You mentioned Daniels. Could have been creative with 1st and 2nd round picks, moved around, taken Price or Ragnow and still maybe somehow snagged Hurst. Point is they didn’t make it a priority. I hope I’m wrong but I’m afraid it may come back to bite us in the ass.
You could've slotted Lewis at C and had a solid one with two dominant Gs. If we had found a way to draft Brown too, that's a dominant overall offensive line.
Having lived with the huge hole left after Birk’s retirement and then losing the only competent center we had since then I was sure they would address the need early in the draft.
I like Brown but saw an interesting piece on reddit in an Interview that Brown gave in 105.7 the fan where even he himself admitted he was not ready yet as he has a lot left to learn as far as the playbook and language is concerned. This would obviously explain Marty refering Hurst's experience as a reason for his start. I feel once Brown has the playbook and chemistry down, that he will assume the starting role. I don't see Hurst as a long-term option at RT what so ever but for now you have to consider the fact that he has the entagibles down. Lewis is a much better fit at G then C because he doesn't have the leverage to handle consistant penetration or the bullrush. I think the Ravens shuffled the OL a lot and Yanda even said himself that he hasn't much time with the current OL, I'm pretty sure they experimented with Lewis at C and Brown at RT with Hurst at LG but it probably didn't look good.
2013 had a lot of different issues though. We didn't aquire Monroe until mid-season and K.O suffered a season ending injury. If we had a line of Monroe-K.O-Gradowski/Shiply(Yeah they both suck)-Yanda-Oher, then I don't think the line would've been nearly as bad. Obviously the OL we had to begin with was horrible but I think we overestimated Mckinney and Oher after their spectacular playoff performances.
Same here, I'm more worried about Skura. I don't think Hurst is a long-term option at RT and once Brown gets the scheme and language down, that he will be our starting RT and a solid one at that. Skura worries me because a bad C as you said is probably the worst thing you can deal with in an OL. I don't see a replacement solution to Skura because everyone behind him is just as bad if not worse.
Lewis had a few drives at C where he looked decent but he looks like a rock solid LG and much better there. He's taken the next step and is what I would refer to as a quality starter.
Even then he can't be worse than Hurst is as a tackle. As a guard Hurst is a passable guy because he's a decent pass blocker but an atrocious run blocker. But at LG you can get away with that. Yanda is going to open up the run game a decent amount so I'm not the most worried about Hurst(Skura is a Gino Gradkowski level of bad just waiting to happen).
And Skura can't anchor for shit. Which is why I'm extremely worried.
I’m honestly dumbfounded that we are just seemingly content with Skura. It’s absurd.
He's Gino levels of bad and could singlehandedly make a good offensive line look bad.
lol.....could have meant a lot of things as all would have changed, but I get your point. The key piece was taking Jackson, and whether that was wrong or right they compromised their chances the next couple of years gambling on a project for the future.
He can be worse then Hurst if he doesn't know the entire playbook or language. How can you call the plays he doesn't know? What happens if you do? His communication, blocking assignment and overall aspect of how he approaches his blocks will be way off and you're going to have to make compensation in terms of your play book just to have him on the field. It's better for him to get a full understanding of the offense before putting him out there. Once he has the offense down then you can put him out there.
As much as I don't like Hurst, I agree with this 100%. Brown will be out there starting soon enough, lets make sure he knows the playbook first
Thanks, good to know. I couldn’t watch much of preseason this year. I was just too busy so I didn’t get to see Lewis at C. Yeah I trust Lewis at LG more than any other position.
I’d rather not have Howard back here lol. I actually don’t think Hurst will be that bad but agree it’ll be Skura who is the problem. I’m not sure if Skura will be Gino-level because he had more problems than strength—he just couldn’t make the calls. The combination of being unable to make calls and being a bit weak led to his demise. I’m hopeful that Skura is at least more prepared to make the calls and that’ll be our saving grace with him because that’s a huge part of playing C.