Offensive Line

[VeveJones007]

Originally Posted by sherck

I agree to a point.

But the fact that neither Smith nor Glowinski were projected starters out of Training Camp and that Clark and Haeg saw a lot of playing time earlier shows that you have to have QUALITY DEPTH to be a good O-Line.

We have one current O-Line starter ending their contract each year from 2019 - 2023.

2019 = Glowinski
2020 = Castonzo
2021 = Kelly
2022 = Smith
2023 = Nelson (with 5th year option)

As long as they continue to play well AND we choose to re-sign them, I totally agree with you on not needing to use TOP draft picks on the O-line and just keep up the quality depth.

BUT, there is no guarantee that they will continue to play well nor that the team will re-sign them. The key is that we have had the depth to survive to this point and find five guys who can play well together

2019 = Good
2020 = Clark, Haeg

Do we re-sign those depth guys? Or draft new depth?

To have a quality O-Line, you have to keep adding talent to it every season. One draft pick in the top four rounds every season (25% of your draft picks in those rounds) should go to O-Line (23% of your starters), IMO. If the O-Line is suprerior, then having only average offensive speciality folks can still make an offense run. If you have an average to below average O-Line, the best set of receivers will be worthless as the QB never has time to throw and the RBs never have holes to run in.

Walk Worthy

And Castonzo will be 31 years old next season. He's been remarkably healthy in his career, but you need to have a good backup plan for a 30+ OL.