I think DJ is your current clear #2 and should have been from jump street. 
His cleveland tape should have been enough to establish that.

I totally get giving a promising rookie opportunities, but DJ needs to be the spellback and the guy going in to protect/block. 

Save Bigsby for garbage time or blowout/burn clock snaps. He'll be good next year.

I think it may be clear he is the #2 over Tank, but I don't think it's clear he is a #2.  Perhaps it changes with more opportunities for DJ (25 total touches on the year, 8 of which came last game) or as Tank gains experience and develops further, but as it stands I don't know how anyone would be confident in this running game and by extension this offense if ETN were to go down for an extended period.

He may not have been a clear #2 to this staff until lately  - but he should have been. 

Alas - the larger problem - the bolded is all about the offensive line not blocking well. ETN is currently the only one making miracles happen despite the horrible line play - though DJ has looked great in the screen game and rattled of 4 or 5 nice runs as well. Give him more opportunities and he'll show he's earned  it IMO.

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Harrison has been the biggest disappointment for me. I thought he would be better than he has up to this point. 4th round rookie Dawand Jones has been better, hopefully he has a good game against the rookie Sunday

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Harrison has been the biggest disappointment for me.  I thought he would be better than he has up to this point.  4th round rookie Dawand Jones has been better, hopefully he has a good game against the rookie Sunday

Outside of being overmatched by All-Pro's at times? I haven't see him that bad. Maybe my eyes are more focused on the interior than him. I know he's been guilty of getting beat on screen plays or not selling them good enough with passes getting tipped or batted down on his side.

Other than that, he seems relatively quiet. No flagged much. How many sacks, pressures and QB hits has he surrendered? He's also playing with a bad shoulder as well.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

Harrison has been the biggest disappointment for me.  I thought he would be better than he has up to this point.  4th round rookie Dawand Jones has been better, hopefully he has a good game against the rookie Sunday

Outside of being overmatched by All-Pro's at times? I haven't see him that bad. Maybe my eyes are more focused on the interior than him. I know he's been guilty of getting beat on screen plays or not selling them good enough with passes getting tipped or batted down on his side.

Other than that, he seems relatively quiet. No flagged much. How many sacks, pressures and QB hits has he surrendered? He's also playing with a bad shoulder as well.

Hes been quite bad from what I've seen. He's still very young and there's room for improvement but it sucks the trial by fire in a season with lofty expectations. If I had it my way it'd be little at RT and Cleveland at LG and let Anton learn from the pine and hopefully have a good offseason and be ready to start next year.

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Outside of being overmatched by All-Pro's at times? I haven't see him that bad. Maybe my eyes are more focused on the interior than him. I know he's been guilty of getting beat on screen plays or not selling them good enough with passes getting tipped or batted down on his side.

Other than that, he seems relatively quiet. No flagged much. How many sacks, pressures and QB hits has he surrendered? He's also playing with a bad shoulder as well.

Hes been quite bad from what I've seen. He's still very young and there's room for improvement but it sucks the trial by fire in a season with lofty expectations. If I had it my way it'd be little at RT and Cleveland at LG and let Anton learn from the pine and hopefully have a good offseason and be ready to start next year.

100%

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Off topic anyone know where bullseye has been? Did he just go dormant for a while?

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Off topic anyone know where bullseye has been? Did he just go dormant for a while?

He's been battling some health issues that make reading and posting here more difficult at times. 
He is sorely missed. I hope we get some input from him this season. 
HOF poster.

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As far as rooks go, this has been a different year than normal in that outside of Harrison, we haven't NEEDED the rooks to make immediate impact. Book is still out on a number of guys, but having the ability to keep them on the shelf temporarily and acclimate to the rigors of a longer and more demanding season without the wear and tear of significant field time may be beneficial. It may also prove to be wasted expense.

Kinda glad that we aren't depending on rooks to carry the load at this stage. It's a shift in mindset as fans, and hopefully the patience pays off.

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You can't evaluate rookies. Look at Montaric Brown, for example. Or Devin Lloyd.

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You can't evaluate rookies.  Look at Montaric Brown, for example.  Or Devin Lloyd.

Fair point. Very hard to prognosticate a career arc from most rookie seasons. There are exceptions when the consensus is correct of course. 

Lloyd is a pretty good example of a guy who looked the part as a rookie and then got overwhelmed when opponents found his weaknesses in coverage and delayed reaction to different formations or motion. 

The primary opinion around here (as I recall it) was that he'd get acclimated to the speed of the NFL game and get back to looking like he did in September of his rookie year. I dare say he has done that and more. So there was a healthy portion of fans who saw what was happening and predicted the outcome pretty well. 

Brown is tough to categorize as he played so little as a rookie. But even in preseason 2023 he didn't look like he'd play this solid when pushed to start. Kudos to him and DeShea Townsend. 

On that note - I'm still oddly optimistic we see some good stuff out of Bigsby before the calendar recycles. ETN is accumulating some wear and tear and we may really need those fresh legs by the end of December. 

I hope we keep seeing players develop under this staff. Most of our position coaches seem to be doing well bringing guys along. I question Rauscher and the OL as of now, but I'll (try to) remain patient until next Fall. We didn't know what we had in Mike Caldwell after one year either. Maybe we see this line look better down the stretch and maybe they shake things up in 2024 to really afford the QB protection and the RBs some lanes. Fingers crossed.

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You can't evaluate rookies.  Look at Montaric Brown, for example.  Or Devin Lloyd.

You can evaluate them.

But you don't make career proclamations after a few games. Remember some people on this board screaming "CJ Henderson is amazing! The Jags won't miss Ramsey one bit!"?

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You can't evaluate rookies.  Look at Montaric Brown, for example.  Or Devin Lloyd.

You can evaluate them.

But you don't make career proclamations after a few games. Remember some people on this board screaming "CJ Henderson is amazing! The Jags won't miss Ramsey one bit!"?

Yeah, that's what I meant.  Your statement is better.

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You can't evaluate rookies.  Look at Montaric Brown, for example.  Or Devin Lloyd.

You can. "Not ready yet" is an evaluation. "needs improvement" is an evaluation. Surprised you didn't also use Snoop as an example.

What you cannot do is close the book on the evaluation. Sometimes, guys need time or opportunities to learn from mistakes. Other times, they are just ungood at footballing.

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You can't evaluate rookies.  Look at Montaric Brown, for example.  Or Devin Lloyd.

You can. "Not ready yet" is an evaluation. "needs improvement" is an evaluation. Surprised you didn't also use Snoop as an example.

What you cannot do is close the book on the evaluation. Sometimes, guys need time or opportunities to learn from mistakes. Other times, they are just ungood at footballing.

Yeah, I agree.  That's what I should have said.

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Anton Harrison (pick 27) >>>> than Will Anderson Jr. (pick 3) Last Sunday.

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A new broom always sweeps clean.