Had me worried when you start a post discussing the OL with saying "It is a pretty thin line".
Oops. I hope that wasn't a Freudian slip. I'm also glad you read further past my poor choice of words.
With full acknowledgement that my hopes for this team in 2024 may not match reality, I also feel about as confident as I ever have about the team. Going into the 1997 was probably the last time that I felt this way.
There's always good reason to be optimistic, when you see how well they've addressed their on-field problems. I have high hopes too. I see them making the playoffs at this point, but how well they'll do depends on how well certain pieces fit into place, and how the whole defense gels.
Interesting about that because I have been thinking that this team feels very much like our 2009 team in many ways. The parallels are there.
I agree with you on the defense. We had talent and we added more but the most exciting addition IMO was Hafley. How many times in the past couple of years did we say with all these first round picks we should be better than we are. Well, we've still got them and now it looks like we might finally have a guy who can do something with them.
Expectations are very, very high for this defense - for this team. The offense is probably good enough to win a lot of games. Campionships are almost always won by the better defense, or lost by the weaker defense. That was certainly the deciding factor in the Niners loss, the inability to stop the Niners from driving and scoring a TD. Well that and a missed chip shot and an unnecessary INT to end it. But hey......
Totally agree. I don’t think Myers is this bad. I’d agree he might have not lived up to 2nd Round grade but would he be terrible had he been drafted in Round4? No.
Yes! I think we have several players who may become better centers, but someone learning the position AND developing chemistry with rest of OL and Love? Myer is our best bet for 2024. After that? No.
I agree with all of this. And Old School makes the point that Myers has experience, including one season with Love. It gives Monk a chance to learn as well without being tossed into the expectations of a very good season, or else. He'll get snaps and be part of all that, but he doesn't have to be that guy yet, if he ever is. And communications can't be over emphasized, and Myers gets that. The rest of the line looks to be very talented.
I didn't realize the Packers only lost one game that year and Rodgers only threw one interception.
Interesting. Maybe that's a plan if Myers misses time. Rhyan seems like a pretty versatile guy. Gluten has drafted well in terms of talent at a position, and the ability of the OL guys to play multiple positions. Although ideally, the OL should be set by game 1 with little change until the inevitable injury. And for that there is depth.
The beautiful point about this collection of linemen is the flexibility. Knowing you can have emergency plans available makes them formidable.
Yes. Another thought would be to let Myers compete where he was a standout in HS. His position? Guard
I keep coming back to the fact that many people were pretty high on Meyers at center before his injury and even in 2022. So much so that some were saying we wouldn't miss Linsley. Now for whatever reason so many people are really down on him after a down 2023. I guess recency bias tends to make us forget what guys did before last season (Josh Jacobs anyone) but IMO having a guy like Meyers at least competing for the starting center and maybe the top backup is not really a bad thing. Now if there is anything to the idea that he could play guard that makes him even more valuable. The bottom line for me is we have had much worse players than Josh Meyers make our 53 man roster over the past several years. If he doesn't make the cut this year so be it but I think that just means we have a pretty damn deep O line.
Good points by you and Old School. I was part of comments dissing Myers ability, and I over did it. As for recency bias (although it's not so recent), Linsley really was very good, and Myers was picked ahead of Creed Humphrey who I'd argue is a better center. So there are some sour grapes that we lost a v good C, made the wrong draft choice, and now we have an average to above average C. What else is new? It's not a perfect process. But it's fair to say that Myers has held his own.
Cute Schultz!
Well they practice between PS games as well. The season is a long one, and injury prevention is probably the reason they don't start camp earlier. Even so, I think college players practice more.
No kidding. It's certainly come a long way from 50, 60 years ago, when training camp ran 6 or 7 weeks, or even a little longer - and they had 6 preseason games every year. By the time the season started, the teams were hitting on all cylinders right from Week One. Nowadays, the first few games of the seasonn are almost like an extensiopn of the preseason as far as the learning curve is concerned for younger players.
