I like stacking the trenches early in the draft...big men are harder to find than the little ones. I've been playing with a lot of sims and trying to decide how to best approach this draft. I could see us going OL, DL, or S in the first round. I think there's enough CB to get one later without a drop off. It's going to be determined by how the draft unfolds, but I can't wait to see what happens. Just a couple weeks to go!
For what it's worth, in some ways I can relate. I'm 6'6 and I've weighed as much as 360 and as little as 190. It's like as soon as you go big, it's so hard to just maintain anything for a considerable period of time. I am just happy that I've stayed under 290 for the last 15 or so years, but it's always a thought in mind every time I just try to enjoy one ice cream treat.
I honestly don't ever think about what OL have to actually go through to be offensive linemen. In one story I read, a former Dolphins offensive linemen said that when he was drafted, Jimmy Johnson called him immediately and told him to put on 30 lbs, and he was of course happy to do it. An actor might put on 30 lbs for a role, but maybe that'll be for the next six months only. An 18 or 20-year old trying to make it in the NFL could put on 60 lbs to try and get to the league (most will fail) and then they could carry it for the rest of their lives.
I personally think of guys like Lucas and Cross as "lean". Because relatively, next to football players, that's what they seem like. And of course they're muscled up too. But that's a lot of weight to carry, especially doing football drills.
Thanks for this. I had no idea that linemen were retiring early at this rate, or that their health concerns were this acute.
Looking at the draft, taking a tackle who can slide into the guard position could make a lot of sense. There are potential snaps available, inside. And with Zabel and this imaginary rookie playing inside, it gives the team lots of flexibility in case of injury at the tackle spot. We only have one Josh Jobe.
That flexibility could allow the team to keep one fewer OL on the 53 without too much risk.
While I think it’s ideal to draft defense this year, drafting OL isn’t unreasonable.
Yeah, we talk so much about the risks of drafting a RB because fans can easily see the bangs and crushes that they take on every carry. But RBs also have the advantage over offensive linemen in being exceptionally more healthy weights. I mean, who is more lean and cut than some NFL running backs?
It's amazing that Andrew Whitworth played as long as he did. It's estimated that he played the most snaps of any offensive lineman (maybe player) in college history and then he went on to have a 16-year NFL career with few health issues to speak of. He seems OK, but I wonder if he would say he's going through it.
Trent Williams is sticking with it in his late 30s.
But many guys are saying that it's not worth it. Dalman, Ragnow, and Marpet turned down 10s of millions in earnings. That must be quite the pain!
The undiagnosed concussion thing also surprised me.
Years ago, I spoke with Ronnie Lott and I asked him about the (then new) rule against ball carriers lowering their helmets. He downplayed the violence in the trenches, where the shorter distance doesn’t allow much speed before collision. (He then pointed out a guy across the room as an example target. In that moment, I understood why players feared going up against Lott.)
But maybe the close quarters argument ignores the volume of hits. Let’s say 99% are fine, but that 1% of hard hits to the helmet would mean a potential concussion every other game. That adds up. The close quarters thing also ignores blitzers running at the line at full speed.
Just because most trench plays don’t bring hard hits to the head, it doesn’t mean that it never happens. And since linemen move slowly after plays, I can understand that we wouldn’t necessarily notice if they were dazed.
I hadn’t considered this at all before your article. Thanks!
I like stacking the trenches early in the draft...big men are harder to find than the little ones. I've been playing with a lot of sims and trying to decide how to best approach this draft. I could see us going OL, DL, or S in the first round. I think there's enough CB to get one later without a drop off. It's going to be determined by how the draft unfolds, but I can't wait to see what happens. Just a couple weeks to go!
For what it's worth, in some ways I can relate. I'm 6'6 and I've weighed as much as 360 and as little as 190. It's like as soon as you go big, it's so hard to just maintain anything for a considerable period of time. I am just happy that I've stayed under 290 for the last 15 or so years, but it's always a thought in mind every time I just try to enjoy one ice cream treat.
I honestly don't ever think about what OL have to actually go through to be offensive linemen. In one story I read, a former Dolphins offensive linemen said that when he was drafted, Jimmy Johnson called him immediately and told him to put on 30 lbs, and he was of course happy to do it. An actor might put on 30 lbs for a role, but maybe that'll be for the next six months only. An 18 or 20-year old trying to make it in the NFL could put on 60 lbs to try and get to the league (most will fail) and then they could carry it for the rest of their lives.
I personally think of guys like Lucas and Cross as "lean". Because relatively, next to football players, that's what they seem like. And of course they're muscled up too. But that's a lot of weight to carry, especially doing football drills.
Thanks for this. I had no idea that linemen were retiring early at this rate, or that their health concerns were this acute.
Looking at the draft, taking a tackle who can slide into the guard position could make a lot of sense. There are potential snaps available, inside. And with Zabel and this imaginary rookie playing inside, it gives the team lots of flexibility in case of injury at the tackle spot. We only have one Josh Jobe.
That flexibility could allow the team to keep one fewer OL on the 53 without too much risk.
While I think it’s ideal to draft defense this year, drafting OL isn’t unreasonable.
Yeah, we talk so much about the risks of drafting a RB because fans can easily see the bangs and crushes that they take on every carry. But RBs also have the advantage over offensive linemen in being exceptionally more healthy weights. I mean, who is more lean and cut than some NFL running backs?
It's amazing that Andrew Whitworth played as long as he did. It's estimated that he played the most snaps of any offensive lineman (maybe player) in college history and then he went on to have a 16-year NFL career with few health issues to speak of. He seems OK, but I wonder if he would say he's going through it.
Trent Williams is sticking with it in his late 30s.
But many guys are saying that it's not worth it. Dalman, Ragnow, and Marpet turned down 10s of millions in earnings. That must be quite the pain!
The undiagnosed concussion thing also surprised me.
Years ago, I spoke with Ronnie Lott and I asked him about the (then new) rule against ball carriers lowering their helmets. He downplayed the violence in the trenches, where the shorter distance doesn’t allow much speed before collision. (He then pointed out a guy across the room as an example target. In that moment, I understood why players feared going up against Lott.)
But maybe the close quarters argument ignores the volume of hits. Let’s say 99% are fine, but that 1% of hard hits to the helmet would mean a potential concussion every other game. That adds up. The close quarters thing also ignores blitzers running at the line at full speed.
Just because most trench plays don’t bring hard hits to the head, it doesn’t mean that it never happens. And since linemen move slowly after plays, I can understand that we wouldn’t necessarily notice if they were dazed.
I hadn’t considered this at all before your article. Thanks!