Old but Slow wrote:This is not a good draft class for centers and guards. Do not be surprised if they sign a vet at center, and use a mid round to take a guard. Or as an outlying idea (courtesy of Rob Staten) to draft Dewand Jones to play RT and move Lucas to RG. Jones could turn out to be a phenomenon with his unusual size and athleticism. At 6' 8" and 275 pounds he is huge and strong, but he also moves well. And an 89" wing span is unreal. He is tough to get past. At the Senior Bowl practices he was throwing big men around like they were kids. He may be available in the 2d round, as most teams have no idea how. to use a guy this big.
It is hard to be confident that we will see a good solution to our interior line, as the history is not good. There does not seem to be the level of talent historically that we can list. We had a HOF guard once that we let get away, traded away a decent center, and that's about it. I am likely missing someone or two, but the argument stands.
There seems to be a trend to have a big, strong defensive tackle that can overpower centers, and require double teams, and the Seahawks have not responded to that. They seem to want a smaller, more mobile center with a wrestling background. I am not sure that that is the way to go.
I don't have much faith in our FO's ability to develop a good OL. We've just been trying to cobble together a group of players and patch holes for their entire reign.
We have in Lucas a very good RT who played like a veteran his first year. We can expect him to improve this year, so why move him out of his natural position to a spot that he may regress as a player? It just seems like such a waste, but is surely in keeping with what we might do. I believe that if we need a Guard, draft a good LG and move Lewis back to his natural RG position. Maybe someone like Avila if he's still there in the 2nd round, but please let the young players develop properly at the positions they were expected to play and had success at the lower level.