Gibbs and the O-line

[Dallas_Texan]

I've heard a lot of coaches like to send unproven O-linemen to NFL Europe. I've heard from someone that they shut it down (not sure if that's true). If not, would Gibbs still be in favor of sending some of our guys over there to train in the offseason, and if it is shut down, would be have a meeting with them on what he expects them to do during their offseason, or wait until they get back to meet?

[infantrycak]

NFL Europa is dead.

[nero THE zero]

I was listening to 1560 today and Lance said a few things regarding Gibbs and the o-line:
1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

2. Don't expect Weary to be back because he is too slow for the zone scheme.

3. Eric Winston is "a perfect fit" for the zone scheme. Makes me wonder if he could be moved to LT (my speculation not Lance's)

4. Gibbs is *very* adept at finding effective OL and RB in the later rounds. Lance thinks that it is almost a guarantee that we take a LT in the first and a RB in the third (this part was implicit.)

[eriadoc]

LT in the first makes sense from a couple different angles. First, we have had subpar to poor play at LT for years now. Even if you believe that Salaam did an admirable job, he's no spring chicken. And unless Gibbs has a specific later-round prospect in mind, providing him with top talent is never a bad thing. I'm sure Gibbs, Kubiak, and The Better Smith will be analyzing prospects heavily to decide which LT to take.

[STEEL BLUE TEXANS]

I'd love to pick up a running back like Cory Boyd in the 5th round.

[HOU-TEX]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I was listening to 1560 today and Lance said a few things regarding Gibbs and the o-line:
1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

2. Don't expect Weary to be back because he is too slow for the zone scheme.

3. Eric Winston is "a perfect fit" for the zone scheme. Makes me wonder if he could be moved to LT (my speculation not Lance's)

4. Gibbs is *very* adept at finding effective OL and RB in the later rounds. Lance thinks that it is almost a guarantee that we take a LT in the first and a RB in the third (this part was implicit.)

I wouldn't be upset with that at all if there's a LT there for us. I'd expect us to have signed a DB or two via FA if we were to go that route.

LZ made some decent points in his comments to his blog readers too. Here's a partial comment to a reader about CB's. IMO, considering the number of holes we need to attempt to fill in FA, Randall Gay's probably the only one out of the bunch the Texans can truly afford. This is the only season he's been healthy so he should be the cheapest of the bunch.

If the Raiders let Asomugha get away they are total idiots. In free agency, the pecking order for CBs will be 1. Asomugha 2. Trufant 3. Samuel and 4. Gay. I think Gay is the only one the Texans could potentially target and I think Samuel is the only one of the top 3 who ends up gone from their team.

http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootba...1/post_38.html

*Edit* Dadgummit! I didn't mean to ramble off-topic. After posting this I realized how I kinda stumbled out to left field. My apologies.

[Goldensilence]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I was listening to 1560 today and Lance said a few things regarding Gibbs and the o-line:
1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

2. Don't expect Weary to be back because he is too slow for the zone scheme.

3. Eric Winston is "a perfect fit" for the zone scheme. Makes me wonder if he could be moved to LT (my speculation not Lance's)

4. Gibbs is *very* adept at finding effective OL and RB in the later rounds. Lance thinks that it is almost a guarantee that we take a LT in the first and a RB in the third (this part was implicit.)

It's easy to be adept at grooming later round prospects when you have someone good enough ahead of them. We don't have that luxury by far.

As far as RBs are concerned it seems like some people here have amensia concerned as to what type of RB that is. In the Past most of the 1000 rushers churned out of nowhere from Denver generally weren't the speedy flash type. They were simple north/south runner who made one cut and run downhill. I think a guy like Patrick out of OU would fit perfectly with what we're looking for supposedly.

Would love to see a LT this year finally but not going to hold my breath on it. It'd also be nice if Eslinger could emerge as the guy at C. With the tackles in our division we're really going to have to improve the interior oline if we want to finish on top of the division.

[drewmar74]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

Thanks for summarizing what you heard. Being 3 hours away, I rely on you guys to feed my information as it "comes off the presses."

Any idea if his return being doubtful was because of the injury? Because he didn't fit the zbs? Both?

[ChampionTexan]

Missed LZ this morning - did he say Spencer wouldn't be back because he doesn't fit into the scheme, or because of health?

The reason I ask that is that it hasn't been too long ago (a month or less) when he (LZ) said that he was hearing very positive things about Spencer's rehab.

[The1ApplePie]

Gibbs will teach our linemen to be the cheapshot kings that the Broncos are

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by drewmar74

Thanks for summarizing what you heard. Being 3 hours away, I rely on you guys to feed my information as it "comes off the presses."

Any idea if his return being doubtful was because of the injury? Because he didn't fit the zbs? Both?

He said that Spencer's leg isn't rebuilding from the atrophy he experienced. He also said that Spencer is having trouble dropping the weight he gained in his time off. He said Spencer would be a great fit at G in the zb scheme but that his return isn't looking likely (I think his exact words were "don't expect him to return".)

Also a couple of things he also mentioned that I forgot to add:
1. Matt Briesel is a very good fit in the zb scheme. He could be a serious contender for a starting job

2. Gibbs will be working a lot with Little Shanahan and John Benton to groom them just as he did with Kubiak in Denver.

Oh and, you can listen live from their website: http://1560thegame.com/

[Overalls]

The Texans could always trade down a hand full of spots and pick up a 2nd to spend on a RB. Not that I expect it. I thought they might do that the last couple of years. Trade down that is.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I was listening to 1560 today and Lance said a few things regarding Gibbs and the o-line:
1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

2. Don't expect Weary to be back because he is too slow for the zone scheme.

3. Eric Winston is "a perfect fit" for the zone scheme. Makes me wonder if he could be moved to LT (my speculation not Lance's)

4. Gibbs is *very* adept at finding effective OL and RB in the later rounds. Lance thinks that it is almost a guarantee that we take a LT in the first and a RB in the third (this part was implicit.)

I'm always interested in hearing about LZs thoughts on the NFL, especially OLine players because of knowledge and contacts, one of whom is the OLine coach of the Steelers who happens to be his dad.
**
1. I hate to hear that about Spencer
2. The injury Weary sustained further complicates his situation, but him not returning isn't the major disappointment of the LZ report on Spencer.
3. Agreed about Winston, but if #4 is true he obviously remains at RT.
4. Totally agree with these priorities, which also means they would for sure go after a CB, which is as high a priority as the other two, in FA.

[Malloy]

They changed the name from NFL Europe to NFL Europa, then closed it down a few months later. Pretty lame imo...

[aj.]

I'm expecting expanded rosters* coming out of the owners meetings to compensate for lost NFLE exemptions.

* maybe an extra 5 or 6 players from March 1 - Sept 1 kind of thing.

[Insideop]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

I was listening to 1560 today and Lance said a few things regarding Gibbs and the o-line:
1. Don't expect Spencer to be back. He heard from "someone who would know" that it's not looking good for his return.

2. Don't expect Weary to be back because he is too slow for the zone scheme.

3. Eric Winston is "a perfect fit" for the zone scheme. Makes me wonder if he could be moved to LT (my speculation not Lance's)

4. Gibbs is *very* adept at finding effective OL and RB in the later rounds. Lance thinks that it is almost a guarantee that we take a LT in the first and a RB in the third (this part was implicit.)

This whole post is very informative and interesting. Thanks Nero!

Since the hiring of Gibbs yesterday, I've been wondering about what he will do to the O-line and who he will target in the Draft. It's sad to hear about Spencer and Weary, and I know with those leg injuries they will probably lose a step, but it could open the door for guys like Brisiel, Eslinger and Frye. I'm not sure about Studdard. I've always heard he's not very quick.

As for what O-linemen they target in the Draft, I'm sure that will change now that Gibbs is onboard. We are less likely to go for the bigger linemen, unless they have very good footspeed/footwork. Baker would probably fit Gibbs' ZB scheme moreso than Clady, Otah, or Loadholt. Personally, I'm not sold on Baker and would rather go with Otah or Clady, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens and trust in Gibbs/Kubes. JMHO!

[b0ng]

I was always under the assumption that Sam Baker worked in a zone scheme with USC for his 3 years that he's been there.

In all honesty, I'm a little surprised that LZ thinks that the 1st round LT is a lock. 18 spots in the draft is a lot of spots down where a lot of people can already be off the board. I would think that the way Kubiak (And later on Kubiak and Smith) have drafted in the past would pretty much relegate us to a BPA at our spot type of thinking.

If Baker, Long, Clady, and Otah are all gone off the board, but both of the Jenkins (CB's) and Tali, and Phillips are on the board, I'd say we almost have to draft one of those guys.

And all this talk about being able to find O-line talent in the later rounds, and then coming back and saying 1st round LT is a lock, I'm sort of perplexed here.

[ChampionTexan]

From everything I remember hearing and seeing about his days in Denver and Atlanta, Gibbs is not the most patient guy in the world when it comes to learning on the job. If that's true, then I would think that the Texans might be more inclined to steer clear of using a 1st round pick on O-Linemen, and concentrate somewhere else (Another CB would be great in my book).

Hopefully Gibbs has the contacts and the credibility to make the Texans a desirable spot for O-Line Free Agents. For better or worse (really, just for worse), we got several of Sherman's old players down here - anybody out there the Gibbs might be able to convince to sign with an up and coming team?

[Malloy]

Originally Posted by aj.

I'm expecting expanded rosters* coming out of the owners meetings to compensate for lost NFLE exemptions.

* maybe an extra 5 or 6 players from March 1 - Sept 1 kind of thing.

Easy work-around. Good idea!

[threetoedpete]

Originally Posted by STEEL BLUE TEXANS

I'd love to pick up a running back like Cory Boyd in the 5th round.

Agreed. Put a halter on him and get him on the meds, then cut the guy loose.