titan3131
Active member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2013
- Messages
- 1,592
- Reaction score
- 0
Attyla the Hawk":1s3t8fpa said:toffee":1s3t8fpa said:I for one am not convinced that Joeckel is an upgrade over Fant.
That's fair. They have roughly the same amount of experience at the position. Doesn't mean the move isn't worthwhile. Joeckel was a bit unlucky with injury. Which stunted development. And the weight of his draft position didn't help. In all, he's not the kind of player that should give us a warm sense of security. Really, there weren't ANY tackles in UFA that would have provided that. Price was good. There is upside. And one thing we can say, is that we definitely won't be worse than last year. Let the crucible of competition work its magic and prod either Fant or Joeckel to improvement.
toffee":1s3t8fpa said:Call me a homer, but I rather take my chance with Fant, as bad as he was last season.
That may well happen. Joeckel's signing could be a valuable element in Fant's improvement. If Fant makes that sophomore jump in efficiency that is common in this league -- Joeckel is not a sunk cost. He has significant position flexibility. And has admittedly performed better at OG. Although that improvement could just as easily be explained by his having manned that position as a 3rd and 4th year veteran as opposed to an injury limited rookie/sophomore seasoned player.
If Fant does improve -- Great! Now we have a better LT and a potential upgrade at OG
If Fant doesn't improve -- Great! We have the option to go a different route. Fant was thrust into the lineup because simply we had no other alternative.
I think best case scenario is this:
LT: Fant improves (whether by second offseason work, Joeckel pushing him, or a combination of both).
LG: Glowinski improves (second season starting, competition from Joeckel/Aboushi) or is succeeded by either.
C: Britt continues on his path.
LG: Manned by the better of Joeckel/Aboushi/Glowinski).
RT: Ifedi improves (second offseason and a year of starting experience) and competes/wins at RT.
Don't judge the value of Joeckel merely on his prospects of elevating our LT play by supplanting Fant. There are many levels on which to judge his contributions to this team that have nothing to do with him playing LT this season.
Recent talk and comments from coaching staff makes it seem as if they really like Joekel @ LG. I think LT will be a FAnt Gilliam Competition
LT Fant / Gilliam
RG Joeckel
C Britt
RG Oday
RT Ifedi
This is how I think it ends up shaking out.