So, Okung left without too much of a fight from our Front Office. Despite reported interest in a couple of reasonable stop-gap solutions, they have made absolutely no move at all. A lot of teams would have handed out a panic contract to one of those stop-gap veterans by now. I wonder whether the reason for our low energy response to the problem is because they simply put a different level of value on the position than other teams.
It is a premium position for most teams, but for us:-
1 - RW obviously has an ability to avoid rushers that just hasn't been seen before, including blindside rushers through that crazy spin and run back and to the weakside where you are not sure how he managed to see the rusher.
2 - even a good LT will have to spend an extra 2 seconds on half of our pass plays trying to block the rusher from the opposite way they had been blocking them for the first 3 seconds, and all LTs are probably equally bad at that.
3 - where we have really struggled to move the ball on teams has been when they have got pressure through the middle, either through a penetrative DT like Donald at LAR or Lotulelei at CAR, or A-gap blitzes like ARZ, and Wilson seems to have more problems with that kind of pressure.
4 - teams have learned to play Russell in a way that keeps him in the pocket through outside contain rather than letting loose their DEs to pin their ears back and rush (obviously the read option has been an element of teams learning to play more disciplined).
5 - the closest size comp for Russell is usually given as being Brees, and NO had their success through a strong interior line giving Brees time and lanes to throw through.
I honestly wonder whether we will go into the season with flotsam and jetsam at the OT positions, but our FO won't be bothered as they don't rate LT as any more value or importance than LG? I hope I'm way wrong on this, but I wouldn't hate it if we had real talent at OG and it was all by design.
It is a premium position for most teams, but for us:-
1 - RW obviously has an ability to avoid rushers that just hasn't been seen before, including blindside rushers through that crazy spin and run back and to the weakside where you are not sure how he managed to see the rusher.
2 - even a good LT will have to spend an extra 2 seconds on half of our pass plays trying to block the rusher from the opposite way they had been blocking them for the first 3 seconds, and all LTs are probably equally bad at that.
3 - where we have really struggled to move the ball on teams has been when they have got pressure through the middle, either through a penetrative DT like Donald at LAR or Lotulelei at CAR, or A-gap blitzes like ARZ, and Wilson seems to have more problems with that kind of pressure.
4 - teams have learned to play Russell in a way that keeps him in the pocket through outside contain rather than letting loose their DEs to pin their ears back and rush (obviously the read option has been an element of teams learning to play more disciplined).
5 - the closest size comp for Russell is usually given as being Brees, and NO had their success through a strong interior line giving Brees time and lanes to throw through.
I honestly wonder whether we will go into the season with flotsam and jetsam at the OT positions, but our FO won't be bothered as they don't rate LT as any more value or importance than LG? I hope I'm way wrong on this, but I wouldn't hate it if we had real talent at OG and it was all by design.