The 2016 Offensive Line: Dante's Purgatorio

[tims4wins]

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 4m4 minutes ago


OL coach Dante Scarnecchia on Pats rookie OL Joe Thuney: "We drafted him to play inside, also knowing in a pinch he could help us outside."


Also, can we de-sticky the draft threads? @SeoulSoxFan

 

[Shelterdog]

You know, Stork didn't look bad at RT? Maybe your left tackle depth chart is Solder-Vollmer, and at RT you go Vollmer-Stork-Thuney?--and then you have like 5 guys for center.

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

I think the "tackle in a pinch" means he can play tackle better than Cannon in a pinch and we're not taking a chance of that happening again.

 

[Shelterdog]

I think the "tackle in a pinch" means he can play tackle better than Cannon in a pinch and we're not taking a chance of that happening again.

We all think that but we have no evidence yet that the team thinks that--they haven't cut him despite his salary and they haven't picked up a true alternative at tackle.

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

This is encouraging on Thuney

Pro Football Focus' 16 Best Picks

 

[Shelterdog]

This is encouraging on Thuney

Pro Football Focus' 16 Best Picks

Thuney looks like he's going to be a terrific player for the Pats--even if you ignore the dreaded PFF numbers he has great combine numbers, the size is right in line with where our guards have typically been, lot of production, versatility. Shit he even does Rubik's cubes in under a minute.

The problem, of course, is that you would hope that with the combination of Mason, Jackson, Stork, Andrews and Cooper you have enough options that there's no reason to add another guy on the interior. But as they say there's a difference between a hope and a plan and drafting a really good looking player to contribute to the interior line might be better than hoping that Mason-Stork/Andrews-Jackson/Kline are going to be a strong interior line after watching them not really get it done for an entire season.

 

[j44thor]

Thuney looks like he's going to be a terrific player for the Pats--even if you ignore the dreaded PFF numbers he has great combine numbers, the size is right in line with where our guards have typically been, lot of production, versatility. Shit he even does Rubik's cubes in under a minute.

The problem, of course, is that you would hope that with the combination of Mason, Jackson, Stork, Andrews and Cooper you have enough options that there's no reason to add another guy on the interior. But as they say there's a difference between a hope and a plan and drafting a really good looking player to contribute to the interior line might be better than hoping that Mason-Stork/Andrews-Jackson/Kline are going to be a strong interior line after watching them not really get it done for an entire season.

It isn't like the DB position where they have invested a lot of draft capital the last few years. Mason/Jackson/Stork were all 4th rd picks, Andrews UDFA and Cooper is here for one year.

Hoping you can cobble together an interior line that can protect your franchise QB with just 4th rd picks and lower is perhaps a fools errand and they might have realized this with the Thuney pick.