StumpHunter wrote: ↑Wed Oct 17, 2018 7:51 am
At this point you have to ask the question, is Rick capable for building a good Oline?
Lets take a look:
2008: John Sullivan, 6th (hit)
2009: Phil Loadholt, 2nd (hit)
2010: Chris DeGeare, 5th (miss)
2011: Demarcus Love, 6th (miss)
2011: Brandon Fusco, 6th (hit?)
2012: Matt Kalil, 1st (miss)
2013: Jeff Baca, 6th (miss)
2013: Travis Bond, 7th (miss)
2014: David Yankey, 5th (miss)
2015: TJ Clemmings, 4th (miss)
2015: Tyrus Thompson, 6th (miss)
2015: Austin Shepherd, 6th (miss)
2016: Willie Beavers, 4th (miss)
2017: Pat Elflein, 3rd (hit)
2017: Danny Isidora, 5th (TBD)
A couple takeaways for me. First, it's clear there's not a lot of draft capital going in the OL and more of a late round shotgun approach, which hasn't really worked. Kalil was the only 1st rounder in Spielman's tenure and while he was a bust, everyone else around where he was taken was a bust too so hard to put this one on Rick. On the rare occasion where he does draft a lineman high (Elflein, Loadholt) they were decent picks.
So is he capable of building an OL? Maybe. But it hasn't been a priority. The roster has been filled with a bunch of 5th/6th rounders that haven't panned out. And some brutally bad 4th round picks in Beavers & Clemmings. With Elf last year and O'Neill this year, perhaps Rick is realizing his prior approach isn't working. We'll see, but what's clear is a decade of neglect has left us where we are. Spielman has built himself a solid roster but if he does have an area of improvement, it's clearly OL.
Granted this doesn't take into account free agents but his philosophy has always been "build through the draft" and it's evident where his priorities are.