Here was the O-line depth chart from OTAs:
LT: Moore
LG: Dotson … Green
C: Cole
RG: Daniels … Green
RT: Chukks
Here was the O-line depth chart from OTAs:
LT: Moore
LG: Dotson … Green
C: Cole
RG: Daniels … Green
RT: Chukks
Uggghhhhh......I get it. It needed to be done. BUT....that Green pick just looks worse and worse. I was super-duper excited about the athletic potential of Green but, he just isn't ready to play in the NFL. Like at all. His best move was falling down.
Honestly....I just don't like that line at all. Hopefully, "Not Adrian Klemm" can get it all cleaned up.
Remember, a year ago when Klemm gave fanboy quotes about toughness and violence and everyone was all pumped up about the return to dominance and physicality by the Steelers line? Then, the season started and they got worked over and over again?
Maybe this year will be the opposite? Pessimism and skepticism all off-season and then the season opens and these guys maul people?
Yikes…Originally Posted by teegre
Willing to give him another year to prove himself, I was just hoping in his sophomore season he'd put on his man muscles and maybe just wasn't physically ready in year 1
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Moore, Dotson, Daniels, and Chukks should be solid. The question mark is still at Center I think, but Cole does at least have experience starting in the NFL.
Jordan Tucker is an interesting rookie Tackle to keep an eye on as well.
Depends on what your definition of solid is…
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In comparison to last year anything greater than paper mache would seem like Fort Knox. lol
Maybe with all that athletic ability they can move him to FB so we can carry 3 on the roster.
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Better than bad, not as good as great.
Moore, Dotson, and Chukks now have time playing together. That can only be a good thing moving forward. I personally like James Daniels as an OL and think he will be good for us. I don't know Mason Cole, he could be the best of the bunch but still a question for me.
Nothing more complicated than that.
Absolutely.
I'm not saying that the guy will never be a starting center or maybe even a pretty good one. Just that it wasn't the right pick. They were way off in their belief that Green could play right away.
Looks like his best path back to the starting 5 is to master the BJ Finney back-up all the interior spots role.
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On paper - Daniels is the best OL. That is hard to get excited about. Cole, Moore, Dotson, and Chukks all have to prove they are anything but league average players.
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I really wanted a high draft pick rookie OT this year. BUT...I was willing to continue with Dan Moore at LT and take a RT in one of the early rounds. I like what we saw from Moore his rookie season.
Kevin Dotson had an injury plagued 2021 with a high ankle sprain. But in 2020 the man was a beast. That is what I expect him to be in2022.
I don't know Mason Cole. From what I read he actually out-played Bradbury for the Vikings, for what that's worth. The guy has 60 games as an NFL OC with 39 starts. Easily my favorite Center on the roster, and I don't know the man.
I feel James Daniels and Myles Jack could turn into the 2 best FA acquisitions since maybe Hartings and Farrior. Maybe.
You have a valid argument against Chukks. I'm not saying he can't do the job, I only wonder why that position wasn't upgraded through the draft. This is Chuks money year so maybe he can show something he hasn't yet. OR maybe Jordan Tucker is the upgrade if Chuks can't deliver?
I will be brief.
Moore struggles against good pass rushers. He’s going to see several of them each year. I don’t think he will hold up. I think his outlook was buoyed by Ben getting the ball out in a nanosecond.
Dotson looked just lost at times. He also seems to fall down often. I like his attitude but his 2021 play was worse than his rookie year.
For cole, I’m relying on things such as this https://steelersdepot.com/2022/03/fi...in-mason-cole/ that indicate he’s totally fine. But also only just fine.
Daniels seems to be an actual legitimate above average interior OL. He’s exciting.
Chukks is Chukks. I’m not sure how he goes from getting beat out for the RT spot by Banner to a big(ish) $$$ contract based on his 2021 play.
All this being said, what the hell do I know? Maybe it was scheme. Maybe it was injuries. Maybe it was phases of the moon. But that was a bad 2021 line with not a ton of upgrades. I’m cautiously skeptical.
Arthur Moats says kevin dotson has under went a body transformation and is a night and day difference. he speculated that his lack of conditioning last year may have gotten him in the dog house with tomlin last season. he doesnt expect Green to be a threat to take the left guard spot from him.
also i saw TJ watt mentioned he noticed kendrick green has upgraded physically.
Moats also said Najee looked super buff and actually looked quicker and faster despite adding bulk.
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Watch Daniels on the move. Just fun stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmOE7Qkmpg
LT: Moore 2021 < Moore 2022
LG: Dotson 2021 (injured) < Dotson 2022
C: Green < Cole
RG: Turner << Daniels
RT: Chukks 2021 = < Chukks 2022
Overall better O line this year than last. Cole according to Viking sources was a good lineman that they would've preferred to keep, starting some games at center and guard. He's an upgrade over Green and probably JC also. Moore should be improved from last year, as will Chukks (maybe to a lesser extent). The biggest upgrade should be a up and coming Daniels over an over the hill Turner. If we were near the bottom last year we should be middle of the pack at least in 22 (?)
Dan Moore could become a very good Tackle .... 5 penalties in 2021 for Moore (chuks 15 ) ... put in perhaps the toughest spot to start as a rookie ( unless a premier pick is used ) while he didn't sparkle he did shine from time to time .... he took 1080 snaps at LT as a rookie 4th round pick while the stats didn't wow you his lack of mental errors should for a kid not expected to play much if at all forced into a starter roll at a difficult position protecting a QBs blind side that had almost no mobility left vs some of the premier pass rushers in the league ... while he may not have shined he didn't get his QB killed either ... he should be better and much more prepared in year 2
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles problem now
Yeah, I think Moore could have been better served by starting out at RT and then moving to LT this season. He has some lazy pass sets at times and I think that is why he got beat off the edge and had some bad stretches in pass protection. He likes to run block and is generally good at it.
I honestly think Chuks is a better pass protector and worse run blocker than Moore Jr. That would make him more suited to LT, but I have to hope that both improve their game this year. Maybe next year the Steelers use a draft pick on an OT.
I feel James Daniels and Myles Jack could turn into the 2 best FA acquisitions since maybe Hartings and Farrior. Maybe.
If they approach that level, it will be awesome! Possibly 2 best Steeler signs ever
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Merry Christmas
James Daniels is very good. As NCSteeler just said: it’s akin to when we signed Jeff Hartings. As in: most don’t know who he is/was, but in a few years we’ll be like: “How did we sign that guy???”
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I will have optimism and hope for now until the season starts and weaknesses reveal themselves. I am still hopeful Green will be a solid player for us.
just a heads up. be prepared to be disappointed by mason cole. very well may be Sean mahan 2.0
Bro………….that scheeves me out and makes my skin crawl.
…..and you’re basing this on what?
The notion that anything is possible.
Mason Cole started some 30 games for the Cardinals, then was traded for a 6th round pick in the last year of his contract to the Vikings. Cole was that veteran depth (at only age 25) on the interior line and started 4 games at Center, 3 games at RG until an elbow injury put him on IR for the season. He will be dependable and position flexible along the line, but not a pro bowl level player.
viking fans. im not predicting he will be terrible , just saying keep your expectations in check.
read the comments. the vikings have a former 1st round turd bust at center. garret bradbury. cole replaced him when he got injured. the vikings chose to keep the turd over cole.
https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesotavi...s_as_bradbury/
They are both bad, they have allowed the same pressure rate, Mason Cole has been a bad pass protector for 4 years. If they stick with Cole, that's fine. If they don't, that's also fine. They should probably go back to the drawing board at center this offseason either way.I agree either way we need a new center. Let’s just get a big fucking behemoth in there who will do the pushing around. I think the rest of O-line is solved for now, but that can change fast with an injury.I'm not suprised to see big Linval Joseph pushing him back. That's a guy who normally takes on double teams.
It is however nice to see that he wasn't thrown to the side and always stays infront of his guy.
He definitely isn't the answer at center and I don't think he's much better than Bradbury. But I rather him than Bradbury right now. Kirk should be able to call protections to help him out.
People who think that Cole is an upgrade over Bradbury are the same who think Zimmer suddenly figured out that in order to run the ball you have to have a passing attack. (hint: He didn't)
Cole has consistently gotten blown up, picked the wrong blocking schema, and let people come untouched into the backfield. Plus he is not the same level run blocker as Bradbury.
He's not a pro-bowler but he's solid - better than what we have (Green, JC).....i'm going by Vikings feedback also....
https://vikingsterritory.com/2021/ge...uddenly-a-stud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRivEYTyDm4
Sean Mahan was back in the Backyard Ben Arians Offense. The Arians Offense will make any Offensive Line look terrible. 15 yard routes for days. No Fullback. Run the back into stacked 8 man fronts and hope for the best. The same offense that got Andrew Luck murdered in Indy.
Unless Mitch Trubisky is Ben 2.0 and Bruce Arians is back at OC or Canada is a clone of him, I highly doubt Mason Cole and this O-Line will be that bad.
the vikings declined the 5th year option for bradbury. he is basically our devin bush. why would they let the better player walk considering he was relatively cheap for a starter and not having a solid plan B ? they didnt draft a center and only signed a bronco's practice squad player with 7 career starts in 3 years and signed a UDFA. so they have 3 turds on the roster and let the good one walk ? lol
i think i'll remain cautiously optimistic.
Sean Mahan was bad no matter how you look at it. He was bad in Tampa.
apparently the steelers saw it the same way as most fans. despite a 5 year contract , he was kicked to the curb after that one dreadful season. his career consisted of just 4 more starts in 2 more seasons with tampa then he was out of the NFL.
i like to go back and look to see what happened to players i felt the steelers kept around for too long. to me it validates my opinion that they were a waste of a roster spot and cap space when that player cant catch on to another team after the steelers finally get rid of them. it removes doubt that maybe it was just the wrong system or lack of opportunity. for example Dan McCullers. the steelers signed his checks for 5 years. he got a helmet for 3 games with chicago and then out of the NFL.
why did it take the steelers 5 years to come to the conclusion that big dan just didnt have it and chicago saw it in 1 ?
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