Quote:According to an article from ESPN posted on Bleacher Report, "Caldwell and coach Gus Bradley have stressed that they are committed to Joeckel."

 

Well ok... how long does that commitment last though? It must be understood that this was, for all intent and purposes, Joeckels rookie season due to his injury last season. Still, Joeckel was a high draft pick, and one expects at least 'average' performance from such a high pick; not average compared to other rookies, but average compared to other professional tackles in general. 

 

Joeckel didn't produce average performance, even though he had the advantage compared to other 'true' rookies of some prior exposure in the NFL. He was a part of an offensive line that is/was 'historically' bad. Now some blame this on the presence of so many rookies on this line. So be it; but even with this understanding, the offensive line was too often just... awful! 

 

I realize that a large portion of this 'commitment' to Joeckel is fueled by the expenditure of a high draft pick on him by Caldwell. Dave Caldwell doesn't want this pick to be an epic 'bust' so it appears that he is going to commit to him until doing so becomes such a liability that action is unavoidable.

 

Commitment is usually a good thing; but blind commitment or commitment for the wrong reasons isn't. I hope Dave isn't going to sacrifice the team W/L record in what could prove to be a hopeless bid to save face regarding Joeckel. I would be very happy if Joeckel turned things around next season and really started looking like the guy we had hoped he would be by this point when drafted. All we can do is wait and see...