I don't, in the main, have a problem with taking an O-linemen in the fourth / fifth / sixth to develop either.

The problem I have is that behind the starters, we were woefully lacking. That meant, should any one of the starters go down (as they did) then we'd see the likes of Moll get significant playing time.

Similarly, when Taush wasn't resigned for the beginning of last season, we were forced to rely on two of the projects taken in later rounds to fight out for a starters spot. Yes projects can develop, but they can also fail too as Barbre did.

Ted has tended to take athletes with impressive physical tools and thus leaving his coaches to prepare unpolished long-term projects to possibly play in the short-term. That's doing a disservice to not only your coaches, but your franchise QB.

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Apart from that first year, when he seemed to think all guards were interchangeable, I have no problem with the amount of draft attention Thompson has given to the OL. The only thing he has seemed unwilling to do is go after top tier talent by FA/trade (Hutchinson, Faneca, Gaither, et al). (Or, if you'd prefer, overspend to get top tier talent.) But I'm not complaining about that anymore.

Besides, it isn't my biggest concern. My biggest concern is that Thompson and the rest of the personnel department under him have seemed below average (compared to their abilities with respect to other positions) when it comes to assessing OL talent.

Sitton looks to be a home run. But after that, we have various degrees of "potential" and "serviceable". I'm excited about Lang and Bulaga and Newhouse, but let's be honest. None of them have yet demonstrated that they are starters in the NFL, much less quality multi-year starters.

I'm more confident than I've been in some time OL-wise -- I personally think an awesome line of the future may end up being Newhouse-Bulaga-Wells(or replacement)-Sitton-Lang. But that's me just being convinced by potential again. Because I've been down that road before. Big time back when Colledge, Spitz, and Moll all got drafted. And to a lesser extent when I got excited about Barbre and his take-no-prisoners attitude.

Right now we have one young starter who has shown more than potential -- Sitton. And one who has shown some flashes, Lang.

Why haven't I mentioned Colledge and Spitz? Because a few stellar games or halves in four years doesn't cut it with me. I don't buy the "it takes time to learn the OL position" argument this far. Top OL show something the first year -- IMO, Colledge and Spitz have shown no more than Lang and far less than Sitton, and they've had how many years? Heck, Will Whitticker had a couple good games. I used to believe they had unrealized potential. Now I believe what we've seen is what we get, and what we've seen isn't much to write home about.

At best, either one of them is just a serviceable placeholder until someone else gets found. When they were drafted, I was very excited. To me, they've shown at most that they are the kind of backup talent every team needs for depth. I know everyone thinks of him as best groomed as Clifton's replacement because of the likelihood that Clifton will get injured before the year is out, but I'd rather see what Bulaga has at guard right now rather than depend on either of them. Bulaga has the potential to be a stud at guard. Colledge and Spitz? Sorry, I can't think of either of them as potential studs any more.

Yeah, I know. Dead horse.

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Yes I am implying that Baluga was luck, and if he's off the board Uncle Ted grabs an OLB. And I have been paying attention, painfully watching light in the ass offesive lineman try and block very good defensive lines in our division. Ted dodged a bullet last year cause as many hits as Rodgers took, he should have been injured.

Go back and do some homework, I'm one of the biggest Ted Thompson supporters in this forum, but on the subject of the o-line; Ted has not addressed it sufficiently. I've given him a pass because of the empty cupboards he was left with when he took the job.

BTW, Rodgers was also a gift, but Finley was a very good draft pick.

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I don't like the idea of calling any pick a "gift." Ted believed enough in Rodger's to pull the trigger, much like multiple other teams could have. Same with Bulaga. Many were saying Dez Bryant should have been the pick there, but only time will tell with that one. Regardless, Ted put his faith in Bulaga there. That's how the draft works. You take the player that you think will be the best pick that's still left on the board.

There's always some reason teams pass on a player and it's all about who is willing to accept those perceived risks.

LT - Clifton
2 - Bulaga
LG - Colledge
2 - Newhouse
C - Wells
2 - Spitz
RG - Sittion
2 - Lang
RT - Tauscher
2 - Lang

They spent to much money on Clifton and Tauscher for them to not wind up being the LT and RT this year. Something that will be beneficial to the future is that Lang and Bulaga will get to learn underneath both Tauscher and Clifton. Also I think that Colledge gets pushed enough by everyone behind him to win the starting job. Colledge will also benefit from not having to move around when injuries happen. Overall i'm really happy with the depth that the pack has created on the O-line if they gel enough we could be in for a great year and set up well for the future.

GOPACKGO

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I'm not calling you out, I am saying that nobody in the NFL sees the talent in they guys Ted Thompson is picking, that is not luck. Even if you and I both can see it as an obvious pick, the professionals who live their lives scouting talent, didn't see it.

The Draft has been fairly thin on good Tackles that were available when Ted Thompson was picking up until this year. I agree with the philosophy of not taking a second round talent in the first round just because you need a tackle.

I do see some of the "misses" as just the way the draft works. Every player is a gamble. You try to do your home work, but sometime luck is either with you or against you. I am a firm believer in the chinese philosophy of "Good fortune comes to the prepared mind." which means a smart man recognizes a good opportunity when it comes along and has the courage to go for it.

No GM batts 1.000. I think Ted Thompson is better than average and his misses seem to be mostly on the O-line. Not that he was not paying attention. He was and had some successes mixed in with all the misses.

I also think there was a cap issue where he couldn't afford to pay some of the early round guys he would have gotten in the first 2-3 years because of Mike Sherman's mismanagement. So he traded quite a few early round picks away. Instead of getting great linemen.

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If we are being honest I think your wrong...

G/C Junius Coston
G Will Whitticker
G/C Tony Palmer (waivers)
G Daryn Colledge
G/C Jason Spitz
G Tony Moll
G Allen Barbre
G Josh Sitton
G/T T.J. Lang
G Marshall Newhouse

(I didn't list the OTs)

That's a lot of bodies he from in for mainly just the 2 OG positions... their is just only so many draft picks to go around...


Thompson has used two draft picks on OL players every year other than '06 and '07. '06 he used 3 picks on an OL and '07 he used 1 pick on an OL.

He has used 12 of the teams 58 (over 20.6%) draft picks over the last 6 years on OL.

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We also couldn't keep Wahl (even though Ted Thompson said he wanted too) because of salary cap issues. Getting more pricey first and second rounders that may or may not work out, would have made it so this year couldn't have happened.

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To sum up, I would say that Ted Thompson has put plenty of effort into improving the O-line since he's been here. His strategy has been to draft a lot of O-linemen in the middle to late rounds and hope some of them pan out. Thus far the results haven't been particularly impressive, but it's not for lack of trying. And maybe, just maybe, this O-line is beginning to turn the corner now.

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I hope so.

It's a risky strategy, but it'll get you a guy like Sitton or Tauscher every once in a while.

In Ted's defense, though, we haven't had much luck with OTs in earlier rounds. It's been very slim pickings on OTs in our range in the 1st round, year after year. Ferguson went one pick before ours. Monroe went one pick before ours. Duane Brown went 4 picks before ours.

And every single time, we fall into that gap between the real talent and the projects.

The only OT I think that we had a real shot at was Oher. The trade we made for the 26th pick had enough value from our side that we could've moved up 3 spots earlier.