3ish games worth of film on BC.  But again to me he didnt even look average vs TB and NO.  Lots of pressures against bullrushes and his feet got tangled up against speed rushers.

 

If it was me I would just pretend BC was on the team and continue to build from there.  He he works out as guard so be it.  If not he can be a backup and someone that can fill in for injuries.  I wish he would have been starting from game 7or so but it is what it is.