Big Blue Huddle

Charles Cross has been best of the three but he has been I think average at best.

Quote from: MightyGiants on August 05, 2024, 01:49:20 PMIf there was a prize for the best agent, Neal's agent should win it.  They posted a video of Neal jumping up on some boxes, and that led every team to believe Neal was this freak athlete, a big man when in reality, he is a below-average athlete with poor balance.

No doubt Neal would have tanked the Combine had he participated.

Neal was considered the top player in the draft at various points during the college season. He was an elite college tackle at a major program with crazy size. It's possible that he knew working out would expose him but, by draft time, he was pretty much a lock to go early. That said, would have been interesting to see the impact of a bad combine on such a highly rated prospect.

Quote from: Philosophers on August 06, 2024, 08:56:33 AMCharles Cross has been best of the three but he has been I think average at best.

This may be the most scathing analysis of them all.

What does it say about that 2022 draft of offensive linemen?

What assumptions can be ascertained by using the lessons learned from 2022 and future drafts when picking offensive linemen in the top 10?

Do these lessons correlate with those of previous drafts?

Or, is it really just as much luck as flipping a coin and hoping it lands on heads (or tails)?

An even deeper thought, are offensive linemen not reliable anymore to be taken in the top 10 of the NFL draft? How about top 20? Top 50?

Clearly, there's an element of risk that is the player, an element that is the team and its offense, and its offensive line coach. But obviously we've learned through Neal there was body mechanics issues which put him at a greater risk for injury at this level of the game. He may need time to heal, strengthen his physically weak areas, if that's even possible, and figure out how to get on the field and compete. That's a lot to accomplish when the season is about to get underway.

But back to Schoen, as many have suggested, he could have taken any of the three and there would have been no guarantee any of them would have worked out; though you would hope the others wouldn't have been injured to the extent Neal has been.

Peace!

Quote from: AYM on August 06, 2024, 06:53:20 AMYeah, I think in the future, any lineman that refuses agility drills should just be taken off the board.

Neal would've been a 5th round pick if he had done those drills.

Or at least bring him in for one of the 30 visits and work him hard at agility drills.