Doug Kyed's Statistical Breakdown Of the Panthers Game

[manxman2601]

Last year Solder had issues early until the LG position was stabilized.

Wonder if that is more of the same here?

It could well be. I think there could be a domino affect here. Stork will help Mason who will in turn help Solder. Of course, it's probably more likely that Wendell will move to LG when he's fit.

 

[mgteich]

I think that the OL will look much better when Wendell returns (probably at LG) and Stork returns.
Basically, we will have replaced Connolly with Jackson, and have given Stork and Fleming another year of development. The future is fine at the position with Mason added to the mix.
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The elephant in the room is the future at OT. We have Vollmer and Cannon through 2016, along with Fleming (who hasn't shown a lot). We couldn't find a mutual deal with Solder before this season. Solder has even more incentive to wait for free agency this time.

As of now, we will go into the 2016 season with Vollmer and Cannon in the last years of their contracts, and with Solder as a free agent.

It would be Belichick's style to extend one of three as long-term insurance.

And, of course, no one would be shocked if Belichick reduced his cap by trading one of these three now.

 

[supafly]

You may well be right, I'm just more bullish on Mason than most.

The truth of the matter is that we're all likely throwing out the term "day one starter" much too loosely. On this specific team, "starter" isn't a concrete term.

Most of these players will have some type of role and some type of value to the team, so if Mason is able to showcase his skillset by pulling on run plays etc, he'll prove his worth right off the bat.