I think they're both ideally RGs, personally. And as a prospect, I think Mason is rawer but has considerably more upside. Wouldn't surprise me if the Pats drafted Thuney with the hopes of him being the LG of the future, and Mason/Jackson fighting it out to see who (if either of them) becomes the long-term RG.
Or maybe they don't know right now and they're going to let training camp work it out. I'm fine with throwing quantity of promising talent at the problem, and letting injuries/competition sort out the depth chart. Much better than relying on any of them individually as the presumptive answer, especially when we didn't have to give up a whole lot to get any of them.
Shaq started at LG his sophomore year at GT and RG his junior and senior year. He was way more effective at RG in college, but who knows how meaningful that is since he was older, bigger and faster. This idea that Shaq is still this raw project is a myth. He was always a good run blocker and his pass blocking, which started off as totally inept, slowly improved to mediocre throughout the year. People forget this because the line in general was so awful, but Shaq played his best ball at RG in the playoffs. According to Mike Reiss, he allowed only one quarterback hit in the Denver game. Ideally, you'd want none, but considering who he was playing against and the guys on either side of him it was pretty impressive.
Shaq has tremendous athleticism and upside. Scar hasn't called me yet to ask me my opinion, but I'll bet he's our starting RG of the future and will be playing at a Pro Bowl level by year 3.
Lastly, I'll leave you with this from March:
4th round, 131st overall, OG Shaq Mason: Mason....played what were probably his best two games of the season in the playoffs.
Mason was a right guard coming out of college, so he seemed far more comfortable at that role. He's already arguably the best run blocker on the team, but his pass blocking was atrocious to start the season. While he's still not at an "average" ability in pass protection, his athleticism and potential is off the charts.
It's very possible that Mason could take the starting right guard spot and everyone will point to Mason's rookie season with the same light as when Bill Belichick tried to make
Matt Light a right tackle; sometimes a player is just perfect for one role.
If Mason is able to take over the right guard spot, that would leave Kline as the left guard, unless the Patriots bring in a veteran free agent- or maybe even allow center Bryan Stork to compete for the spot if
David Andrews gains enough strength to be a viable starting center.
While Mason isn't a lock for the roster either (no 4th round sophomore is), he's a better prospect than Jackson and he's as close to a lock as you can get. His upside is fantastic and he will hopefully be blocking for quarterback Tom Brady for the next decade.
linky
