Valuing Travelle Wharton

I agree. There is nobody worthwhile out there in the FA market. I'm just thinking a 26 year old with two years starting at LT will gain significant interest.

 

With Wharton on board I'd prefer a T in the second. But if a T we really really like is there in the 1st I wouldn't let the fact that we already signed Wharton stop me from pulling the trigger.

 

Exactly. If, on the other hand, we let Wharton go, and there's a run on OT's, or our pick is a bust, we're in bad shape.

Kinda like our trouble last year trying to find a safety. We can't afford that with our starting Left Tackle.

Plus, if we keep Wharton and our draft pick is strong, we have either depth or trade possibilities.

Interesting thought:

If we have will have close to $20 million without resigning Peppers, we'll have close the $30 million if we find a way to extend him.

 

Do you see the problem in our running game related to Wharton and Gross to any large degree or do you put that else where like our interior linemen, backs or scheme?

 

undoubtedly.

The knee will be a concern, but IMO the concern wasn't as much that he would recover, as much as that I think he can play better than he did in 2007. He was good at sealing outside on contain runs in 2005, but hadn't figured out speed rushers so much at that point.

 

execution, for one, was uneven throughout the year; scheme is sound, but we mixed zone and man, so one might say we could've done too much moving around to gain consistency; Bridges sucked out loud, the tackles didn't block the run especially well, there was a pretty fair dropoff between King and Fauria- King just isn't a good blocker. Wahle generally controlled his man and got him to move sideways more than back, but he had some inconsistency. I didn't get a good feel for Hartwig.

One issue that gets underblown, IMO, is that Foster has no burst anymore but the inside blocking was still good enough most times for him to hit the hole, but Deangelo had issues hitting the hole. Maybe the holes are slow to develop, which could ntoe a discrepancy, or maybe DW wasn't that good at running inside this year since he certainly thrived outside when we blocked well. It doesn't go to say the blocking was 100% but DW faltered, but he didn't always push the inside hole as much as I'd want. Foster could, especially earlier in the year when he was getting reps, but he didn't have enough burst to get it done and relied on simply bulling. Which was nice to see but damn, to have that back when he had some speed?

 

He didn't use to. What happened?

 

I'd tend to agree with what's been speculated here, that Gross will be re-signed for ~$7M a year, and Wharton will be re-signed for ~$4M a year. And considering the market, our current depth, and what I've seen so far of the draft pool, I'm good with that. I don't think either is worth it, but it's better than the alternative.

As far as the draft goes, I'd like to see one of the very decent guard prospects taken in the first 2 rounds. We do need depth at OT, but if we re-sign both Gross and Wharton, I really think we have more pressing needs than to invest a top 3 pick into one.

 

What do you think we could do to fix it this offseason? My infatuation with Flozell Adams was based mostly on the idea that he would be much better in run blocking than either of our current tackles. Maybe that would not make much difference though. IMO we are never going to be a consistently good offense until we can run the ball better.

 

Not much.
I think per the market and the high-end depth of the draft, it's just as well to keep one and draft the other. The possibility of upgrading the line really isn't there at tackle, unless the youth works out, or we went with a tandem of, for instance, Ruben Brown and Adams on one side, but that'd be awfully short term and I'm gonna guess brown's already on the quick end of the decline.

A young guy could show some instant pop, and be cheaper. You know me, I'm almost always against a first round OT, but logically, the only other thing that we could fill well and gain impact better would be if we found a guy in the first who could add instant pass rush.