Charlie Cross, building block for Macdonald dynasty

[Shane Falco]

He's only 23 yrs old yet, and he had the injury setback. The only concern I have with Cross, and I noticed it on his college highlight videos as well, is how he constantly gets pushed back towards the QB despite still winning. Never seen that before.
But it sure doesn't make a very comfortable pocket for the QB.

 

[oldhawkfan]

Agreed. He's the new Russell Okung: somewhat above average, good enough where it's not worth trying to replace him, but he'll probably never be considered among the league elite.

Last night on NFL network they were replaying Denver at Seattle in the third game of the 2014 season. Seahawks won in ot 26-20. It was fun watching that game and I learned a couple tidbits I either didn’t know or forgot about. One was that demarious Thomas set a Super Bowl record with 13 catches. The second was that the 43-8 score had never ever been achieved in a regular season or post season game. Kind of remembered that one.

The reason I’m posting here is because I agree with Rat on the Okung comparison. He went to the locker room right before halftime with an arm injury of some sort. He was back in after halftime. I was watching this last night and with a little focus on Okung it made me think of Charles Cross as a pretty good comparison. We may never have a LT like Walter Jones again. The league itself might never have one with his skill set again.

Cross/Okung both first round LT expected to be cornerstones. Okung played 6 years for the Seahawks and had a solid enough career with 5 additional seasons after leaving Seattle. So far Cross can also attest to some solid play. If he stays healthy and gets some good NFL line coaching he may be better than many of us anticipate. Time will tell. I highly doubt he will ever reach the statue of a Walter jones, but if he continues to have an Okung-esk type of career then I’m ok with it.

 

[Jville]

When Charles Cross suffered that toe injury, those sweet feet were not so sweet for awhile. Injuries tend to impart bad habits by way of compensating for injury. Often on a subconscious level. All the line starters suffered injuries last year. Off season recovery helps a lot. Recovery opens the door to skill reset and improvement.

Players have a lot of support and tools assisting them. Early on in non contact sessions, foot placement and maintaining proper angles are addressed. It's something they continue to work on outside of official practices. Technique improves as the season approaches.

Given the injury set back in year two, I think it likely Cross will continue to improve. With the sweet feet back, I'm looking for improvement in his hand fighting.

 

[NoGain]

How did you come to the opinion that he lacked real commitment and a questionable attitude?

What I meant by attitude was a alpha nasty attitude. What I meant by commitment is that I want to see him committed to making the most out of his talent that he can. That's all.

 

[BASF]

In his two NFL seasons, Cross did play under two OL coaches with different blocking philosophies and schemes, two different centers that called line adjustments and did not benefit from having a seasoned LG next to him.

Andy Dickerson was his OLine coach both seasons. Same philosophies and schemes.

Charles Cross Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Charles Cross. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

Andy Dickerson - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[toffee]

What I meant by attitude was a alpha nasty attitude. What I meant by commitment is that I want to see him committed to making the most out of his talent that he can. That's all.

Got it, and thanks for the clarification, but how did you arrive at Cross hasn't committed to making the most of his talent that he can?

 

[King Dog]

Big Walt spoiled the sh*t out of us

 

[keasley45]

In his two NFL seasons, Cross did play under two OL coaches with different blocking philosophies and schemes, two different centers that called line adjustments and did not benefit from having a seasoned LG next to him.

Great points. Add to that a bum toe, and his struggles are understandable. A toe injury like the one he suffered is A . Incredibly painful, especially for a guy carrying the weight he does. B . Difficilt to rehab completley without setbacks. C. Often ends in injuries to other oarts of the lower body, or back as a result of trying to compensate.

Im sure just about everythung we sae of him yesterday was impacted by the injury. I honestly dont see how lineman play through toe or plantar injuries. Ive dealt with both and even road cycling on hard bottom, inflexible cycling shoes where my foot was restricted from bending was tough.

He certainly has the skill to be a good one. Hoping good leadership and coaching gets him (and the line) back on track.

 

[NoGain]

Got it, and thanks for the clarification, but how did you arrive at Cross hasn't committed to making the most of his talent that he can?

I don't really feel that way as of yet. I've just got to see what happens over more course of time.

 

[keasley45]

I also hope that the offense goes back to a more balanced attack. If that happens, play across the board will improve. It was idiotic last year to constantly put banged up lineman in a backpedal, pass pro position 60% of the time. The MASH unit we fielded SHOULD have been enough to trigger a shift to more runs. NOPE. As much as Grubb sometimes gives me a little bit of anxiety, given his lack of pro experience, the bar is low for him in terms of just exhibiting the ability to create logical gameplans and in game adjustments.

I know run blocking isnt Cross's forte, but balancing it against pass pro can only help him (i think).

 

[McGruff]

Grubb did show a lot of scheme flexibility. When Penix struggled mid year, they leaned heavily on Johnson to carry the offense. I think he will show the same adaptability in the pros.

 

[Ozzy]

Interesting..

I seriously thought about starting a thread last night asking if ya'll thought that Cross has been somewhat of a disappointment considering where he was taken and what we gave up (perceived consensus capital at the time) for him.

He's good, but not elite. Yet.

I never played O line and as a fan my eyes gravitate to the "skill" positions most of time, so I don't have much of an opinion. I do notice DOMINANT tackles casually watching when I see one (Ogden, Pace, Jones, Munoz, etc..)

What's the consensus here from the .net experts? Underwhelmed? Where he should be? Elated? Optimistic?

I think he’s been disappointing to this point. Most places have him rated fairly low overall in LT rankings. He has flashed though and wouldn’t shock me at all of this year under Grubb he moves up a ton. I think it’s crucial he does if this offense takes off. Tackles can take some time before they take off too.

 

[McGruff]

I don’t trust OL rankings.

 

[onanygivensunday]

What I recall hearing about Cross shortly after the draft is... "once he has his hands on you, you're done", which is what I saw pretty much all his rookie year.

What has happened since I can't explain.

I just hope that he is back to his rookie season best... or better.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

You make it sound like he's a back up

 

[JPatera76]

What I recall hearing about Cross shortly after the draft is... "once he has his hands on you, you're done", which is what I saw pretty much all his rookie year.

What has happened since I can't explain.

I just hope that he is back to his rookie season best... or better.

I can, this was my only knock on PC and his Coaching staff and “leadership” guys ie Diggs over say the last 5yrs, we’d get these great guys, they’d do amazing their rookie season, then their 2nd season they would struggle, and imo i attributed that to poor coaching. It was a trend that was constant each year. Most recent examples Woolen & Cross.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

 

[BASF]

Tell me you don't understand turf toe without telling me you don't understand turf toe. Look it up. You may begin to understand what happened to Cross last season.

But, injuries shouldn't factor in to our assessments, right people?

 

[SoulfishHawk]

The term Turf Toe certainly doesn't come close to describing how much it hurts. Major sprain and/or hyperextension is extremely painful. Playing football on it is actually pretty impressive.

 

[chris98251]

Definitely would affect the ability to balance and push off and stand with a forward lean as well as back peddle. Played basically on a half a leg the whole time.