Free Agent O-Line Madness (and how it relates to Seattle)

[mikeak]

Great post OP - very nicely laid out

I think we have faith in the O-line but understand two issues

1) We have zero backups

2) They are still young

Plugging in a few semi-expensive pieces for a year and drafting for the O-line will help fix both these issues. Once we have an experienced o-line (1-2 years) and keep drafting for it then we can keep churning it with rookies going in as backups and gaining experience that way.

 

[scutterhawk]

I wanted them to get one of those guys, but not for that much. Maybe 10 a season for whitworth, but 6 to 8 is better. They may be able to get lang for around 6 mil a year.

Lang is likely going to get around $10 apy ($9-11m range) on 4-5 yr deal with $25m guaranteed. He'll be 30 this season, which means he'll be in his prime for at least the next 2-3 seasons.

That number while it seems big is okay, Lang has tons of experience, tons of experience with success in GB, post-season experience, etc.

That experience will have huge value especially considering Lang is a top-notch guard and one of the leaders in GB not just on the O-Line but for the team. Langs impact would be huge as he would improve RT and allow Britt to cheat to the left, which in turn will allow the LG to help the LT.

I just hope Cable goes away from the ZBS, it's a dying system that leads to more miscommunication, more missed blocks, and more injuries. If you got the right guys, it can be effective as all hell. Meaning you really need all 5 guys to be on the same page, at the same time. If one guy misses thier assignment it makes the whole O-Line look bad. And I can't count how many times I've seen an OL zone-blocking air while thier teammate is being man-handled.

However, we've have a bunch of size and power that plays well into a more direct blocking scheme. Just put a man on a man. Seahawks will tell you otherwise but last season they toned the ZBS a little and the Oline was more successful.

If we get Lang, and just change things up that is better suited to where this O-Line' s strengths are at, with the expectations that all the young Oline from last season will be more ready and more improved. This O-line will have the potential to be much better.

You give Wilson an average O-Line or better, he could put in an MVP year. Consistent MVP year, start to finish.

Great Post ^
The ZBS can go haywire pretty quick when you have a group of fairly young and or inexperienced players.
Several Defensive Coaches have schemed a way to disrupt, and neutralize it, these Coaches are not going to give the inexperienced O-Linemen time to learn how to implement the ZBS, let alone perfect it.

 

[ctrcat]

It's madness, but what else should be done? For multiple years Cam was beaten to a pulp both inside and outside the framework of the rules. In a prime time game in 2014 a French Canadian named David Foucault started at LT in his first organized football game in the United States. In 2015 OT play cost the Super Bowl after a 17 win season. No one thought the Panthers would be picking at 8 but now that they are there's no value or sure thing there either. The Panthers have been the biggest tightwad team in the league with money under Gettleman after getting out of cap hell. They made the best of some maddening choices that has high risk/reward, but it had to be done.

 

[Cyrus12]

Great post OP - very nicely laid out

I think we have faith in the O-line but understand two issues

1) We have zero backups

2) They are still young

Plugging in a few semi-expensive pieces for a year and drafting for the O-line will help fix both these issues. Once we have an experienced o-line (1-2 years) and keep drafting for it then we can keep churning it with rookies going in as backups and gaining experience that way.

I don't know of anyone who has ever said this...

 

[JumpmanXhawk]

Sooner or later you might have to pay someone, because each offseason contracts for olinemen like other positions are going to get higher and higher.

I did stumble upon an interesting article regarding the Kalil contract from profootballtalk.com. Essentially it's laid out as a year to year/ pay as you play deal for the first two season. So they can cut bait if he doesn't improve playing alongside his brother.


Touted as a five-year, $55.5 million contract, the deal signed last week by tackle Matt Kalil in Carolina is actually a one-year contract with a chance for Kalil to unlock the balance in 2018.

Per a source with knowledge of the deal, the Panthers have to decide between the first and fifth day of the 2018 league year whether to exercise a $10 million option bonus for 2021, with a $10 million non-exercise fee for 2018. The only way to avoid the option bonus or the fee is to cut him or trade him before the deadline for exercising the option.

For now, the deal pays out $13 million for one year, with a $1 million guarantee in 2018 that surely is subject to offset.

While that’s a lot to pay Kalil for one season, it gives the Panthers a clear out in the event that, after paying $13 million in 2017, they decide not to give him another $11 million in 2018. The incentive to do so comes from a more affordable $7 million salary in 2019. Also, salaries of $10 million in 2020 and $10.5 million in 2021 may seem to be a lot less daunting if the salary cap keeps going up $10 million or more per year.


At first blush, the contract signed by tackle Matt Kalil in Carolina doesn’t look as good as advertised, thanks to an error in the summary prepared by the NFLPA. With the accurate information, it’s a far better deal.

The mistake appears in the fully-guaranteed 2018 base salary, which per NFLPA records is $1 million. Per a source with knowledge of the deal, it’s actually $11 million.

The face of the contract shows that the $11 million salary drops to $1 million once a $10 million option bonus is exercised in 2018.

So Kalil will get $24 million fully guaranteed at signing. And as a practical matter the Panthers can move on after giving him $24 million over two years, because after that it essentially becomes a year-to-year contract.

 

[mikeak]

Great post OP - very nicely laid out

I think we have faith in the O-line but understand two issues

1) We have zero backups

2) They are still young

Plugging in a few semi-expensive pieces for a year and drafting for the O-line will help fix both these issues. Once we have an experienced o-line (1-2 years) and keep drafting for it then we can keep churning it with rookies going in as backups and gaining experience that way.

I don't know of anyone who has ever said this...

Sorry I was unclear in my post

What I meant is that the FO has faith in the O-line for the future but not right now without help and not as soon as someone is injured.

So to correct that you add 1-2 pieces to start. Moving guys that played last year to backup and then draft 1-2 guys every year going forward. That will create a decent rotation with experience and young incoming guys and keep the dollars spent low

If they didn't have faith they would have offered more for Fant to match Detroit and signed Joeckel to at least a 1+1 deal