Vikings Message Board.Com

1. I think the Giants are fooling themselves if they think the pectoral muscle injury suffered by left tackle Will Beatty, which reportedly could keep him out until at least October, won’t have huge ramifications. Beatty had developed himself into a very capable left tackle, and now the Giants are left with either Justin Pugh (who underwhelmed so much at right tackle he had been penciled in at guard ) or Ereck Flowers, the ninth overall pick out of Miami earlier this month. I recently spent the weekend at the Coaches of Offensive Line (COOL) Clinic in Cincinnati, and the reviews on Flowers were not good. “Some of the worst technique I’ve ever seen in a player drafted that high,” said one veteran NFL line coach. “He played for one of the best coaches, Art Kehoe, and his technique was terrible,” said another coach. “That tells me he doesn’t take coaching well. That’s a big problem because all of the recent tackles have struggled making the transition. It now takes them until Year 3. You can thank the spread and the [collective bargaining agreement] for that.”

2. I think the biggest complaint NFL line coaches at the summit had was how they can’t get even talk to their players, especially those who just finished their rookie season, until April under the CBA. They’re not even asking to hit, they just want to teach their guys and watch film. Take the case of Greg Robinson, the No. 2 pick in the 2014 draft by the Rams, who struggled as a rookie and may need more time to be able to play left tackle. “They had four run plays [at Auburn] and one protection: slide left, slide right. He didn’t have a snap count,” says Rams line coach Paul Boudreau, who has coached in the NFL since 1987 with eight teams. “Now, I coached Willie Roaf when Willie was a rookie. Willie’s in the Hall of Fame. And I can tell you from a coach who coached Willie and now coaches Greg Robinson: Greg Robinson as a rookie has more talent and is a better player than Willie. Willie had a great coach at Louisiana Tech, and Willie was ahead of the curve because of the techniques he was taught, just like how we talk about preferring the Wisconsin, Iowa, Stanford and Notre Dame guys. They have one up on the guys from the spread. I’m not going to tell a spread coach he can’t do it anymore. What I’m saying to the NFL is, ‘Give me a chance to change this spread guy to an NFL guy. Don’t restrict me.’ Back in the day, we could take the Wing-T guys and convert them because we had the time. Just give me a chance to coach my guys and don’t tell me I can only have them for four hours.”

fiestavike wrote:Interesting take. Doesn't bode well for guys like Babs, and you can see the challenges for guys like Yankee and Clemmings more clearly with some of what the piece indicates. I think it also explains why so many tackles are moving to guard to start their careers, and perhaps even gives an insight into why the Vikings appear to be pursuing tackles in large numbers. If its going to take 3 years in todays NFL to develop guys to play the position, let them compete for time at guard, which is much less demanding, in years 1 and 2, and then slide out to Tackle if its a possibility in years 3-4.