(08-08-2017, 09:25 AM)FBT Wrote:

(08-08-2017, 08:38 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Dave didn't ignore the line. He just didn't get enough of the right guys.

Let's not leave TC out of this either.  He came in preaching building the lines and shortly after that speech the team acquired Campbell and Albert. One of those was a great addition. The other, not so much.  He had his say in that matter.

This F.O. should have made the O-Line a greater priority but this projected '17 starting line should be better than what we ended up with last year. I'm not really that concerned.

Bingo.

They've brought in plenty of players through the draft and free agency to help fortify the offensive line.  They also pursued one of the top restricted free agents and came up short a couple of years ago.  What they haven't done is overspend for aging talent with name recognition, which is all Debbie Downer really cares about.

The line is improved from last year to this season.  They didn't put enough of an emphasis on really upgrading the line previously, but with Coughlin her, I would expect the focus to change, and the fact that we drafted Robinson as high as we did in the draft this year is a good indication that's going to happen.  Certain people act as if the offensive line was the only real hole that needed attention, but anyone who watches this team understands just how many areas required attention.  It will get better, and we could actually have the talent on the roster already to put together a serviceable line.  Let's see how things progress during camp.  If an upgrade pops up on the wire before the start of the season, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the team snap them up.

Who are all these players we brought in? Robinson is an unknown at this point, Watford was like a 3rd tier FA who isn't even being mentioned as a potential starter and Albert is a declining veteran at the end of his career whose commitment to the sport is questionable and his team thought so little of him, that the traded him for a conditional 7th rounder. We overspent in free agency on the defensive side of the football and ended up with bargain bin O-Linemen.

As far as the O-Line being improved, that is yet to be seen. We haven't even played a game yet, so how you come to that conclusion is puzzling. The O-Line wasn't the only area that needed help, but from what I saw last year, it was certainly the biggest need and drafting a high profile RB before fully addressing the major needs on the O-Line is like putting the cart before the horse. I don't expect Fournette to have a breakout season, because he will probably be looking for running lanes that aren't there, since we have almost the same o-Line that we had last year. He'll have a better year than Ivory or Yeldon did in 2016, because he has more talent, but I don't think it will be the upgrade the front office wants. We'll just have to wait and see how things play out. We should know by game 6.

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