Entering the 2021 season, there are a host of different players on both sides of the line of scrimmage with something to prove, whether being in a contract year, needing to rebound from a bad season, or because they’re playing a critical role towards the success of their team. For this article we’ll focus exclusively on the offensive line to highlight ten players that need to play well to improve their outlook and value for the future. Their level of play will have a significant role in how their teams fare in the 2021 season and beyond.
Which player do you feel most comfortable with this year? A healthy James Daniels is pretty good. I'm confident in Andy Reid putting Orlando Brown Jr. in positions to succeed too.
Hi Brandon, I don't know if you saw Miami OL vs Buffalo. A couple of questions a) have you ever seen someone recover from as poor as a performance as Austin Jackson put up on Sunday to become a good NFL starter? And, b) how do experienced NFL coaches justify going into a season with a blatantly subpar OL with no vet presence, then passing on guys like Sewell and Slater, when you are trying to develop and evaluate a young QB? Because I can't make any sense of it. We invested in 2 deep threats in Waddle and Fuller, but our QBs have to get the ball out immediately to survive. Sorry to rant.
a) Im assuming from what youve said(correct me if Im wrong) that the late hand placement is due to not setting properly. For NFL OL, what dictates the depth of the set in terms of is it almost all just depth of the dropback(3 vs 5 vs 7 steps) most plays or is it also supposed to vary and be adjusted based off what the DL is doing as he gets off? Like adjusting your set a bit in terms of the DLs shoulder/foot alignment as one ex and trying to read that on the fly?
b) When you say feet and hands arent in synch, are you primarily just referring to the timing of the strike being off or is there something else also when looking at how those two work in synch?
c) Last two things here are kind of interconnected. I often wonder about the off hand, so in this case that's Thomas's right hand, is his right hand too late and late to engage with the DL or is what he did with his right largely fine? And then you talk about how poor sets contribute to getting your hands knocked down wondering if you could further elaborate on that a little? This is where the right hand usage also comes into play Im assuming to try to prevent the DL from doing this.
For Bradbury, how much does the below average (to be nice) guard play from the past two seasons play into his middling development? If Ezra makes the leap, how much more likely does that make it that Garrett does too?
I would certainly put Jonah Williams as a top 10 even top 5. He’s already missed 22 of 32 games and while he did show some promise at times last year but overall he hardly has shown much despite being the first OL off the board in the 2019 draft.
Which player do you feel most comfortable with this year? A healthy James Daniels is pretty good. I'm confident in Andy Reid putting Orlando Brown Jr. in positions to succeed too.
Hi Brandon, I don't know if you saw Miami OL vs Buffalo. A couple of questions a) have you ever seen someone recover from as poor as a performance as Austin Jackson put up on Sunday to become a good NFL starter? And, b) how do experienced NFL coaches justify going into a season with a blatantly subpar OL with no vet presence, then passing on guys like Sewell and Slater, when you are trying to develop and evaluate a young QB? Because I can't make any sense of it. We invested in 2 deep threats in Waddle and Fuller, but our QBs have to get the ball out immediately to survive. Sorry to rant.
Good stuff again couple questions that came up through this
1) I saw you tweeted this play out during the wk you linked again here
https://twitter.com/BrandonThornNFL/status/1433110291202691086?s=20
Couple questions from it
a) Im assuming from what youve said(correct me if Im wrong) that the late hand placement is due to not setting properly. For NFL OL, what dictates the depth of the set in terms of is it almost all just depth of the dropback(3 vs 5 vs 7 steps) most plays or is it also supposed to vary and be adjusted based off what the DL is doing as he gets off? Like adjusting your set a bit in terms of the DLs shoulder/foot alignment as one ex and trying to read that on the fly?
b) When you say feet and hands arent in synch, are you primarily just referring to the timing of the strike being off or is there something else also when looking at how those two work in synch?
c) Last two things here are kind of interconnected. I often wonder about the off hand, so in this case that's Thomas's right hand, is his right hand too late and late to engage with the DL or is what he did with his right largely fine? And then you talk about how poor sets contribute to getting your hands knocked down wondering if you could further elaborate on that a little? This is where the right hand usage also comes into play Im assuming to try to prevent the DL from doing this.
Thanks alot again, great stuff!
For Bradbury, how much does the below average (to be nice) guard play from the past two seasons play into his middling development? If Ezra makes the leap, how much more likely does that make it that Garrett does too?
I would certainly put Jonah Williams as a top 10 even top 5. He’s already missed 22 of 32 games and while he did show some promise at times last year but overall he hardly has shown much despite being the first OL off the board in the 2019 draft.