Urban Meyer was interviewed after the TL workout, and one of the things that stood out to me was a statement by him indicating  our OL was "pretty good and not a blow it up type situation."

Now for those of us who see the OL being of paramount concern, it's something of a troubling statement.

To me there are three possibilities.

1.  It's the first instance of pre draft smoke from Meyer.    If so...good job Urban.  You're learning to play the game.

2.  He was honest.  If that's the case, it still may not be as bad as it might seem.  It could mean that while it's not a "blow it up situation," it may be a case of adding another player to the miz, which could allow for a Trent Williams or a Brown to upgrade LT.  If this is the case, then I think the prospects of upgrading the OL are still in good shape.

3.  It COULD mean he won't address OL in any significant way, and the team's offseason attention will be focused on other areas of the team.  To me, that's a worst case scenario, because Trevor Lawrence needs a better level of protection than this OL has proven able to provide.

Thoughts?

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

A blow it up situation means basically replacing the entire line. I've been critical of the OL at times but I believe Meyer is right about that not being neccessary. I think we could look at drafting a player in the second or third round or even acquiring Orlando Brown but we don't need to start over from scratch.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

I didst think it was interesting as much as I thought it was scary. Our tackles need to be blown up.

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I wouldn't read much into it.  It's a deep draft class and I would expect at least 2 OT and 2 G to be drafted.  We really only need 4 new starters on the OL, C is pretty much set.

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Urban Meyer was interviewed after the TL workout, and one of the things that stood out to me was a statement by him indicating  our OL was "pretty good and not a blow it up type situation."

Now for those of us who see the OL being of paramount concern, it's something of a troubling statement.

To me there are three possibilities.

1.  It's the first instance of pre draft smoke from Meyer.    If so...good job Urban.  You're learning to play the game.

2.  He was honest.  If that's the case, it still may not be as bad as it might seem.  It could mean that while it's not a "blow it up situation," it may be a case of adding another player to the miz, which could allow for a Trent Williams or a Brown to upgrade LT.  If this is the case, then I think the prospects of upgrading the OL are still in good shape.

3.  It COULD mean he won't address OL in any significant way, and the team's offseason attention will be focused on other areas of the team.  To me, that's a worst case scenario, because Trevor Lawrence needs a better level of protection than this OL has proven able to provide.

Thoughts?

I took it to mean that the O-Line as a whole, is not that bad, which it isn't. I have no problem with the interior. Norwell played very well last season. He was our best O-Lineman, Linder played very well when healthy and Shatley filled in nicely when he was out. Cann made big strides last season and Bartch took some lumps last year, but he improved as the season progressed and he got more reps. Will Richardson is getting better at Swing Tackle as well. The only areas I have a major issue with is LT and RT. I don't consider that a "blow it up" situation at all. Now, the Bengals on the other hand, have a definite "blow it up" O-Line situation. They have Jonah Williams who is presumably moving to RT and a bunch of bums who need to "kick rocks." They need 4 new starting O-Linemen. We need one new starting LT and serious competition at RT. Given that we have a ton of cap space and a lot of draft picks, our O-Line situation is not that bad.

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The oline isn't that bad except that we have bottom tier players at both of the most important positions on the line.

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The oline isn't that bad except that we have bottom tier players at both of the most important positions on the line.

We have young players at those positions with the older of the two missing out on almost an entire season due to injury. So you have to consider that in his perspective.

There are still quite a few talking heads who still like Taylor and think has the talent to be a probowler once he fully develops. Let's not forget he just turned 23 at the end of November.

Cam Robinson's situation means we have to make some sort of decision at LT, whether it is to try to stick with him or take a shot at a potential upgrade, but I can see this could be Meyer's honest perception of the line as a whole.

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The oline isn't that bad except that we have bottom tier players at both of the most important positions on the line.

We have young players at those positions with the older of the two missing out on almost an entire season due to injury. So you have to consider that in his perspective.

There are still quite a few talking heads who still like Taylor and think has the talent to be a probowler once he fully develops. Let's not forget he just turned 23 at the end of November.

Cam Robinson's situation means we have to make some sort of decision at LT, whether it is to try to stick with him or take a shot at a potential upgrade, but I can see this could be Meyer's honest perception of the line as a whole.

Age doesn't matter. Performance does and he is ranked near the very bottom of the league at the OT position for his blocking. We have a new QB coming in that we MUST protect. He cannot play like he has been playing. We have a lot of options in free agency, via trade and via draft. There should be no excuses not to upgrade both OT spots. The interior is fine.

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We have young players at those positions with the older of the two missing out on almost an entire season due to injury. So you have to consider that in his perspective.

There are still quite a few talking heads who still like Taylor and think has the talent to be a probowler once he fully develops. Let's not forget he just turned 23 at the end of November.

Cam Robinson's situation means we have to make some sort of decision at LT, whether it is to try to stick with him or take a shot at a potential upgrade, but I can see this could be Meyer's honest perception of the line as a whole.

Age doesn't matter. Performance does and he is ranked near the very bottom of the league at the OT position for his blocking. We have a new QB coming in that we MUST protect. He cannot play like he has been playing. We have a lot of options in free agency, via trade and via draft. There should be no excuses not to upgrade both OT spots. The interior is fine.

To say age doesn't matter means development and experience doesn't matter. Which is a farce.

If you don't give players time to develop and gain experience you will never have a solid roster.

It would be great if there were no salary cap and we can put experienced vets who play at a high level at every position, but that's just not reality.

We have to play young inexperienced players who may under perform for a couple of years if we ever hope to develop them into experienced productive veterans. That's how it works in every profession.

Every year there will be players who make that jump from inexperienced under performing player to an experienced performing vet.

If you don't allow for that natural progression to happen with your young players, you will be continuously spinning your wheels building a roster.

Taylor is entering his 3rd season, a season that that is a typical season for players making the development jump to experienced vet.

If he doesn't show improvement next year, then there is cause for concern.

But focusing on replacing a 2nd year high draft pick with someone who you can't even guarantee would end up actually being an improvement, especially someone like Taylor who so many still hold in high regards for his potential, will likely just be counter productive.

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Like I said, I'm all for bringing a young vet and let them compete for the position, but there is no way I would be looking to invest a second pick in the top 2 rds in only 3 years at RT.

Makes no sense.

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Like I said, I'm all for bringing a young vet and let them compete for the position, but there is no way I would be looking to invest a second pick in the top 2 rds in only 3 years at RT.

Makes no sense.

It does when he is consistently slow to get out of his stance and has allowed way too many pressures and sacks.

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Like I said, I'm all for bringing a young vet and let them compete for the position, but there is no way I would be looking to invest a second pick in the top 2 rds in only 3 years at RT.

Makes no sense.

It does when he is consistently slow to get out of his stance and has allowed way too many pressures and sacks.

I understand your concern, but after only his second season it doesn't make good sense.

We should focus the draft on positions where we don't have a young player already invested. We can always bring in a young FA that can push him to get better and at the same time improve our depth without committing a large amount of draft capital or cap space.

If he doesn't develop over the next season or two, then you start looking at replacement options. We aren't going to be able rebuilding the whole roster in one off season.

I don't want to create a roster full of positions lacking in talent because we keep using high draft picks to draft the same position every other year because we don't have the patience to let them develop. I don't want to be kicking ourselves in the rear in a few years because we jumped the gun on Taylor and missed out on a really good player that would have filled a need at another position.

To build a team with a sustainable level of quality talent, you have to draft and develop, not draft and dump after two years. 

Drafting is a long term investment. It's about getting future benefits not chasing quick gains. If you happen to find a player that can have an immediate impact, the that's a bonus. You just should form a draft strategy with that expectation in mind.

Experience is one of the most essential things a player needs as a professional to be able to constantly perform competently and at a high level.

It's a cliche but you have to trust your process and allow your players to develop and gain experience. 

If you create an environment of constant turnover and aren't concerned with efficiently managing your resources, you will constantly be putting your self at a disadvantage against your competitors.

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The problem isn't experience, it's that Taylor's feet are too damn slow. That's not something that gets fixed with experience. Like I said when we drafted him, it was a huge mistake to pair Taylor with Cam to make the heaviest footed OT pairing in the league. Two years later we cannot make the same mistake with the new face of the franchise coming to town. We must upgrade both spots. Taylor can compete with Cann at guard if they want to try to salvage him.

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The problem isn't experience, it's that Taylor's feet are too damn slow. That's not something that gets fixed with experience. Like I said when we drafted him, it was a huge mistake to pair Taylor with Cam to make the heaviest footed OT pairing in the league. Two years later we cannot make the same mistake with the new face of the franchise coming to town. We must upgrade both spots. Taylor can compete with Cann at guard if they want to try to salvage him.

Agreed.

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Taylor and Robinson should of both been moved to guards where they would have shined.

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Taylor and Robinson should of both been moved to guards where they would have shined.

Yes, and move norwell to center, and linder and bartch to tackle.  Problem solved.

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The problem isn't experience, it's that Taylor's feet are too damn slow. That's not something that gets fixed with experience. Like I said when we drafted him, it was a huge mistake to pair Taylor with Cam to make the heaviest footed OT pairing in the league. Two years later we cannot make the same mistake with the new face of the franchise coming to town. We must upgrade both spots. Taylor can compete with Cann at guard if they want to try to salvage him.

Technique overcomes limitations and that only comes with experience.

If you don't understand that, than you have never competed athletically in your life and had the dedication to improve yourself.

Experience and development teaches you how to overcome weaknesses.

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The problem isn't experience, it's that Taylor's feet are too damn slow. That's not something that gets fixed with experience. Like I said when we drafted him, it was a huge mistake to pair Taylor with Cam to make the heaviest footed OT pairing in the league. Two years later we cannot make the same mistake with the new face of the franchise coming to town. We must upgrade both spots. Taylor can compete with Cann at guard if they want to try to salvage him.

Technique overcomes limitations and that only comes with experience.

If you don't understand that, than you have never competed athletically in your life and had the dedication to improve yourself.

Experience and development teaches you how to overcome weaknesses.

That's true to a point, however ultimately talent will tell. For example, I competed athletically at the high school level but no amount of technique and experience would have made it possible for me to compete in the NBA or NFL. That's an extreme case obviously but it applies to professionals as well.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

The problem isn't experience, it's that Taylor's feet are too damn slow. That's not something that gets fixed with experience. Like I said when we drafted him, it was a huge mistake to pair Taylor with Cam to make the heaviest footed OT pairing in the league. Two years later we cannot make the same mistake with the new face of the franchise coming to town. We must upgrade both spots. Taylor can compete with Cann at guard if they want to try to salvage him.

Technique overcomes limitations and that only comes with experience.

If you don't understand that, than you have never competed athletically in your life and had the dedication to improve yourself.

Experience and development teaches you how to overcome weaknesses.

Nah you have to have an adequate threshold first. Once you have the requisite baseline talent then technique can take you from adequate to good or good to great. It cannot take you from subpar to good.

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Technique overcomes limitations and that only comes with experience.

If you don't understand that, than you have never competed athletically in your life and had the dedication to improve yourself.

Experience and development teaches you how to overcome weaknesses.

That's true to a point, however ultimately talent will tell. For example, I competed athletically at the high school level but no amount of technique and experience would have made it possible for me to compete in the NBA or NFL. That's an extreme case obviously but it applies to professionals as well.

We aren't talking about some random person here, we are talking about Taylor and Taylor doesn't lack talent. That's why so many people still see a potential pro bowler in him.

To act like he doesn't have the tools to succeed is absurd.

What he lacks is technique and that can only come with practice and experience.

Will he ever develop the technique needed? No one knows at this point, but to give up on him after 2 seasons is ignorant.

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