Predator...

 

In one of my earliest responses to you, I indicated playing LT in college, while instructive, is not the same as playing LT in the NFL.  Not entirely sure why you are harping on that particular point. 

 

For that matter, I don't entirely buy your experience argument, either.  While players can develop with experience, there are plenty of examples of tackles who came in with a similar level of experience at LT at the NFL level and vastly outperformed Joeckel, including our very own Khalif Barnes, to say nothing of studs like Boselli, Clay, Thomas, etc.

 

Interestingly, as I think about it more, a more persuasive argument in favor of Joeckel was raised by Predator_NFLFans: coaching.

 

I think an argument can be raised that Joeckel has suffered from a lack of quality coaching during his short time here.  When he first came into the league, he was switched to LT, and he had to learn techniques for RT.  He switched back to LT after four games and was promptly injured and missed the rest of the season after a quarter at LT.

 

Then, Yarno, his pro NFL OL coach, unfortunately was diagnosed with cancer (BTW I hope he is doing great).  Luke Butkus took over the role of OL coach.  To my knowledge, he was not a particularly experienced OL coach, while Yarno had the benefit of playing OL in the NFL for many years and coaching OL for many more.  While I was certainly not privy to the coaching that Butkus provided, and it is not my intent to disparage Mr. Butkus in any way, I don't think it is a stretch that Yarno, being vastly more experienced as a player and a coach, was better equipped to teach the tricks of the trade to Joeckel than Butkus.  I think it is entirely possible Joeckel's performance was adversely impacted by Yarno's absence.  I think the team felt that too, which is why they hired Marrone, an experienced OL coach, to coach the OL.

 

The question now is, how has Joeckel taken to the presumably improved coaching?  Has his performance improved accordingly?

 

While he has not had much time with Marrone due to the new CBA, and while game action would be far more revealing than practice, there are plenty of indicia that Joeckel has not yet improved discernibly under Marrone.

 

Can he improve substantially?  We all hope like heck he can and will.

 

But he hasn't done it yet.

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