Offensive Line and Depth

I look at it like this:
If we had drafted Oher, then yes our OL situation would have been more secure then it is now. Because we could have gotten rid of Batiste and maybe even mike williams.
But the problem is that we wouldn't have a great young star OLB/DE in Orakpo. I look at it like this, the steelers had an awful OL last year, but a Great defense. They won/got to the Super Bowl, because Defense wins championships, and they won it with one of the worst OL's in super bowl history. I still would have picked Orakpo adding a great pass rusher to an already great Defense making our Defense that much better, than getting a RT to help our OL, which isn't the whole problem of our offense. Now had Orakpo had been selected, then yeah, I wouldn't of hesitated to get Oher. Had they both of been gone, then I would of gotten Alex Mack, because our G/C position is shaky.

I totally agree. If we had taken Oher, the OL would be much more solid right now. That said, I'm quite happy that we got Rak instead.

This team can weather injuries to the interior OL. To the tackles, not so much. We'd lose the same section of the playbook we lost last year.

It's pretty obvious that Batiste is ahead of Mike Williams in the injury pecking order right now.

One thing I notice is they're young and big. That's a good start. I'll take Buges decisions, I think he knows what he's doing. If I had to pick one to start, it would probably be Rinehart. I think he's ready and will get better with more playing time. This is the thing that I think people are overlooking....Playing all these guys at the same time gives the impression that they're not very good. But they're never going to be all playing at the same time. Plug one of these guys in with the starters and all of a sudden they look better. There is a reason for that. It's harder for any one player to play on a bad line than a good line. Put one in with the starters and they're job is not as hard and they step up. Buges isn't stupid, he knows as a group they may not be that good but he isn't going to play them as a group. They each have something he obviously likes just like Heyer did and now he's starting. I'll admit that my biggest fear is that Samuels goes down, but there is no certainty that he'll be out for a significant amount of time this year so I'm not ready to panic about it. It's a concern but at this point I think we're in better shape than we've been in awhile and I think we're headed in the right direction. Could we be better? Sure, but I like that we have young guys like Montgomery, Edwin Williams and Rinehart on the team. Nice thread Ruh!

Good post...You bring out some very interesting points, some of which Zorn touched on last week in one of his PC's. It' difficult to actually make a complete evaluation of the OL depth when they are all inserted simultaneously, inserting them individually with starters gives you a better opportunity to guage their performances.

Good thread Ruhskins, I'm still shocked that Bastiste made it over Bridges even though I wasn't there to see every practice. I won't judge the O-line depth unless they play (hope not) because I trust Buges is doing the right thing. Time will tell.

I would hesitate to say that we have depth because of the lack of solid talent. We have backups on our OL but we did not observe and address our OL problems from last year.

Prayer is not a football fundamental.

I will say tho that if one of our first two draft picks next year in the draft isn't an OLineman, I will say with confidence that we will not make the playoffs that year and question my allegiance towards the skins. (it's just so hard for me to say I will not be a redskins fan ever again, because I just simply love them too much). So Zorn, Snyder, Cerrato, you better pick an OL with one of your first 2 picks in the draft or I'll be...pissed. Haha

Really nice thread Ruh! It's funny when I see a thread like this one, which should engender solid discussion and a lot of interest, and then there's not that many who toss in their two cents.

My intuition right meow is our oline probably (still) constitutes the weakest group on the team. I agree our starters are above average; however we won't know how far above until this Sunday. Has Christ lost a step since last year? Can the left side be dominant both run/pass blocking? Is Randy healthy enough to blaze a trail? Can Heyer last for several games w/o another weird injury?

Unfortunately it looks like if either tackle goes down or our underwhelming center the line will really struggle, as will the offense. That's just a recipe for disaster IMO and one that should have the FO answering some tough questions. How can a team spend $42 mil guaranteed to one player but neglect what was easily the weakest group from the previous season (I know, I know we got Dock back whee-ha)? In fact I really believe our line was the worst in football by the end of the season: slow, small and old (and always creating the shittiest penalty situations). Not sure how much that will have changed this year.

If I had to pick a single backup to take-over, like 53 said it would be Rinehart. Eventually he's got to take that spot anyway. He seems to be pretty healthy. He also seems to like blazing a trail once comfortable w/ the assignment.

Has Christ lost a step since last year?

Last I heard, no. Apparently Moses has though.

I guess the coaches then think Bridges was worth his veteran salary and kept a younger cheaper player in Bastiste and Mike Willams. Why hasn't Pete Kendall been sign to be a back up guard?