A big quandry ahead with O-Line plans next year:

[Joey007]

What do we do exactly?

Let's get one thing straight for sure: losing your blindside protector is a killer injury. It's arguably the worst position to lose besides QB. It played a huge part in our protection woes when Solder went down.

But yet I still can't feel safe with going into next year with the same personel as we had last year. But what do we change? Which of our young linemen that we've drafted will be developed into our future starters? Do we draft more linemen even though we had four young linemen in their first or second year in there this year?

My take on it would to bring in a little more tackle depth, (preferably a tackle who can run faster than a potato ) and bring in a veteran guard that could help the younger guys develop one more year. It would have really been nice if we brought in Evan Mathis this year, and we saw how well it worked out when we brought in Waters in 2011.

I'd like to know the forums input on this, though. It's a bit of an interesting situation going into the offseason.

 

[ViperGTS]

What do we do exactly?

Let's get one thing straight for sure: losing your blindside protector is a killer injury. It's arguably the worst position to lose besides QB. It played a huge part in our protection woes when Solder went down.

But yet I still can't feel safe with going into next year with the same personel as we had last year. But what do we change? Which of our young linemen that we've drafted will be developed into our future starters? Do we draft more linemen even though we had four young linemen in their first or second year in there this year?

My take on it would to bring in a little more tackle depth, (preferably a tackle who can run faster than a potato ) and bring in a veteran guard that could help the younger guys develop one more year. It would have really been nice if we brought in Evan Mathis this year, and we saw how well it worked out when we brought in Waters in 2011.

I'd like to know the forums input on this, though. It's a bit of an interesting situation going into the offseason.

It's either the players or the coaches. I'd start with the coaches and let it ride. What else you going to do? How many times do the ends have to come screaming off without a chip or start screening them to death?

 

[Fencer]

I don't think the problem was lack of if-healthy talent except at backup tackle. Cannon and Fleming both disappointed.

I would be more aggressive about bringing back Wendell than I would have been had things gone better, but otherwise I'd say that the needed personnel move is an upgrade at backup OT.

 

[dannydyn]

I say we get Solder back, keep Andrews and Stork. Cannon and co., need to get the boot and replaced ASAP.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Cannon is possibly the slowest tackle I've ever seen. But, maybe not since I've also seen Fleming.

Bottom line with the offense in general is that it was built in the bargain basement. Brady is driving a ford pinto in the Daytona 500. I don't think there was a single first rounder on offense tonight.

 

[PatsGuy]

So please tell me...Why did Cannon get an extension on his contract??

 

[I.M. Fletcher]

The "should we sign Evan Mathis" threads don't look so silly in hindsight.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I think that they were getting beat on the snap count more than anything, the Broncos were behind then before they even got out of their stances.

Losing Solder was huge. I would say that the O line is not exactly the biggest off season need. Of course it would be nice if they had a first round pick.

 

[Betterthanmost]

We were faced with keeping the right strong or weakening the whole oline by moving Vollmer to the left, and finding someone to play the right. This started the cascade of events that culminated in today's fiasco. I hope Brady is ok. He will need a lot of ice bath, I was so worried that his collar bone was broken at one point. I think he is still feeling it from the way he was even standing during his presser.

 

[LloydBraun]

An actual run game threat will help the o line tremendously. It was no secret what was coming.

 

[ausbacker]

Solder - LG - Stork - RG - Vollmer. I'm pretty happy with those three as the starting point for the line. Outside of that, the Patriots need Jackson and Mason to develop and develop quickly.

I know depth is important, but how long can the Pats carry Cannon? I try my best to see what the Pats see in him and I had high hopes for him but he's just not good enough to be an NFL tackle.

The big point this season was we saw just how important and underrated Nate Solder is. Like Matt Light before him, he's unfairly maligned by factions of Patsfans.

 

[borg]

The personnel is wretched. Even when Solder was in the lineup, the offense relied on quick strikes because Solder was too often a turn style...and to quote Emmitt Smith....the interior line was getting "all blowed up." If this grouping did something well.....pass protect or run block...then the argument could be made to give them time (something Brady wished for)...but this group was wretched in all phases. The only RB able to consistently make yards on the ground was Lewis and that was only because he could skirt penetrating DL.
OT depth was an area of concern coming into the season and proved to be their Achilles .......and Marcus Cannon should be sending half his salary to his agent for pulling off the greatest heist south of Boston. Too many projects...Cannon and Shaq. What sucks for NE is that they emphasized OL in the past two drafts and the line is heading backwards.
Looking at the offense as a whole, this side of the ball needs a serious infusion of talent...OL, RB, WR, TE...in that order because BB has been too often feeding his D the #1 picks and the O has been neglected.

 

[BelichickFan]

So please tell me...Why did Cannon get an extension on his contract??

Good question but we can save $3.2M at a cost of just $1M if we cut him so it's not an unwieldy contact.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The one personnel decision I"ve been continuosly puzzled by. Interior OL has been a need since 2009 and we've been content to draft a bunch of 4th/5th rounders and hope something sticks. Stork woked out last year but doesn't seem durable enough, maybe the reason he slipped to the 4th. Need to invest more quite simply, and sign decent depth at tackle. Canon has been a decent backup sometimes but too inconsistent, not reliable enough. Yet he gets a phat extension. It's hard to imagine anyone doing worse for a fraction of the price. Today might be the worst performance I've seen from one of our tackles, worse than Kaczur in sb42.

We were truly fortunate last year that interior held up in the Balt and Sea games while throwing a million times, esp Baltimore when one of our guards got hurt and Kline had to play.

This should be our priority in the draft/FA but once again will probably get swept to the side.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

At the end of the day, this is going to require crucial, accurate talent evaluation by the coaching staff in the next few weeks. We only had 2 guys out there on the line that started the Super Bowl last season, and both were playing different positions (Vollmer, Stork). I think the intended line this year was to just replace Connelly with the rookies/Kline, but Solder and Wendell going on IR plus all the miscellaneous week-to-week injuries ruined that.

Obviously injuries are going to happen, but I think part of the problem was relying on 3 rookies. They seemed to hit the wall late in the season (and obviously Jackson was hurt, too). Maybe having another veteran besides Kline/Stork would have helped.

Regardless, the question is, with a full offseason workout program, a full offseason with the offensive strategy, and a full season of NFL experience behind them, if these guys can be better next year.

Cannon has had 2 bad seasons in a row. He was fine in 2012 and 2013. We also know he played injured in 2014 and broke his toe in 2015. Personally, I think his cap charge is too high, and he's not the solution for when Vollmer is done. So I'd like to find someone else. We'll see though, but we do know that what we saw this year is just not acceptable.

A real power running back would help, too, to pair with Lewis and White.

 

[Sciz]

The tackle position doesn't terribly interest me this offseason. Either they'll keep Cannon or replace Cannon, and either way we hope that guy never plays. Waddle is a nice guy to monitor in the second year after his torn ACL, but he got way overhyped the last few weeks.

The interior offensive line intrigues me, though. I think I place more blame on them relative to the tackles than many people here. They return their top five guys all very cheap. Those five guys were more of a weakness this year than years past, yet there's some reason for optimism considering that four of them are very young and Kline was playing injured toward the end of the season. This is a position that could really benefit from an injection of talent, but it's hard to say how much room for improvement there is without allocating significant resources. It feels risky to count on those same five interior guys given this year's results, but I also feel like a second round pick or $4M/yr free agent could end up not being better than any of them. I don't know what the right moves are there.

 

[skinnydog]

LT: I agree we may have underrated Solder, but while he is good, hes not much more than that. He's certainly not a dominating LT. Volmer, was adequate over there but not an anchor over there. He showed why he is best over on the right side. So with Solder back the LT will be solid but that's it. Back up LT? Waddle?
LG: Mason seems ok in the running game, but again not dominating in any way. In terms of pass protection he was poor. Maybe, with a full offseason he will improve, but he'll need a lot of work.
C: Stork, seemed to play well when he returned and seems to have an attitude, but again, nothing dominating about his performance. I sense a trend. Anderson seems to be the one quality O-Line back up and he's not big enough to play guard so with a healthy Stork he sits.
RG: Wendel or Jackson. Jackson is talented but fell in the draft because of injury concerns and they showed up in his rookie year. Wendel surprised me last year but he's 30 and coming off of a season ending injury.
RT: Volmer will be back but will be 32 and may be on the downside of his career. Back ups are Cannon and Fleming, and really neither is a quality tackle.

Overall, this is a barely adequate O-line even if all are healthy, and I'd really like to seem an effort to upgrade this part of the team.

 

[The_Riddler]

I say we get Solder back, keep Andrews and Stork. Cannon and co., need to get the boot and replaced ASAP.

Andrews had no business losing his spot to Stork. Andrews is the better player.

 

[fightingirish595]

I think Nate solder is better suited at right tackle. If we were to trade chandler jones like discussed in the other thread. Maybe we could get joe Thomas. Although he is getting old

 

[skinnydog]

Does any blame lie with the O-Line coach? Is Deguglielmo good enough? I don't know, but Scar always seemed to find a way to coach up the o-line. I didn't see much evidence of that this year.