I love our current Offensive Line

[Willyeye]

If the team drafts a quality C in round one or two and he plays well, the line will be better than last year IMO.

Well Mike, for some ridiculous reason the coaches put Nowiki at center for the first part of the year and we sucked ass. After Lewis went in, we got better in spite of the extreme bullfighting moves of Sweezy and Britt.

Lewis barely tread water against bad DL's and gets destroyed against good interior guys. Short and Donald were clowing him up with ease...so was Minn DL.

All true, which is why we should draft a center as well, and there are a few decent options available.

This is the most important position on the line...the QB if you will. They should pick C Ryan Kelly at #26. If he pans out, he could make the O-Line an above-average line from Week 1. Then a Tackle at #56, best available...even if they season him for a year. Then a REAL Guard with our 4th round pick. Maybe pick up a solid vet after the June 1 cut-off, and who knows. I have a good feeling about this if they invest in REAL O-Linemen in the draft this year.

 

[gowazzu02]

Joe Dahl from WSU is forecasted anywhere from 2-4, He was a lights out LT at WSU but is thought to switch inside to guard. Would love to see the hawks grab him. Along hopefully with a first round LT/.....

 

[sam1313]

New beginnings everywhere and cheap as hell too. Even if 2016 doesn't go great, at the very least we have a completely flexible position group with no looming contracts for the next 2 years. It's nothing but upside from here on out.

....said no Seahawks fan ever. Ask yourself this question, as of this moment, is this o-line better than before FA? The answer is no. We lost 2 starters...and picked up no one to improve it. We picked up a few journeymen in hopes of making it work. I'm worried that eventually, the neglect that we've shown our o-line is going to catch up to us and god forbid, RW is going to take a beating and eventually get hurt because of it. The cards and pats are showing this offseason that they want to go to the Superbowl and it kills me to say that I feel like our chances of going to the Superbowl are not that great.

While I agree with you that our line is now worse, it is really only because of Okung leaving. I think Glow may be an upgrade over Sweezy.

In reality, we may move Gilliam to LT and he may not be much worse than Okung, especially by the end of the year if he continues to improve as he did last year. Similarly, Webb may not be much worse than Gilliam was last year (especially at the beginning), so I am not totally concerned about those two positions.

I am concerned about trotting out Britt again next year at LG, especially if we don't get an upgrade at center. Please let us pick up someone good in the first two rounds to replace one or both of these guys! We will still have a craptastic line at the beginning of the year, but it could be average to above average by the end of the year. Hopefully Russell can live that long...

 

[DavidSeven]

Our nine draft selections do in fact matter as well. Every year there are 10-20 OL who contribute immediately and we have not hesitated to start rookie linemen prior to last season. Yes it is highly uncertain, but that's one of the worst reasons to completely discount something.

I can't ignore the history of poor talent evaluation and weak development.

In the five years since Tom Cable took over the OL, we have not drafted one lineman who looked ready to start on day 1. Worse than that, every "development" prospect we acquired from 2011-2013 is no longer on the team. And only one of those guys (Sweezy) ever showed any improvement at all, and even his ability is debated in some circles. Guys like Bailey and Bowie fell off a cliff after showing signs of potential early on. Honestly, Alvin Bailey probably played his best ball in his rookie preseason. We cannot assume upward progression.

I would say the one area that Cable has definitely proven himself in is veteran reclamation projects, so that allows some room for optimism.

 

[naholmes]

Last year, there was open competition at three spots (LG, C, RT) but this season there will be open competition at every single position. The only guy that is locked in as a starter seems to be Giliam. I don't know what there is to love because there really isn't any offensive line to speak of at the moment. I do have some confidence in Webb and Glowinski. If those guys come through and Britt makes a leap and we hit on some draft picks then it could turn out to be a pretty nice line. However, my current expectation is that its gonna be terrible during the preseason and early on in the season and then turn things around to become passable by the middle to end of the season. That is what happened last year and the philosophy does not appear to have changed.

 

[Willyeye]

New beginnings everywhere and cheap as hell too. Even if 2016 doesn't go great, at the very least we have a completely flexible position group with no looming contracts for the next 2 years. It's nothing but upside from here on out.

....said no Seahawks fan ever. Ask yourself this question, as of this moment, is this o-line better than before FA? The answer is no. We lost 2 starters...and picked up no one to improve it. We picked up a few journeymen in hopes of making it work. I'm worried that eventually, the neglect that we've shown our o-line is going to catch up to us and god forbid, RW is going to take a beating and eventually get hurt because of it. The cards and pats are showing this offseason that they want to go to the Superbowl and it kills me to say that I feel like our chances of going to the Superbowl are not that great.

While I agree with you that our line is now worse, it is really only because of Okung leaving. I think Glow may be an upgrade over Sweezy.

In reality, we may move Gilliam to LT and he may not be much worse than Okung, especially by the end of the year if he continues to improve as he did last year. Similarly, Webb may not be much worse than Gilliam was last year (especially at the beginning), so I am not totally concerned about those two positions.

I am concerned about trotting out Britt again next year at LG, especially if we don't get an upgrade at center. Please let us pick up someone good in the first two rounds to replace one or both of these guys! We will still have a craptastic line at the beginning of the year, but it could be average to above average by the end of the year. Hopefully Russell can live that long...

So if I'm hearing you correctly, the O-Line is not as good this year. Yet, you say: Glow is an upgrade at RG, Gilliam might be almost as good as Okung, anyone would be better than Britt, and an upgrade at Center would be great? So if we draft #1 Center Prospect Ryan Kelly at #26, and #3 Guard Prospect Joshua Garnett at #56, you would consider our O-Line improved?

I have a good feeling about Sowell and Webb. I'm thinking that if they decide on a line before preseason, the line will already begin to gel by Week 1. I think this year's version will be a HUGE improvement.

 

[sam1313]

New beginnings everywhere and cheap as hell too. Even if 2016 doesn't go great, at the very least we have a completely flexible position group with no looming contracts for the next 2 years. It's nothing but upside from here on out.

....said no Seahawks fan ever. Ask yourself this question, as of this moment, is this o-line better than before FA? The answer is no. We lost 2 starters...and picked up no one to improve it. We picked up a few journeymen in hopes of making it work. I'm worried that eventually, the neglect that we've shown our o-line is going to catch up to us and god forbid, RW is going to take a beating and eventually get hurt because of it. The cards and pats are showing this offseason that they want to go to the Superbowl and it kills me to say that I feel like our chances of going to the Superbowl are not that great.

While I agree with you that our line is now worse, it is really only because of Okung leaving. I think Glow may be an upgrade over Sweezy.

In reality, we may move Gilliam to LT and he may not be much worse than Okung, especially by the end of the year if he continues to improve as he did last year. Similarly, Webb may not be much worse than Gilliam was last year (especially at the beginning), so I am not totally concerned about those two positions.

I am concerned about trotting out Britt again next year at LG, especially if we don't get an upgrade at center. Please let us pick up someone good in the first two rounds to replace one or both of these guys! We will still have a craptastic line at the beginning of the year, but it could be average to above average by the end of the year. Hopefully Russell can live that long...

So if I'm hearing you correctly, the O-Line is not as good this year. Yet, you say: Glow is an upgrade at RG, Gilliam might be almost as good as Okung, anyone would be better than Britt, and an upgrade at Center would be great? So if we draft #1 Center Prospect Ryan Kelly at #26, and #3 Guard Prospect Joshua Garnett at #56, you would consider our O-Line improved?

I have a good feeling about Sowell and Webb. I'm thinking that if they decide on a line before preseason, the line will already begin to gel by Week 1. I think this year's version will be a HUGE improvement.

If we pick Kelly at #26 and a good guard at #56 we will probably have a better line next year, and I would be pretty damn happy going into the season. Please make that happen.

I don't know how much Oakland is paying for their OL, but I saw this and I was damn jealous: http://www.silverandblackpride.com/2016/3/16/11250180/raiders-offensive-line-has-a-new-nickname
(I would post that as an image, but I can't figure out how.) At least the left side of their OL looks pretty damn good, and I would have been happy with just one of those players.

 

[Jville]

Are you talking about this one? .............. Catchy Title.

 

[gowazzu02]

Are you talking about this one? .............. Catchy Title.

haha i love that! I hope Oakland is good this year. It's been a long time since the silver and black have been in the playoffs.

 

[two dog]

To me, improvement for the offensive line begins with drafting center Ryan Kelly.
Or, possibly trading down into the top quarter of the second for center Nick Martin.
We need a day one starter at that very important position to start to solidify the line.

I doubt that Denver keeps Ryan Clady at his scheduled price and the fact that they
signed Okung at the same position. A trade or an outright release are both possible.
His injury history the past two years reminds me of Okung but when he was on, he
was a better player than Russell in my opinion.

Further down the draft order I would draft a tackle and a guard. Player and round
dependent on how the draft fell. But they should not get caught watching the paint dry.
Late rounds are when we get our cornerbacks, running backs and wide Receivers.

 

[xgeoff]

If only we could deal Britt...

 

[Jville]

When you hear about "next man up", they are not looking for the next man to throw rocks at.

Positive attitudes are about opportunities ...... there is no room or time for dismissive attitudes at the VMAC..

 

[Jimjones0384]

I have faith in jspc. They brought up how they want to be significantly better on the line next year. We have yet to see the young guys on the line, and who knows they might still have a big move via a trade or stud draft pick. We assume we lost our two best linemen, but really okung isn't one of the best tackles in the league, he wasn't healthy enough to be. Sweeny leaked like a faucet. The new line might find continuity and flourish. We just don't know. I am going to wait and see before I jump to any conclusions. Hope for the best. I do know one thing, if they give wilson even a slightly above average line, there will be little doubt who the best qb in the league is. Our offense and players within will all finally get the respect they deserve.