Any news on the offensive line?

[Joker]

I'm not as enamored of Stork as I was when he was drafted. I sense this early injury inactivity is a precursor to the I.R.

 

[patchick]

We don't need Fleming, Halapio, and Stork to "stand out". We need them to be consistent.

I don't believe anybody has talked about needing them to "stand out"? But I don't really think there has to be a contradiction here: the way a rookie OL would stand out is via consistency. That's what the position is all about.

 

[reflexblue]

I hope they do something about this before the season starts. The O-line was a major weakness last year IMO.

and the year before and the year before that. imo the interior O-line,particurally at Center is the teams Aachillies heal

 

[captain stone]

I generally don't mind the Road-Graders & Maulers, especially on the right side, but this a complete
180 from the Ryan Wendy types. Fleming & Halapio's testing #s were brutal, Fleming wasn't even
the best OLman still available from his own team (David Yankey was) and Halapio is just…terrible.

 

[PatFanCraig]

Yankey lacks NFL power for now. Fleming played RT, I doubt Yankey could handle RT. Fleming is also far more powerful.

Which leads to the idea of Fleming starting at RG. He looked really good. He moved his man as he did in college. He is an earthmover with some quickness/agility. I like how quick and hard he came off the snap. I think he will be a standout RG. Then Conolly/Stork/Halapio could compete for center. If Solder can be consistent,Vollmer injury free and Mankins doesn't decline this could be a very good OLine by the postseason.

Lots of ??????"s however. I'm for packaging #2 and #4 draftpicks and going shopping to see what kind of OLine player we could get for that. Give Brady a very good line for once that can block the better DLineman one on one across the OLine and without needing consistent double teams or help and he will match Mannings production with whomever our WRs are.

 

[raduray]

Richie Incognito anyone?
Richie Incognito keeps quiet, hopes to revive career | USA Today

 

[captain stone]

...Then Conolly/Stork/Halapio could compete for center...

Has Halapio ever played Center anywhere?

 

[deters]

Richie Incognito anyone?
Richie Incognito keeps quiet, hopes to revive career | USA Today

Would be a great addition in skill and toughness opposite Mankins. Would make a mean sob line.

 

[captain stone]

…and he would love to exact some revenge on the Doofins.

 

[Brady6]

Has Halapio ever played Center anywhere?

No he has never played center. I don't think he would make a good one either.

 

[PatFanCraig]

Has Halapio ever played Center anywhere?

Yes, he practiced at center extensively at Florida in case he had to play there. Especially when their starter struggled with power for a stretch. After he was bullied by jernnigan the coaching staff thought of inserting Halapio there and trying a backup to take Halapio"s spot. But they weren't sure of their backups at guard. And their center picked up his play a little. But they were confident we was far better at center than the starter.

Many scouts like Halapio at center more than guard. He has good power to man up NTs and his lack of quickness/agility can be covered up at center far better than guard. Guards are left to block a DE or rush olb fairly often. So many great guards were power style LT or RT in college. Yanda/Nicks/Osemele. Many have OK agility for RT but are outstanding at Guard. Their agility is OK at Tackle but outstanding for a guard. Blend that with their Power and you have a standout guard! Fleming reminds me of Osemele. Very similar size/power/agility. Fleming Thursday night was our best OLineman by far. Showed Power and quick forceful movement. Hope Bill can see what Nicks/Yanda/Osemele coaches saw. OK RT but standout guards and plays him there. Fleming may fix the interior OLine.

 

[Joker]

Halapio is not playing center for the Patriots, Craig.

 

[supafly]

Last season, left tackle Nate Solder and center Ryan Wendell had the most trouble in pass protection. During camp thus far, Solder hasn’t exactly distinguished himself in the individual battles. And here, he also struggled against Brian Orakpo during one-on-ones.

​

No knock meant against Solder, but I still think he's in a learning phase. I see him as being a fine first round pick, but I don't think he's reached "elite" status quite yet. He's definitely been good in my opinion, but I think he's still climbing the ladder.

It should be noted that Brian Orakpo is one nasty dude though. He's a pretty talented player, and I bet he'd be quite a handful for the majority of LTs in this league. These kinds of battles are going to be split with each side having victories and losses.

 

[Brady6]

I am disappointed that we have not seen more out of at least 1 of the rookie OL, right now outside of White and what Garopollo did on Thursday the draft class has been a non-factor. Easley, Stork, Thomas, and Gallon are all injured, and Halapio and Fleming have shown very little in camp so far.

Stork is the player I expected more from, hopefully when he gets healthy we will see some of that. As of right now I would go with an offensive line of:

LT- Solder
LG- Mankins
OC- Connolly
RG- Cannon
RT- Vollmer
Backup OT- Fleming
Backup OG- Kline
Backup OC- Stork
Backup OG- Halapio

 

[Haley]

I miss Scar.

 

[Deus Irae]

I miss Scar.

Chicks dig scar(s)

 

[DaBruinz]

I generally don't mind the Road-Graders & Maulers, especially on the right side, but this a complete
180 from the Ryan Wendy types. Fleming & Halapio's testing #s were brutal, Fleming wasn't even
the best OLman still available from his own team (David Yankey was) and Halapio is just…terrible.

Just curious what you mean by "testing numbers"? What numbers are important for O-linemen?

Benchpress, Broadjump, vertical.
Halapio didn't bench at either his Pro Day or the Combine. His Pro-Day vertical was a 27, a 6 in. improvement over the Combine. His Broad-jump was 8'4".

Fleming had 26 reps at the combine, a 26 in. vertical. and an 8'1" Broadjump.

Yankey had 22 reps, a 30 in. vertical and a 8'7. " broadjump.

Not sure how you can claim that Halapio is "just terrible". Are you basing it on his Senior season when he played through a pectoral tear??

 

[PatFanCraig]

Halapio is not playing center for the Patriots, Craig.

I know guys, i just wish coaching staff would get an idea and at least consider giving him a shot there. But your right he probably does not. As well as Fleming at RG. Actually he is listed as a Guard on teams official website so maybe.

Yanda was a power RT in college but was projected as a guard in the NFL. The ravens played him at mostly RT his first couple seasons due to necessity and he did just OK. But they knew he would be much better guard and made it a priority to find a true RT who could play RT at a high level. As well as RT being that players best position. As it turned out Yanda was cut out to be a pro bowl guard. And the Ravens now have one of the best guard tandems if not the best in the NFL.

Where it seems Bill isn't keen on switching an OLinemans position and coaching him his new position responsibility'(s) then having to coach up a new RT into the schemes. He seems he would prefer leaving the pro bowl guard at RT where he is somewhere between OK and a liability. And leave all his starters in even if they are barely average as long as they know his schemes and he doesn't have to coach anybody else up into his schemes. In simple terms he would rather play mediocre talent than have to recoach his schemes and plays to a new player even if the new player is far more talented.

The 2005-2007 drafts had a lot of talent at Tackle. Whitworth/Staley/McNeil/Winston/Roos/Stewart are a couple of the bigger names. Bill knew Kaczur was a liability at best at RT. But he
knew the schemes and system very well and that was plenty good enough for Bill. We all know Bill left Kaczur starting and protecting the edge for his Goat QB and made no real attempt to find an upgrade over his below average RT. Had any. the mentioned players been drafted to replace Scrub Kaczur we had won that Superbowl by at least a touchdown and scored at least 30 points. Any of those players would have dominated Strahan in his 14th season. The fact Strahan who nearly retired abused Kaczur so badly shows how terrible Kaczur really was. Yet he knew the scheme very very well and was left starting. Had we replaced Kaczur with a Roos/Whitworth/McNeil there would be another championship. Spygate would never have been an issue. 19-0 after spy gate would shut them ignorant morons up.

 

[micronin127]

They carried Chris Barker on the active roster for the entire 2013 season. I agree with most everyone's 9 players, but am not sure who to keep between Barker and Halapio.

 

[jmt57]

The 2005-2007 drafts had a lot of talent at Tackle. Whitworth/Staley/McNeil/Winston/Roos/Stewart are a couple of the bigger names. Bill knew Kaczur was a liability at best at RT.

Kaczur had only played one year when Whitworth was drafted, and hadn't been so horrible that it would elicit another early round pick on the same position.

Joe Staley is great, but draft him and the Pats don't have Jerod Mayo.

With the benefit of hindsight Eric Winston would have been a better choice than David Thomas, but at the time that position needed attention too.

Michael Roos was a Division 1AA player that at the time was considered to be a huge reach when he was drafted in the second round.

At the time of the 2005 draft, Kaczur was a higher ranked prospect than David Stewart.