Om Field: Breaking Down the Lines (Pt. 1)

[-Om-]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

But it's not all that unlike how we built our Super Bowl teams in the 80s. What I'd be really interested in though is how Cerrato drafted when he was the 49ers

Two thoughts.

1) The Redskins had The Hogs, and to somewhat lesser extent the DL, put together very early in Gibbs I. Bostic was a FA in ‘80, Jacoby a UDFA defensive player in '81 that Buges converted, and they drafted Grimm and May in rounds 1 and 2 in ‘81. By the way, also in that draft: 1st round, Mark May. 2nd round, Russ Grim. 4th round, Dexter Manley. 8th round, Darryl Grant. 12th round, Clint Didier. It helps to have a Bobby Beathard around.

Point being, by combining high picks and great eye for late-round and undrafted talent, they built the foundation of their lines early on and had the luxury of picking their spots in subsequent years. Over the past 10 years, Skins have done neither--they haven’t invested in the top end, and they have missed repeatedly on the low, leaving us where we are today.

2) There’s a thread on ES that tracked his SF moves. I’ll link it here shortly.

Edit: here ya go. You may find it very interesting.

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I don't think it's arrogant at all to believe you can build solid lines with later round picks and FA's. Tons of quality lineman come in rounds 3 and beyond.

I do. Particularly when you use literally NO higher picks in conjuction. Low-rouders that “hit” are out there, but far fewer than there are high-rounders who become stalwarts. That’s mostly opinion at this point, but my strong sense based on the research I've done so far is that the facts back it up pretty clearly.

The Redskins have gambled, and lost, on using late-rounders (talking 6ths and 7ths here, which represent exactly half of the picks they have used on the lines in the last ten years) to build a base of young guys to have ready to step in when the crop of older FA’s, and the last two high picks they did use–Samuels and Jansen–finally hit the wall. That and a shotgun approach to bringing in journeyman and undrafted FA’s by the busload hoping to find someone who can play.

I’ll stop short of saying it can’t work that way, but I’m 100% comfortable saying it hasn’t–not here. And when I look at the other division teams that do take the lines seriously enough to invest high-rounders in dominate us up front, I’m comfortable enough to hang it all out there like I am with this series.