(02-08-2022, 11:32 AM)Upper Wrote: I believe in building through the dline, not so much the oline. I would much rather have elite playmakers and an average OL than the other way around on offense.

If you have a true franchise QB you just need to have an average oline across the board. As we already saw, Trevor turned a horrible oline into one that was statistically not horrible.

The big thing is not having a glaring weakness on an oline. For example, the Bengals are getting their massive RG weakness hunted all game long. If we can manage to draft and sign one starting IOL each and then tag Cam and move him to RT I think we can have an average OL that Trevor can succeed behind just fine.

I admit I will have to do more research on this, but I don't recall any team fully adopting this approach.  When teams are committed to building through the trenches, they usually don't hesitate to address both sides of the ball with first round picks.

The Patriots were known for stocking up on DL in the first round (Seymour, Warren, Wilfork), even during the years they ran a 3-4.  However, they also spent first rounders on OL (Solder, Woody, Mankins).

During the Andy reid Era, the Eagles spent first round picks on DL (Corey Simon, Jerome McDougal, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Broderick Bunkley) and OL (Shawn Andrews, Lane Johnson).

The Packers during the Wolf=Holmgren era of the 90s saw them spend first round picks on OL (Aaron Taylor, John Michels, Ross Verba) and DL (Vonnie Holliday).

The Dungy/McKay era Bucs spent first round picks on DL (Sapp, reagan Upshaw, McFarland) and only one on the OL (Kenyatta Walker).

But I can't think of any build from the trenches team that spent 1st rounders exclusively on DL and not OL.

In theory though, it could work.  Dallas built their great OL without spending a single first round pick on an OL.  Many other championship teams (San Francisco, Washington) spent a minimal amount of 1st round picks on the OL.

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