brimsalabim":33yjxbbw said:
We lost our starting center and left guard before the draft. Even though Carp and Max weren't exactly performing at high levels they were starters... Meaning they beat out the other guys on the roster. How can we expect to improve or even maintain the same level of performance by elevating back ups that couldn't win the starting possition last season? I had hoped that we would focus on finding great or even good potential starters from this draft. How did we do? I keep reading that we built depth at the possition? We don't need depth we need starters. The guys already on the roster can be depth.
There are various reasons why a backup doesn't always take the starting position away from a veteran even if they are better. Example: By keeping Carpenter till the end of the season, and letting him leave via free agency, the Hawks got an extra compensatory 5th round pick for the 2016 draft next year.
I would consider Carpenter a 1st round bust...never did live up to being a 1st round pick. Unger was great...key word WAS...Unger missed 10 games last year, and 3 in 2013. That's 13 games in 2 years. Lewis started 4 at Center last year, and Jeanpierre started 3...the Hawks were 7-0 in those games. Bailey started 5 games. Lewis and Bailey aren't exactly backups anymore. They've earned a chance to start. Jeanpierre is a backup with 11 starts under his belt.
The Hawks currently have 5 starters and 7 backups...in addition to those mentioned above, the Hawks also had Gilliam last year, and have signed 6 O-Linemen in the last few months. They added 3 yesterday in the draft, and 1 last night (UDFA). That's 16 total, and they may add a couple more UDFA's in the next few days. That would be 18 guys competing for 5 positions. I think they will be just fine.
Because Wilson is such a great scrambler, the O-Line is the one place the Hawks will be able to save cap space to use for continuing to build up the defense and the receiver corps. It is probably a good trade-off...it's not easy making it to the SB in 2 straight seasons.