Wharton or Gross?

Thoughts on swapping Wharton to the right side and upgrading at LT?

 

I think most of us agree that would be the ideal scenario.

 

I'd rather just leave Wharton where he is and get a mauler at RT. As noted, except when he plays against elite speed rushers like Abraham (or Rice back in the day), Wharton is fine in pass protection so I don't see why we'd need to switch him. It would be easier to find someone at RT who can blow people off the ball.

 

It would be great to get Long, but there are a lot of good ones that in any other year would go pretty high. Baker, Cherilus, Richardson, Hills and Clady might still be there where we pick.

 

I haven't spent any time evaluating this year's class, but last year when it looked like Long might enter, he looked better to me than Joe Thomas, but Thomas got all the hype for some reason. Long is a really, really impressive tackle and I'd love to get him, but you're right that it's unrealistic and that there are some other guys who might be adequate.

 

Doesn't a mauler go against our plan now that we've gone to zone blocking? Not that I personally wouldn't love to have a guy who can push people off the line.

 

It would if mauler necessarily meant a 350+ pound Mike Williams type, but that's not what I'm referring to. You can be 305 and relatively agile but still have impressive in-line strength.

 

I'm all for it then, the games are won and lost up front for the most part.

I'm afraid that they see Gross as athletic, a hometown product and a team leader and don't think they need to make other arrangements.