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The Offensive Line Thread

Adreme said:
I still think you are drastically overestimating how much Mangold has left in the tank. Jensen will be fine at Center otherwise the roster moves would not have played out like they did.
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It's actually not Jensen at center I'm worried about anymore. I fully anticipated Siragusa would be at LG. I have no faith that Lewis developed as a run blocker.
 
I wonder what's mangold asking price? Don't even think we have enough to sign Howard right now. Howard and mangold!? Is that possible lol
 
Silver lining for the oline: if you have a weak link, RT is the best place to have it. Arguably the least important spot on the line, and the easiest to scheme help. Our interior will be strong and our LT is elite af. Barring injuries, I feel better about the line than last year. With the injuries and retirement, I'd almost rather keep Lewis at LG so that we have a strong ass line from LT - RG and concentrate our mediocrity at RT, where we can scheme help. I had wanted to move Lewis to RT but I'm warming up to the idea of keeping him at LG to salvage what we have.

Full disclosure: I fucking hated Jeremy Zuttah on a near-personal level and may be underrating him, but I think Jensen is better. This is fueling my optimism.
 
Looks like we are about to sign Austin Howard. Are we practicing today?
 
So instead of doing work like I should have, watched 3 raiders games last night for Austin Howard. Now I do not know a ton about the line but I have a decent understanding and here Is my scouting report. Games were(vs Denver, vs Carolina, vs Tampa Bay)

Pros: this guy is extremely quick off the ball, it's something that is very evident in his game. Think of how Dumervile was off the ball, it almost looks like a false start. He seems to be an complete mauler in the run game which I like. In specific he had a swing play against Carolina where he opened a huge hole. It seemed Oakland ran the ball to the other side almost every time, but I think it has more to do with Penn and K.O as a strength, not he as a weakness. He seemed to hold his own constantly against strong pass rushers and I only once saw the pocket collapse due to his fault. Whenever the pass rusher even came close the play was dead. Also he didn't play in the game where Carr broke his leg so that wasn't his fault (@@@@James Hurst!)

Now cons: although I loved him overall, I only had a few games to choose from, considering he missed almost half of the season and was constantly in an out of playing full games. Being as big as he is, he did struggle with the speed rush but it took the player too long to get around. This could be trouble as Carr has a much faster release than Flacco.

Silver lining: This guy is huge and powerful. At 330, his addition could make us the biggest line in football. I miss us running qb sneaks or beating teams on 3rd and 1. This could be a spectacular addition.
 
Deebo813 said:
Howard played terrible with raiders last yr and they have one the top olines. He is an upgrade nothing more
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Howard was playing through a torn labrum and a bad ankle last year. Could you imagine having to block 300 pound men with a torn labrum?
 
Lost_In_Translation said:
Stanley-Jensen-Mangold-Yanda-Howard

That's a good line to have going forward if all parties are healthy imo. Will help with the run game and with protection especially. I still think we'd need to go get a few players next offseason, but it'd be better than having Hurst imo.
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So you'd have Lewis as depth? I don't see that realistically happening and if anyone is depth it'll be Jensen in that scenario
 
It appears as though Howard isn't going to come in and be a world-beater by any means, but he's likely going to be the guy stepping in if there's an injury or ineffective play at RT or one of the guard spots. Since depth was a huge concern, I would definitely be glad to have him here as long as his physical goes well.
 
The Raven said:
Howard was playing through a torn labrum and a bad ankle last year. Could you imagine having to block 300 pound men with a torn labrum?
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Most men would have sat out for the year with a torn labrum. He's a tough SOB and that fits Harbaugh's mold for dude's we want.
 
If Jensen can be a good run blocker(he was already a good pass blocker last season in limited action) then the oline becomes average. Meaning I'm less concerned. I still trust Lewis 0 as a guard because he's a horrible run blocker, but he is a good pass blocker. If this line can be a good one, and we can somehow pull off a trade for a Carlos Hyde, or get a Ryan Matthews I will be much more confident in the offense. The most important thing we needed to do this offseason was to fix the running game.
 
Lost_In_Translation said:
If Jensen can be a good run blocker(he was already a good pass blocker last season in limited action) then the oline becomes average. Meaning I'm less concerned. I still trust Lewis 0 as a guard because he's a horrible run blocker, but he is a good pass blocker. If this line can be a good one, and we can somehow pull off a trade for a Carlos Hyde, or get a Ryan Matthews I will be much more confident in the offense. The most important thing we needed to do this offseason was to fix the running game.
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You've got it the other way around. Run blocking has always been Jensen's top trait. Pass blocking is where he's lacking.

Again I'm going to see how Lewis does in our gap scheme this year. 6'6, 320 pound guards were never meant to be dancing bears in a zone scheme. I'm confident he'll adapt well for our downhill scheme this year. A downhill scheme benefits big men.
 
The Raven said:
You've got it the other way around. Run blocking has always been Jensen's top trait. Pass blocking is where he's lacking.

Again I'm going to see how Lewis does in our gap scheme this year. 6'6, 320 pound guards were never meant to be dancing bears in a zone scheme. I'm confident he'll adapt well for our downhill scheme this year. A downhill scheme benefits big men.
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I'll wait and see. I agree with your hopes for Jensen, but Lewis' are a lot more concerning imo. And even if we don't get Mangold, I still think that with the retirements of Urschel and the injury to Goose that we also need depth at guard now. I don't trust Elumenor at all. Hurst as a backup is meh.
 
Stanley-Lewis-Jensen-yanda-Howard is formidable imo. Left side is stonewall in pass pro and mid to right is a road grader. Memories of 2008 and 2012(minus birk at center, not a mauler at that point) come to mind
 
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