[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag359

Carriker has actually been a nice find. Maybe not dominant but such is the nature of being a 3-4 DE not named Seymour or Smith. Kory L also has been pretty decent and should be a solid starter for the next few years.

I don't think people realize this but building an O-Line is a constant process and in order to feed that process you can't afford to use 1st and 2nd round picks every year to fuel it otherwise you're doing a huge disservice to the rest of your team.

The best lines usually have at most two first day draft picks and then supplement the rest of the line with late round draft picks and free agents. Our inability to find those late round role players has been our Achilles heel, in part because we haven't even tried to draft anyone to begin with.

The only real priority on the line these days is center. Rabach has to go. Why he hasn't been benched is beyond me but his inability to stop himself from getting pushed back has become a huge liability. Look at this key play against the Bucs. Want to know why Torrain had to go east-west instead of north south. Because Rabach was literally pushed into him.


So many of Shanahan's best lineman have been late round picks. Late being 4th round and better. We need to realize that fixing the line isn't going to come from binging in the first and second round on offensive lineman but rather identifying talent later in the draft and creating depth all around. Hopefully we've already started with Cook and Capers.

Actually, people forget that we have two centers already on the roster trying to play guard. Guard is the real need. Mike Williams, for all the upside, is a risky investment every year for that and of course, we have no true left guard. Heyer looked alright, but as we know, the coaching staff may not even bother with it. That said, I agree that the only mid- and high first rounders used on linemen should go to left tackles. The other four OL positions needs to be picked from the 2nd round on down.

And people should get used to slow ass linemen like Carriker. Terrence Cody ran the slowest 40 time in quite a while, but no one gives a shit about his athleticism because he's just supposed eat up double- and triple-teams.