O-line has to be #1 priority over everything else offseason.

Did anyone catch the Greenbay 49ers game? GB supposedly top tier online was absolutely demolished the 49ers Dline.

Weve been gambling on Wilson's health for years. Yes, our Defense is bad but I think we've been playing on borrowed time. We need a pro-bowl caliber line. Duane Brown is the only player on this line that earns the right to come back. Britt has not shown the ability to stay on the field consistently and even so he is average at best. I can't believe ppl here are actually advocating Ifedi come back. At best he is mediocre, maybe might even be average.

We need to build a top ten O-line in FA and the draft. What's the point of having a defense when we lose our QB?
Bosa is here to stay for years. Even Donald has single-handedly wrecked our line for years and we have never addressed it.

Based on your first paragraph wouldn't a first rate D Line be most important?

I get what you are saying and agree with you unfortunately Pete & JS just won't go for it. This has been a problem the entire time they have run the team. Heck if I recall correctly Russell had to take a pay cut in order to get Duane Brown.

TreeRon":xpbza7re said:

Based on your first paragraph wouldn't a first rate D Line be most important?

Click to expand...

What I mean is that we have to contend with Bosa and Donald in our division. We need lineman that can compete with them.

What's the point of having a first-rate D lineman when we are putting our QB at risk? Wilson by himself is worth at least 8 games and a fighting chance for an SB. Thats why getting him protection imo should be the number one priority.

You're right. We need to cut ties with pretty much any vestige of the rhymes-with-unable era. That was a total fail and the hangover just keeps lingering.

I agree the OLine is a problem, but to say the team has thrown resources to upgrade this unit is incorrect.

It’s quite simple, because fans forget some minor details, like Tom Cable.

He coached the team from 2011-18 and he had a lot of say on who we should draft since he was looking for athletic type lineman to play his zone system. The team drafted a whopping 16 Olineman during his time, the most of any team during this time period. And, the next team was not even close.

2011: James Carpenter, John Moffett
2012: JR Sweezy
2013: Ryan Seymour, Jared Smith, Michael Bowie
2014: Justin Britt, Garrett Scott
2015: Terry Poole, Mark Glowinski, Kristjan Sokoli
2016: Ifedi, Rees Odhiambo, Joey Hunt
2017: Pocic, Justin Senior

We had salary cap limitations the past two years limiting its ability to go after free agents.

Mike Solari has done a lot with less. He stabilized the Oline.
-D Brown regressed w/Cable. Solari installed a completely different system and Brown excelled.
-Ifedi was terrible, but he played better.
-Sweezy, Fluker, Iupati. Aging and oft injured. they succeeded here.
-Jordan Simmons. Oft injured at USC. Waived by the Raiders. No offseason w/the Hawks, but he filled in nicely for Fluker last year.
-Jamarco James. Never played OG in HS or college but did a good job filling in for a Fluker and Iupati.
-Phil Haynes. Looked good against GB with little time to prepare.

I suspect the team to sign a player Solari,s worked with/knows his system. I also believe we’ll draft several Olineman. He has spent 2 years w/the Hawks, but he’s managed to do a lot more with less when you compare with Cable.

I still think DL is the answer, not OL. I think an OL of Brown, Haynes, Britt, Fluker, Fant would be fine. Pocic could replace Britt if Cap needed. We need to draft a potential Brown replacement. Find some guard depth in FA.

But we really need a LEO and resign Clowney as I'm not sure going into a season with Green and Collier as our top DE's is going to cut it.

blazen2392":jjl3een8 said:

Did anyone catch the Greenbay 49ers game? GB supposedly top tier online was absolutely demolished the 49ers Dline.

Weve been gambling on Wilson's health for years. Yes, our Defense is bad but I think we've been playing on borrowed time. We need a pro-bowl caliber line. Duane Brown is the only player on this line that earns the right to come back. Britt has not shown the ability to stay on the field consistently and even so he is average at best. I can't believe ppl here are actually advocating Ifedi come back. At best he is mediocre, maybe might even be average.

We need to build a top ten O-line in FA and the draft. What's the point of having a defense when we lose our QB?
Bosa is here to stay for years. Even Donald has single-handedly wrecked our line for years and we have never addressed it.

Click to expand...

25.3 PPG, 4th overall in rushing, 9th overall total offense. Meanwhile, the defense was 31st in QB pressure rate and couldn't get a 3rd down stop against GB to save their lives and OL is your top priority???...lol okay

What's the point of having a defense when we lose our QB? What's the point of having and amazing OL and top tier offense when the defense is giving up 26 PPG? We might as well be the Dallas Cowboys.

D-line is priority #1, but O-line a close 2nd.

I'd love us to just draft a guard..............just a really good plain old offensive guard. Not a project, not a basketball player we're converting to guard. Not a 7th round pick that used to play nose tackle that we want to develop into a guard. Not plug in a washed up dude that hasn't been healthy or good for 3-4 seasons.

You know, just a great young guard. That played guard in college. And we want him to play guard for us. A guard.

Is that too much to ask?

games are always won in the trenches but I think our d-line is worse than the o-line so they need to address that first. if they get that at least good then they can add to o-line in the future. and if the D doesn't give up any points does it even matter who plays qb? I say that half sarcastically.

i like the idea of guard... how about 3 of them... say a 2nd/3rd rounder, and a couple of late picks?

When you have an above average Oline, a six time roster cut like Mostert can run for 200+ on any given day.

Plug and play.

Its simple, if we loose Wilson can we win? If no, then either redo the offense so we can, or fix the oline. If yes then dont worry the offense is fine and there for the oline is fine. We already know we can win without a run game we just did it against the Eagles. In the end even if we fixed the oline that is only part of the issue, in that PC will fix it relevant to the run not the pass. If you look at all the o lineman outside of Brown none are pass blockers, they are known run blockers.

As long as Wilson can make the pass game at least avg without an avg pass blocking oline we will not improve it form a pass blocking perspective.

An above average offense coupled with a below average defense = an average team overall . Average teams seldom make SB appearances . The Hawks need upgrades on both lines .

TreeRon":1lmq3op7 said:

Based on your first paragraph wouldn't a first rate D Line be most important?

Click to expand...

^ this

I posted this a week ago......viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162843

I want PC/JS to be bringing in the players they think physically can be starters. About half our guys ending didn't start out being our starters.

Some examples:

Hunt should have never been our backup no matter how smart he was. I don't know how it's even possible to scheme for an undersized center, but it's clear PC/JS hadn't figured it out either.

Homer, impressive that he was, didn't inspire PC/JS because he's undersized. There's no room in their heads for utilizing someone like him or Boston Scott--they want biggo maulers and will reach back to the end of the couch to get them, so why not draft/FA just guys who have the physical dimensions you want and are eight, nine years younger?

Shaquem. Look, I'm just saying that to utilize him effectively necessarily means believing that he can take the majority of snaps at whatever position he is assigned to, not making him a defacto floater.

Draft Logan Stenberg for guard. A Hutch clone...GET HIM at all costs PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is my theory on why we should spend more on DL than OL. With the premise that the key to success for either line is protecting your QB and/or disrupting you opponents QB.

The Story For Paying DL-
Pass Rush can be solely generated from one player, you put your best man on ours and having an elite Passrusher can still get you pressure and sacks. You coudl have one completely crap DL and you can still have a stellar Pass rush.

Run Stopping cannot be effective with only one great run stopper on the line. It is really a matter of the weakest link. If you have one poor run defender the whole DL can look like crap. But back to the key to success this is not the key success factor.

The Story against OL-
It only takes one bad linemen to make the whole line look like. You could pay $100mil to 4 lineman and if you have one that just sucks, the other team can still get pressure on your QB.

Where having a great run blocking lineman can potentially blow a hole in the DL and it won't matter if there is a weakness somewhere else

So basically I say spend the money on 2 or 3 top notch DL who can disrupt the QB and continue to protect Russ's blindside and lets try to overachiever without backing up the brinks truck to a bunch of other O linemen.