Continuing with this examination of our various squads, lets look at the other side of the ball. You can't win games unless you score some points.
The foundation for everything on offense is the Offensive Line. We have two great linemen... and none of them are named D'Brick. Moore and Mangold are possibly the best at their position in the league. Moore played DT in college and we converted him to guard. We almost let him walk two years ago. Thank God we didn't do what we usually do by shipping out quality players to other teams. He and Nick are rock solid. Slauson had a respectable season last year and hopefully he will continue to develop. D'Brick is a quality LT, but he is not even top 5 IMHO. As for the RT position, we will see what Mr. Hunter is capable of, and Duccasse is also going to get a look in that spot. Overall I would say we have more than 5 quality O-linemen and 2 of them may be the best around. You can't ask for much more than that as a fan.
Our backfield has been regarded as one of our most solid units. I see a lot of question marks. At what point does LT hit the wall? Who or what is Joe McKnight? Will Greene step up and show he can be a 1200 yard 10 TD guy? The rookie Powell is quite intriguing. NFL.com said the following about him:
"Powell had a breakout season in 2010, and he has vision to excel in a zone blocking scheme at the next level. He possesses a knack for finding a seam and can accelerate on a dime to find daylight. He is very elusive in the open field, as he can idle down and then explode past a defender. He does not have the strength to run over people in the NFL, but he keeps his legs churning and usually falls forward after contact. Powell is a very good one-cut and go back and could be a middle round pick."
He has a powerful running style but their assessment of him need to get bigger to compete in the NFL is dead on. He is 5'11" and 207lbs. By 2013 he will be 225+ and making waves.
Our WR's are wicked bad... on paper or in Madden. But, Plax is 34 and has a faulty ankle tat hasn't healed in the past 20 months, and Mason is 37. Rex is predicting 90 to 100 receptions for Mason. He's simply too old. I love his skill set and he is still fast enough to dominate in the slot, but he has too much milage. If #17, #10 and #85 start all 16 games we are golden. That won't happen. Cotchery was released and everyone was shocked. I wasn't... back on March 11th I predicted he wouldn't be on our team this season... My March 11th Post.
As for the rest of the receivers... we have more interesting young players in camp at that position than we have had in many years. Courtney Smith is a massive 6'5" player out of South Alabama, the young speedster Jeremy Kerley who is 5'9" and about 180lbs, Patrick Turner who is fighting to make the active roster for the second pre-season in a row and finally Scotty McNight who is an old friend of Sanchez. Who will be our #4?
Our TE's are my main squad of concern in 2011. It's very simple... if Keller goes down we have zero depth. Matthew Mullligan has been on the team for 2 years and has one catch for 2 yards. Jeff Cumberland has 1 catch for 3 yards in his storied career. So, one injury and we will be caught with our pants down. TE is such an important position. Mr T has seriously rolled the dice on this one.
Finally our QB's. I have said more than enough about #6. Our back ups are terrible. Brunell is too old even to be a #2 and McElroy is nowhere near NFL ready. I wouldn't even let him run the scout team right now. I would have kept Clemens and paid him like a good back up. I guess it doesn't matter because if Sanchez goes down long term, the season is over anyway.
One final note... after his horrible performance last year we have decided to retain Nick Folk. He has a powerful leg and no heart. This dude cant step up when it matters, he even misses kicks when we have a solid lead in a game. He must be related to Woody Johnson or something.
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