I think it's clear the OL needs reinforcements

[XxSpearheadxX]

terpskins why did you say the Big Mike Williams experiment was over before it started? One sprained knee and 50 plus pounds lost in a few months seems par for the course when a big fatty comes back to the NFL.

I have a really really good feeling about BMW, he's not a chump just was a lazy big fatty.

[IbleedBnG83]

The other Jon...Runyun

[IbleedBnG83]

I have a really really good feeling about BMW, he's not a chump just was a lazy big fatty.

Hope your mind is not set. There have been nothing but negative reports about BMW.

[Justsomeguy]

I would love some depth and while I don't think that we will be awful I think we should sign either Kendall or Jones or Runyan. Hell maybe sign 2 of them.

[Stormy]

Given the years of neglect, the astute move would have been to bring in several short-term stopgaps at OT/OG, and then to devote the entirety of the early rounds of the 2010 draft (1st and 3rd) to seriously upgrading this vapid OL unit. The other units have been addressed in excess, it's time for the OL to finally be totally revamped in 2010. Hopefully, 2 top picks at OT/OG and a trade or FA move for a young OC.

In the interim, grab a Runyan, Brown etc... to fill the void, or this otherwise promising season may be ruined by an OL that can neither impose the run, or protect even short drops in the passing game.

[DCDiesel44]

I always said that were good with Rinehart, Heyer, Williams, and Bridges as our primary guys that can step in but I'm starting to agree with a lot of people when they say we need more depth. I'm content with our starting offensive line but it seems like the 2nd unit is pretty sloppy. Yeah our defense is sweet but we can't give that excuse when we face the Giants d-line. I wouldn't be opposed to signing a guy like Runyan or Jones as long as the contract is reasonable.

[Chicken Fried]

I think we need to relax...at least at this point. Our guys are down with minor injuries and will be back pretty soon. If they're not, then we should start looking for other options.

[Chump Bailey]

Let's not be hasty now. We should at least wait until Thursday night and see if Ngata will push Rabach back into JC like he's wearing roller blades and Suggs school whomever he is in front of before making such assumptions. I think it's going to be ugly, but perhaps it won't be as bad as I envision.

[slappy434]

The fact that Buges is aggravated about everybody being worried about the right side of the O-line is a problem in itself IMO.

Buges is coming on camera acting like there is no problem with the line when everyone else who has any interest in the Redskins at all can plainly see that there most definately is.

If Buges' agenda is to blow sunshine up our (fans) asses, he really needs to prioritize.

Good god that was well said.:notworthy

Maybe Bugel has gotten "potential" and "actual" a bit confused upstairs?:whoknows:

[NoCalMike]

How hurt is Heyer? Is he injured or just banged up? I see a lot of threads mention Heyer being hurt but I must have missed the actually injury report...can someone clue me in here?

[PapaDRoc]

How hurt is Heyer? Is he injured or just banged up? I see a lot of threads mention Heyer being hurt but I must have missed the actually injury report...can someone clue me in here?

From everything I have read, it sounds like Heyer is just a little nicked. He has missed a few practices but has been practicing in full pads for the past day or so. His injuries are nothing major, its just a bit of a red flag to be seeing these minor injuries coming up before the season has even started.

[GhostofSparta]

From everything I have read, it sounds like Heyer is just a little nicked. He has missed a few practices but has been practicing in full pads for the past day or so. His injuries are nothing major, its just a bit of a red flag to be seeing these minor injuries coming up before the season has even started.

I played a lot of offensive line growing up (every position along the line, including defense). Those guys take the brunt of beatings in practice. For the first week minor injuries don't worry me....these guys have to get back in playing shape after months off after all. Major injuries are different, but minor dings will work themselves out over the next month.

[CounterTrey]

I am glad we play the ravens followed by the steelers and the patriot becuase it will expose our O-line as suspect...Unfortunately I hope neither of our QB's gets killed during these 3 games. I am not against signing Kendal, Jones or Runyan.

I went to a few practices and Rienhart and clark are pretty much useless and I don't expect much out of heyer or Thomas this season. We need o-line help asap and what we need our guys that can help us till next offseason where we need 2-3 new lineman....its as simple as that!

[redskins55]

Our o-line strikes fear into noone right now!! Washington is hog heaven its a slap in the face that vinny and snyder neglected this positon

[Adam291]

Good god that was well said.:notworthy

Maybe Bugel has gotten "potential" and "actual" a bit confused upstairs?:whoknows:

I like Buges, but he sometimes sounds more like Larry Michael than a coach. The unending loyalty and optimism is nice at first, but it doesn't help the team when it's undeserved. He reminds me a bit of the coach from Any Given Sunday, a tough and gritty guy who got a little soft in making tough decisions.

[A Skinhead in Saints Land]

How hurt is Heyer? Is he injured or just banged up? I see a lot of threads mention Heyer being hurt but I must have missed the actually injury report...can someone clue me in here?

You're better off just assuming that Heyer is always hurt, because he is. To mirror what a lot of you have said we HAVE to sign Runyan or Jones as a stop-gap, and draft o-line early. If we don't do this then our defense is going to have to score a ****load of touchdowns.

[Wyvern]

I don't understand the reluctance to sign a bona-fide RT, instead of trying all these experiments. Why are we trying to make a Guard into an RT? Is this Todd Wade in reverse.

Mike Williams is a nice story, but he's still a project in development. The others also seem to be less than stellar, and going through learning curves.

We need a tried-and-true veteran RT, who we can plug into the offensive line schemes now, while the offesive line is starting to gel into a unit. After all, we've already got a lot of other experiments/evaluations at QB, RB, and the receiving corps; we can't really tell what we've got with those folks, if our O-line doesn't give them the opportunity to show what they've got.

[rubynj]

Everyone calm down...Joe Bugel and the rest of the front office said were fine on the offensive line.

[TheLongshot]

Our o-line strikes fear into noone right now!! Washington is hog heaven its a slap in the face that vinny and snyder neglected this positon

I don't know. I think it is inspiring a lot of fear in the fan base.

I don't understand the reluctance to sign a bona-fide RT, instead of trying all these experiments. Why are we trying to make a Guard into an RT? Is this Todd Wade in reverse.

Who? Bridges? He's played RT before...

Mike Williams is a nice story, but he's still a project in development. The others also seem to be less than stellar, and going through learning curves.

There are always learning curves when you add new linemen. For goodness sakes, we haven't even hit the first preseason game and people want to hit the panic button.

We need a tried-and-true veteran RT, who we can plug into the offensive line schemes now, while the offesive line is starting to gel into a unit. After all, we've already got a lot of other experiments/evaluations at QB, RB, and the receiving corps; we can't really tell what we've got with those folks, if our O-line doesn't give them the opportunity to show what they've got.

I guess in your mind we should have kept Jansen around.

At some point, you do have to cut the cord and move on. Heyer is in his third year. It is time to figure out if he can handle the load. If not, Bridges is a veteran who has started at guard and tackle and probably would at least be decent.

Yes, Mike Williams is a project of sorts, but one that could pay off big if he's able to put it all together. Considering how far he's come so far, I wouldn't bet against him.

I think this is ironic. People complain about age and needing to get younger, but when that young player doesn't instantly become a lock where he is, the fans suddenly get very nervous and want that veteran as a security blanket. But, that doesn't solve the problem, it just pushes it off for another year or two, then we are back to where we were before.

[chaught76]

At this stage, why shouldn't the defense be dominating the offense. They are pretty much teeing off on them every down.

Would you all rather hear our offense is just blowing the doors off our defense and they can't stop anyone?

The line will be fine in my opinion. No doubt, it could stand to get a youth/talent injection, but I am surprised how quickly everyone jumped on the let's get a vet bandwagon, especially since we haven't even played our first pre-season game yet.

Just my :2cents: though.

HTTR!!!

[Skinsinparadise]

The fact that Buges is aggravated about everybody being worried about the right side of the O-line is a problem in itself IMO.

Buges is coming on camera acting like there is no problem with the line when everyone else who has any interest in the Redskins at all can plainly see that there most definately is.

If Buges' agenda is to blow sunshine up our (fans) asses, he really needs to prioritize.

Yeah I recall one press story say that if you leave it to Buges every lineman he has on the team is a hall famer. He is depicited by some as an optimist by nature and a big cheerleader for the veteran O line players on the team.

Clearly, he is a stud coach. But I wonder is he too much the optimist/cheerleader? That's why I take his concerns about Randy Thomas seriously, its not like him to outwardly voice concerns so I am gethering it must be serious.

He arguably hasn't really developed any young lineman on the team into marquee players. Back in the 80s, he would do magic with young undrafted lineman like Joe Jacoby. Wonder if he's lost a little of that magic. I am not saying he did, just saying I don't know.

[Skinz4Life12]

I'm not one to hit the panic button, but seriously our O-line is in shambles. Hitting the panic button when it comes to the o-line is more than acceptable right now IMO.

the way things are with the line right now, we aren't even giving any of our other offensive players a chance to go out and perform.

[IbleedBnG83]

I am seriously fearfull of our OL. It seems WORSE than last year.

Lets see:

Samuels is coming off an injury and is another year older at 32

Derrick Docker is the ONLY upgrade and adds SOME youth

Casey Rabach is an undersized center who seemed to be regressign but stepped up when it was too late during the last stretch of the season.

Randy Thomas is older and injured. IMO, he didn't do well at all last year. He has lingering injuries which can only hamper him. Chad Rinehart seems more ready to play, but that isn't saying much considering he didn't sniff the field last year.

Bridges seems like a nice upgrade but is injured.

Heyer is not a legitimate starting RT in the league and is hurt.

BMW is untested and has not had good reports in camp.

We have to face the Ravens soon, it won't be pretty.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I am glad we play the ravens followed by the steelers and the patriot becuase it will expose our O-line as suspect...Unfortunately I hope neither of our QB's gets killed during these 3 games. I am not against signing Kendal, Jones or Runyan.

I like that our preseason schedule is so brutal too...but moreso because it will flush out problems to work on while painting a worst-case scenario. We won't face a D like Baltimore or Pittsburgh all season. NY and Philly are always tough and Dallas is pretty good, but nothing like those two teams. So, if we can just "hold up" during these first two preseason games, it should get easier.

I'm not against any OL signing, but I'm also not giving up on the youth we have as OL depth. I think we need to really figure out what we have before we go and cut a bunch of young guys for 2-3 30+ linemen. Because, though making us more competitive today, it will make the OL rebuild even tougher moving forward since we'll have 5 or 6 guys that need eventual replacement instead of 3 (Samuels, Rabach, Thomas). Just a thought.

Ideally, a couple of the pups will pan out (and we may only have to add one of the available FAs) giving us a future of Dockery, Heyer, and 2 others. Then, we can add a OT or 2 in the draft and really go from there. At that point, we're not crippling ourselves if we need to fill in a gap with a vet.

[Wyvern]

I will disagree with Longshot on several things:

1. It was incorrect to assume I want Jansen re-signed. I think Jansen's injuries caught up with him and he no longer has what we'll need at RT. And I don't see him coming back.

2. If I recall, Bridges was mainly a reserve Guard. Now we may be able to convert him to a RT, but that remains to be seen. My point is that Wade was an RT who we tried to convert to a Guard and that didn't work so well. Now we're looking at Guards we want to convert to RT? It's an experiment.

3. I was commenting on whether the Redskins needed that many experiments. I felt, at this juncture, and with the mix of linemen we do have, we need to consider looking for an NFL-established RT instead of another experiment. We need to evaluate our QBs, running game, and receiving corps. An established line would help us do that.

4. Third year or not, I don't consider Heyer as having established himself yet. Moreover, it remains to be seen how injury-free he can remain during the season, if we do decide to award him the starting RT position. Being candid, I was never on the Heyer bandwagon, I didn't like what I saw of him in the games he played. I truly hope he steps up his game, but have not been convinced he'll become the answer at RT. (Yes, I know I'm not the coach, this is a fan's opinion.)

5. I'm not opposed to the youth movement. I had hoped we'd draft an OT. While Barnes may turn into a gem, I felt we needed to look for someone who Bugel might have been able to coach up, as an alternative to Heyer. Since we didn't -- I don't see why we don't look around for a one-year rent-a-tackle, if one can be found for a reasonable deal.

6. Maybe Mike William will make it. I would be over-joyed if that happened. But frankly, it's another experiment.

7. I understand that it's early. Maybe Bugel can work his magic. I hope so. However, I was suggesting that Bugel might have been able to do even better with players who already were developed/established for the positions/roles they had to play.

Thanks for the discussion.