What's a Good Left Tackle Worth?

Paul,

I like it, it makes a lot of sense. The only thing I would disagree about is taking a offensive lineman with our first (two) pick(s). Traditionally linemen take a few years to develope, and solid to very good players at this position have been found in the later rounds of drafts. I say we keep developing the young linemen we already have, and take a couple shots in the mid to late rounds. From there Parcells could address the immediate need via free agency. .. It would be nice to have Flo and a solid RT next year, and then see what Bledsoe can do!! Very nice stats and comparison.

Eric R
to go a bit further, i think you are both right. Small tweaks can help for 2006. However, this line is prime for another major drop b/c of age. LA and Marco are getting old and seem past their prime. We need to start developing replacements now and upgrade center. (RT a forgone conclusion even though I think Pettiti will be good….eventually)

All the statistics go to the credability of Bledsoe, and his receivers…and Bledsoe had the numbers of a ‘franchise’ quarterback this season.
Drew is now the second leading quarterback for total yards in a season, all time for the Cowboy organization. That includes the production of Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach also…

The solution for the offensive line is not an easy answer for the Cowboys, hence, Bill Parcells…

This is for three reason:

First, There has to be the quality of talent, plus mental discipline to ensure that the personnel placed on the field-matches up with the schemes being utilized for offensive concepts…

Secondly, This group has to matchup longterm, to the makeup of a young and developing group that consists of a very large group of players in the range of 2 to 5 years in the NFL. That players are added to this group, that develop into top producers, go to ensure that a possible dynasty comes into the picture for the organization.

Lastly, there are the cap ramifications that have to be respected in order that turnover in personnel match a continual level of play as the team matures, and still has the room for the players to grow and be paid for their level of experience…not easy here.

There areas, completely did not measure offensively up to the level of play necessary for the Cowboys to stand toe to toe, offensively, with ANY team in the NFL. Those positions were left guard, center, and right tackle…

Some of the problem deals with blocking schemes, and techniques employed by the Cowboys, that would swith from a player on player, good for power and large linemen, and area blocking, that benefits the smaller and more agile linemen in the league. Well, if no noticed, Dallas tries to use the large offensive linemen as in the past, yet, still complicates the picture with contrasting technique and demands on the linemen. This is some of the reason where double teams failed and often, linemen were seen trying to lunge for defenders, and outside defenders of made it unabated to Dallas ball carriers who had been slowed down at the line of scrimmage by a jam or blitz in the center of the offensive line. This goes to offensive concepts as well as to the offensive line coach responsible…

The Cowboys have a cap number, prior to any personnel actions, to go and get TWO dynamic free agents that will be meeting free agency this off season. The first one, should be a viable, middle price range to top veteran, that can realisticly project out a period of five years.

This group would include, looking towards the free agency period, starting 3 March, the following:

Jon Runyan, Philadelphia
Jeff Backus, Detroit
Kevin Barry, Green Bay
LJ Shelton, Cleveland
Tom Ashworth, New England
Bob Whitfield, Giants
*Jason Fabini, Jets *(if waived)

Philadelphia has a very large cap area free for this next season, and Runyon may well be locked up by the Eagles, but has a chance of hitting free agency. He has hit the 30 age line in his projection forward.

Next most attractive, as to talent, would be Jeff Backus who may be ready to find a team that matches up with his personality better. He is a talented tackle who has been playing the left tackle position, but who would fit very well on the right side, and add a major upgrade on what was on the right side for this past season. Jerry would have to pay him at a good market value, but his play should bring the right side up to snuff.

Shelton would probably be shorter term solution…but a free agent steal could be Kevin Barry from Green Bay. He is just coming into his own, and would probably carry a much lower cap hit, being something of a buyer’s purchase!

Ashworth did a very respectable job in his time with New England this season…filling for injuries…yet, carrying the load. Whitfield was solid for the Giants, who are continuing to try and upgrade.

A possible candidate for offensive line coach, might be Green Bay’s Larry Beightol, if he is released with the arrival of 49’ers offensive coordinator, now head coach for Green Bay-Mike McCarthy.

Myself, I like Backus, who be every bit as effective as what the Giants got in McKenzie this season. This would greatly ease what HAD to be done further in free agency as well as the draft, as the major problem with the offensive line, from last season, should have been solved.

Marco Rivera has had operations on his elbows, and given another off season for conditioning, he should be in position to much more effectively start this next season on an even keel, which would reflect his real talent levels. The addition of his line coach from Green Bay, should help also…if added.

Larry Allen is the big question concerning players already on the team. His cap hit escalates to the point of about $7.2 M with a roster bonus of $2 M
due him in March. He no longer warrants such a massive cap hit, and could very well be gone…by the start of free agency. Since Peterman has had an operation on his ankle, this week, and Gurode still projects at offensive guard, the team could still be solvent going into the next season, with what it has at present, in Peterman and Gurode. This off season should be the sink or swim point for both players…My guess, unless Allen’s contract is renegotiated, despite a Pro Bowl appearance, that he will be gone this off season.

With the waiver of Larry Allen, the cap hit saved would be about $4 M, or just below. This money saved could then be turned around and re-invested in a center, such as LeCharles Bentley, New Orleans, if he does in fact hit free agency.

This would result in an offensive line as follows:

LT Flozell Adams
LG Andre Gurode
C LeCharles Bentley
RG Marco Rivera
RT Jeff Backus

The backups prior to the draft would thus become

LT Colombo
LG Stephen Peterman
C Al Johnson
RG Tucker
RT Rob Petitti

NOW, the upgrades to the offensive line could be addressed in the second and third rounds of the draft, leaving the first round to approach other possibilities…

A second/third round approach to the upgrades could result in a combination similar to the following:

In the second round:

Jon Scott OT Texas 6’6" 310
Andrew Whitworth OT LSU 6’6" 325
Max Jean-Giles OG GA 6’4" 340

The first round selection could then be used for anything from Quarterback, where if Notre Dame’s Quinn enters, could become very interesting, to a top nose tackle, or safety…such as

Haloti Ngata 6’5" 345
or
Texas’ FS Huff

My favorite scenario would be a trade down, possibly with Denver, who now has Washington’s first round selection, getting Washington’s first and Denver’s second round and fourth round selections, while giving up the Dallas #18 pick and Greg Ellis…

Now, if Jonathan Quinn comes on out, Dallas could take him in the first round, and then in the second round, take Texas’ OT Jon Scott and NT Rodrique Wright, then going for OG Charles Spencer-Pittsburgh in the third round.

The offensive line would now have a picture, going into camp, of:

LT Adams/Scott
LG Gurode/Stephenson
C Bentley/A Johnson
RG Rivera/Spencer
LT Backus/Petitti

Both the starting group as well as the depth/back-ups would have been brought in line with a true playoff contender…

Paul,

I completely agree about Bledsoe.
As for the o-line, you could be right, and I like your optimism, but I see it differently.

First, our yards-per-run were terrible before Adams went out. Maybe the best way to make our pass protection better is to get more yards on first and second down. Make them worry about JJ gashing them for 7 or 8 yards instead of none or 1. Given the first six games of 2005, I believe the problems in the running game run deeper than Adamâ€â"¢s injury.

The second assumption is that Adams will return at full strength. Adams is a good LT, but not a great LT. Will he still be able to anchor the left side after an ACL tear and a year of rehab? He will probably lose something, I think.

Third, our guards are questionable. Notwithstanding a good year in 2005, Larry Allen is getting older. How will he hold up? And at this point, we don’t really know if Rivera’s mediocre play was because of a nagging injury or because his age simply caught up with him. Will time off and minor surgery restore his skills as a serviceable guard? We donâ€â"¢t know.

I think we agree about TT and RP. We need an upgrade on the right side.

I like your optimism. I hope you turn out to be right.

CCBoy,

I like your thinking. I hope Jerry has a plan as detailed as that.

CCboy,

Great information, but the emphasis in the NFL is not on young talent anymore, rather immediate production regardless of age. It matters not that we have very young and talented players, rather how long we can have productive players available at a reasonable cost.

FA has made this a produce now league with less emphasis on developing young players. Unless those young players are under long term contracts, all you are doing is developing players for other teams.

Of course this is a dilemma for all teams, but filling holes with aging FAs with short salary cap implications is a necessity in the NFL today. So, basically you have to pick your players in whom to invest(typically QBs and other skill people), hope for some talented young guys you can contract for 4 or 5 years (and hope they produce early) and fill in with FAs of value.

This is not as much fun as it used to be in the earlier days, but it keeps things interesting.

I have to disagree on a quick analysis that states that ALL is just a what have you done this season, only…for this is a business, that in the final analysis, must adhere to principals that apply to personnel development, progression, market value, and also, maintain an overall plan and evaluation of the interplay between financial and functional elements…no, sound principals apply no matter what type of business is involved, and the smarter managers are more efficient in all aspects, to include the management of it’s workers…

Off the subject but still important HOF issues, does anyone realize the Houston Oilers have almost as many HOF inductees at the Dallas Cowboys? Here they are, there is something wrong with this picture.

Elvin Bethea, George Blanda, Earl Campbell, Ken Houston and Mike Munchak

Kudos to the guest blogger. Good job. One other issue I see on the O-line that no one seeems to be concerned about:

Given what we know about some of the conditioning / motivational issue that Adams had had in the past (especially pre-Parcells arriving here), can we be so sure that his rehab will occur on schedule or even be a complete success? Is it safe to count on him to return 100, or even 95?

Improving the backup LT spot is as important as finding a starting RT. This is why I like the idea of signing Tom Ashworth that Rafael suggested the other day. He could start at RT, but shift over to LT if something happens to Adams.

In my example, the consideration was given two individuals…Backus, who has played left tackle i the NFL, and also with the drafting of Scott, who could gain some experience…on the outskirts, would be the training camp exploits of Colombo, Price, and even the presence of Tucker, and Rogers…

BlueStarDude,

While we can never be certain of the success of any rehab effort, we have already been assured by Bill Parcells (in one of last press conferences) that Flozell Adams is diligently pursuing his rehab. Parcells said that he speaks to the injured players, at least briefly, on a daily basis, and he is impressed by Adams’ effort.

One thing we need to keep in mind, though, is that Flozell will turn 31 in May. Older players take longer to recover, and injure easier. Adams had been a rock, when it comes to injury, until his current problem. I am unsure as to whether we can depend on that rock into the future.

This is just one more reason why we need an infusion of youth on the offensive line. We need free agents to improve the line for 2006. But we need draft picks — several of them — to allow us to move forward into the future, without having to patch the line on a yearly basis. Nor do I care in which round they are chosen. Just get them in here!

If we continue to bring in older players, without adding the youth available in the draft, we will continue to witness our offensive line breaking down in the middle of the season, as these older players suffer the dings that so often accrue to players as they age. I realize that injuries can occur at any age. However, it is clearly evident that as a player ages, his susceptibility to injury increases proportionately.

Backus wouldn’t be a good signing IMO. Now I haven’t watched the Lions too much, so that’s why I didn’t say anything about it before. But every time I do see them he hasn’t impressed.

I’d love to see Columbo fulfill the potential he had shown before his injury. I just don’t think we can go into the season counting on him or the other tackles. He should be left to battle Pettiti and Tucker for a backup spot.

As far as drafting young guys, I agree that that is a must. A couple of mid round guys I like are Kevin Boothe out of Cornell and Michael Toudouze out of TCU. And Jason Spitz, G/C out of Louisville, would be someone else to look at if we don’t sign a free agent center.

Just to play devil’s advocate…

You also have to take into account that we played a much tougher schedule the last 10 weeks of the season. We played 3 road games in the first six, but only one was against a good team. Even then, They were without one of the best players in the NFL, Antonio Gates. The other three games were all divisional games at home. Who’s to say that Flo wouldn’t have had some big problems against some of those teams?

There’s also the issue of Bledsoe’s age. As much as he was getting hit this season, the beatings were bound to catch up with him. Even 2.2 sacks/game is too many. We saw this with Vinny last year, too. As the season went on, he took more hits and threw more bad balls.

The difference could have also been that teams figured out they could get through our line and started blitzing/stunting/rushing more. They could have watched the tape and seen Pettiti getting beat on most moves, and Rivera having problems with the power moves.

If you remember, our running game didn’t do too well this year even though it was supposed to be one of the better attacks in the league. Teams could have realized that and gone from trying to stop the run to rushing the passer.

Alright, now, I don’t necissarily think any of htose are the whole reason, just giving some other possible explainations. I think the reality is an amalgomy of them all. I think losing Flo was a terrible hit, since we couldn’t help Pettiti on every play anymore, but I’m also not sure how he would have done against some of the teams later in the year. In the past, he has need help from time to time himself.

I also think that the schedule and D adjustments had something to do with the decline. As well, I think that Bledsoe dropped off some.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think we need to keep Flo and Bledsoe where they are, and I agree in the end that 2 moves should solve our line problems, but you can count me as one of the guys who votes for a new OL coach, too. I just don’t think we made adjustments to blocking schemes this year that might have helped our guys out. It also seemed that too many guys were hanging their heads at the end of the year.

Good work Paul!! For the most part I think you nailed the problems, although I don’t agree with your solution of drafting OL’s with the first two picks.

CC Boy:

Backus doesn’t seem like the answer to me. He isn’t proven to be effective in run blocking, which everyone seems to forget is at least as important as pass protection. He might work, but then again he might not because he wasn’t in an offense that placed enough priority on the ground game.

Ashworth would be good, but I think the chances of signing an FA from a 3-time Super Bowl team that is still a contender every year is hard to do without overpaying. It makes it even harder when you factor in the Belichick/Parcells, Brady/Bledsoe rivalry and this guy is firmly in the Belichick/Brady camp.

I like Bentley and Shelton as my top choices because both are proven in good running offenses that run-first and pass second. The question is whether we can afford to sign both of them, and I believe that boils down to whether Ellis and Glover are traded and if LA’s contract can be reworked (which I think will be VERY difficult).

I want to give Rivera and Flo the benefit of the doubt for now, since we don’t know what the long term effect of their injuries are yet. You can’t give up on former Pro Bowlers without knowing this.

Backus was an agressive, large, dominant type of Michigan tackle. He was playing on the left side of the Detroit line…here, at Dallas, he would be playing the right tackle, where the pressures on him would be much less, and he would be expected to be a physical and dominant right tackle…which is exactly what a Michigan lineman is known for. On the right side, he would be very effective, and also in the running part of the game.

CCBoy:

I am sure he would be a dramatic improvement over what we’ve got. If the price is right I hope we get him. I’m sure there is at least 28 or 29 other OT’s in this league that are better than what we had at RT last season, I’d take any one of them at this point.