(12-21-2020, 09:24 AM)Bullseye Wrote:

(12-21-2020, 05:46 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: One thing to keep in mind is that Cam Robinson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.  

Another thing to keep in mind is that the salary cap is going down next season, so there may be a lot of free agents available, some that we don't expect, and we have lots of cap room.    

I'm in the camp that says, if you draft a franchise QB, do everything possible to help him succeed, even if it means we have no defense at all next season.  I've seen too many top prospects go out there and get sacked to the point where it ruins their career, either because they have no pass protection, or because they can't find an open receiver.

Good observation.  I was thinking about what to do with Cam Robinson and the OL generally.

I think I would be inclined to keep Cam Robinson if it's reasonably possible to do so. 

Not because he can't be upgraded.  He certainly can't be.

But I will want insurance just in case the draft doesn't go the way we want in terms of OL availability after taking Trevor Lawrence first overall.  For that matter, I keep Norwell too.  Now even keeping those two, if the draft still goes the way we hope, I still invest in OL.  It would create competition and quality depth going forth.

With this in mind, what is the minimum amount of picks you would allocate towards the OL in this upcoming draft?

For me, even assuming Cam and Norwell are retained, that number would be 2-3.

This board has wanted Cann upgraded for how long?  Linder has been steady throughout his tenure, but he has missed time in almost every season, and while OL can play effectively into their 30s, Linder will be 29 going into next year.  RT Jawan Taylor was considered to be a fortunate find in the 2nd round, he is still maddeningly inconsistent after starting off decently this year.  Now keep in mind, there is no rule that states we have to spend all of our draft capital on the offensive line to try and fix it in its entirety within one season, if it's even possible to do so.  But if we have Trevor Lawrence, we MUST protect him.  I would love for Lawrence to be the equivalent of Andrew Luck in terms of quality, but if he's a Jaguars QB, I want him to have a much longer career than Luck (along with more Super Bowls than Luck).

In a normal year, I would always allocate at least one draft pick to an OL.  It's that important.  A team must have a pipeline of OLs to develop for future starting roles.  And in a year where we draft a franchise QB, and we have 10 other picks, I would want to spend at least one high pick on an OL and another later pick on a developmental guy.  

But one thing I would reiterate, a lot of young QBs and for that matter a lot of QBs in general, get sacked from holding the ball too long, and they do that because they can't find an open receiver.  So in addition to getting the new QB great protection, you also have to give him reliable weapons so he doesn't sit back there holding the ball.

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