Quote:Devils advocate: They did put a legit offer on the table for an all-pro C. Shame it didn't work out - but we can't brush the try under the rug like it didn't happen. Linder was drafted in the third round. That's also a legitimate effort put forth to build the line.
Beadles has not played worthy of his paycheck yet. That sucks. But they did make an effort there as well.
If you want a gripe on the O-line - it's this ZBS thing. That's why they passed on some good mid round centers for Bowanko IMO (who may actually be pretty good in time.) It's also to blame for Beadles over some other FA guards and it certainly makes the rookie learning curve steeper.
(Keeping Brewster and McClendon was grasping at straws and hoping for decent depth IMO)
I actually made a post in another thread about Mack right after making the post here. I certainly give, and gave at the time, Dave credit for that. It was a good move with lots of gusto. It didn't work out, unfortunately. But I give him credit.
The issue is, Mack is a top tier player, at a premium position, on a team with a ton of cap room, and was a RFA. You
can't bank on situations like that. Mack was a prayer. He was simply sitting there, so the team made a play for him. There needed to be something done at center before Mack. Free Agency started on March 11th, and the Jags reached an agreement with Mack on April 9th. That's basically an entire month of Dave saying "you know what guys? We don't need to make any attempt at finding a center. We have Mike Brewster, who has been benched the past 2 seasons because he was getting overpowered by defenders. And we have Jacques McClendon who has played maybe 3 games as a guard at the professional level. Yep. This is fine."
No real complaints from me about Linder. I like that the team took a lineman in the 3rd and he seems to look promising. I just wish he'd be the only one struggling on the line, because then I could chalk it up to rookie inexperience.
Beadles sucking isn't something I'm going to give Dave a pass on. He made an attempt, sure. Yay. But it's his job to evaluate talent. Beadles was the crown jewel of this free agency class and he's been awful this year. That's not a pass. That's a damning indictment of Dave's eye for talent.
Your points on the ZBS scheme are well made and well taken. But for me, when it comes to team building, I think offensive line is one of the most important faucets of the game. I think that there needed to be a lot more done. Especially if they knew they were taking Bortles and that there was a possibility he'd be starting this year. You
have to have a functioning offensive line for your franchise QB to play behind. And regardless of whether its the ZBS scheme or Dave not caring about the line or whatever, there will be no convincing me that going into the season with the expected starting lineup of Luke "I've played 5 snaps at LT" Joekel, Zane Beadles, Mike "I'll magically be able to handle defenders now that I'm playing center" Brewster, Jacques "Did you watch me play last year or did you blink and miss it?" McClendon, and Austin Paztor was a sufficient lineup. Linder and Bowanko on the bench are fine. Bradfield on the bench is fine. I didn't mind the depth guys. But I think you have to sign a couple more stop-gap guys or overdraft mediocre players just to make the line functionable. Otherwise you wind up with what we have now; no holes for runningbacks, and no pockets for your franchise QB. Its just not workable. But that is just personal team-building philosophy, so I can understand others disagreeing with parts of it (mainly the overdrafting mediocre players just to have a line that functions.).