The All Things Offensive Line Thread

[method man]

This is hard to argue. There's a tiny part of me that thinks Peters' ego wrapped up in this. He got so much pushback for cutting Biadasz that he wanted Allegretti to be the starter and wasn't willing to hedge his bets. I don't know if it went so far as he was unwilling to sign another quality center to have an honest competition with because they did make an honest effort to get Linderbaum, but I think L might have been a different case since the league agreed he was "elite."

Glad as I am to get Williams and awful as our WR room seemed there was a part of me really pulling for us to get a center in the third round. In any case, I knew the third round was going to be a "needs" pick.

Silly avoidable mistakes like this is why Peters is at the bottom of the local GM rankings for me. The single thing that has salvaged his GM career is the Bears not taking Jayden. He would’ve taken McCarthy and we’d be in Raiders territory

I see some genius in the things the Wiz and Nats front offices do that I don’t see with Peters

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Silly avoidable mistakes like this is why Peters is at the bottom of the local GM rankings for me. The single thing that has salvaged his GM career is the Bears not taking Jayden. He would’ve taken McCarthy and we’d be in Raiders territory

I see some genius in the things the Wiz and Nats front offices do that I don’t see with Peters

Nah. If the bears took Jayden we would have taken Williams.

There was not a realistic world where we don’t take one of those two.

He liked McCarthy more than Maye apparently, but I’m not really sure I believe those reports. They came during lying season.

 

[method man]

Nah. If the bears took Jayden we would have taken Williams.

There was not a realistic world where we don’t take one of those two.

He liked McCarthy more than Maye apparently, but I’m not really sure I believe those reports. They came during lying season.

I have heard from people in the know that KK thought Caleb was lazy with a questionable work ethic back when they were at USC together. KK obviously gave Peters his opinion

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I have heard from people in the know that KK thought Caleb was lazy with a questionable work ethic back when they were at USC together. KK obviously gave Peters his opinion

Didn't KK try to join Chicago as the OC in 2024 before us.

 

[Conn]

Didn't KK try to join Chicago as the OC in 2024 before us.

They interviewed him and didn’t select him, I believe. Or maybe it was he interviewed for their HC position before Ben Johnson? Don’t remember. I do know we took Kliff out of Oakland’s pocket by being willing to give him a 3-year contract instead of the 2-year they were offering. I’m sure he’s glad of that now, getting offset coordinator salary in 2026 as a glorified consultant in LA

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

They interviewed him and didn’t select him, I believe. Or maybe it was he interviewed for their HC position before Ben Johnson? Don’t remember. I do know we took Kliff out of Oakland’s pocket by being willing to give him a 3-year contract instead of the 2-year they were offering. I’m sure he’s glad of that now, getting offset coordinator salary in 2026 as a glorified consultant in LA

Isn't he still getting his salary from Arizona as Head Coach? I thought he was being paid through 2027...

checking ..
I was right according to Gemini:
Arizona Cardinals will continue to pay Kliff Kingsbury through the 2027 season. When Arizona fired him in January 2023, he was under a guaranteed contract extension that runs through 2027 at approximately $7.5 million per year.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I have heard from people in the know that KK thought Caleb was lazy with a questionable work ethic back when they were at USC together. KK obviously gave Peters his opinion

Sure, but I don't think there was any chance Peters was going to pass on Williams if the Bears took Daniels. Like, none. He even acknowledged they did work on Williams but they knew the Bears were going to take him, so Williams wasn't really in the cards. But if the Bears shocked the world, we would have Williams.

I think this should be the last post on the Offensive Line thread on Kliff and Williams. If we want to continue, let's take it to the History thread or the Random Thoughts thread.

 

[RedWolf]

I have a great amount of fear about our offensive line especially after losing our left tackle. It is very clear that the interior is very weak. How are we going to have balanced offense if we can't run the ball or protect JD?

VERRRRY CONCERNED

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I have a great amount of fear about our offensive line especially after losing our left tackle. It is very clear that the interior is very weak. How are we going to have balanced offense if we can't run the ball or protect JD?

VERRRRY CONCERNED

I think Coleman is going to be fine at LT. Somewhere up in this thread, there is a clip with Nick Aldridge and whatshisname British film bread down guy where they show a Coleman block which is just spectacular, very few LTs can make it.

Paul will be serviceable at LG.

They have to figure out center.

Everything might be fine if Allegretti comes back and stays healthy.

If not, they have huge problems.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I think Coleman is going to be fine at LT. Somewhere up in this thread, there is a clip with Nick Aldridge and whatshisname British film bread down guy where they show a Coleman block which is just spectacular, very few LTs can make it.

Paul will be serviceable at LG.

They have to figure out center.

Everything might be fine if Allegretti comes back and stays healthy.

If not, they have huge problems.

I think Paul being serviceable is also a large question mark.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I think Paul being serviceable is also a large question mark.

Eh. He played "fine" last year. I'm going to say "fine" is serviceable.

You're not going to have an all-pro at every position, and he was signed to be a backup. He's playing because Tunsil got hurt.

I can live with that level player as a backup.

I'd be much more concerned if the plan was for him to start. It never was. The plan is Coleman was going to win that job, which he was doing. But they also didn't just want to hand it to Coleman (I agree with that strategy) and there was no harm in having Coleman beat Paul out again. Remember, he beat him out last year too before Coleman got hurt and then couldn't get back on the field.

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

I think if Wylie switched to LG he'd win it. He played ok when Cosmi was out.

 

[RedWolf]

I think we are in real trouble at OL. Some of the current starters are not top grade and our backups are barely serviceable

 

[Faithful Fan]

I thought the offensive line would be okay, but I’m worried now. They looked bad against the Lions.

They only gave up 2 sacks, so that’s okay I guess, but the first one on Jayden was embarrassing, and they had another called back.

The really worrying thing is the run game, which was abysmal, only 35 total rushing yards on 17 attempts for a meager 2.1 yards per carry. They just couldn’t run block at all.

So they were getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage. They also had a few penalties, struggled setting up screens, and generally just looked lost.

 

[NoCalSkins]

I thought the offensive line would be okay, but I’m worried now. They looked bad against the Lions.

They only gave up 2 sacks, so that’s okay I guess, but the first one on Jayden was embarrassing, and they had another called back.

The really worrying thing is the run game, which was abysmal, only 35 total rushing yards on 17 attempts for a meager 2.1 yards per carry. They just couldn’t run block at all.

They also had a few penalties, and generally just looked like they were losing at the line of scrimmage.

The run game/lackthereof due to no push by the O-line has me worried because I think the O-line will be decent enough in pass blocking on downs where a pass isn't a 75% or higher probability but if the inability run block creates 2nd and longs routinely, my worry will set in.

 

[Boone]

I think there should be legit concern that a weak OL is going to sabotage the 2026 season. Jayden has already shown that his play style and frame make him susceptible to injury. Protecting him should've been our #1 priority in the offseason. I know they have made efforts on that front, trading for Tunsil and swinging for the fences (reportedly) for Linderbaum. But our failures to bolster that line and some bad injury luck could put the entire season at risk. It was already a pretty daunting schedule and I think Dallas and NY are improved. I don't know that a subpar OL is something we can fight through. Maybe our defense is greatly improved but the bottom line is that if Jayden goes down, you can't rely on Mariota to stay healthy and we could end up with Greeced Lightning under center.

I would be overpaying in a big trade for a quality center right now. Generally panic moves aren't a good thing, but if we don't shore up this line, the 2026 season may be a real downer.

 

[RFK Lives]

. I don't know that a subpar OL is something we can fight through. Maybe our defense is greatly improved but the bottom line is that if Jayden goes down, you can't rely on Mariota to stay healthy and we could end up with Greeced Lightning under center.

Crying over the state of our offensive line but laughing over this nickname. Props if you came up with that one.

 

[Boone]

Someone here came up with that - wish I could remember who or take credit for it, lol...

 

[Due East]

Wasn't Wylie a guard for the Chiefs Superbowl run the year before we signed him? He at least can push the pile forward.
The spin and circles from the local media are comical, they really are trying to have Peters back. One minute they are saying Peters doesn't Value the position as much as others and mentioning a Belicheck philosophy, the next sentence saying we were in on Tyler Lindenbaum while also completly ignoring one of his very first signings was giving $30Mil to Biadaz.

 

[burgold]

I think there should be legit concern that a weak OL is going to sabotage the 2026 season. Jayden has already shown that his play style and frame make him susceptible to injury. Protecting him should've been our #1 priority in the offseason. I know they have made efforts on that front, trading for Tunsil and swinging for the fences (reportedly) for Linderbaum. But our failures to bolster that line and some bad injury luck could put the entire season at risk. It was already a pretty daunting schedule and I think Dallas and NY are improved. I don't know that a subpar OL is something we can fight through. Maybe our defense is greatly improved but the bottom line is that if Jayden goes down, you can't rely on Mariota to stay healthy and we could end up with Greeced Lightning under center.

I would be overpaying in a big trade for a quality center right now. Generally panic moves aren't a good thing, but if we don't shore up this line, the 2026 season may be a real downer.

I always hate the idea of overpaying, especially if overpaying has long term consequences so I guess it depends on who's available. If we think there's a center available who can be plugged in and be a plus player for 3 years that's worth overpaying. If it's a player that will only get us over the bump for this year I'd rather play the waiting game and see what we can get via waiver wire or regular cuts.

Then again, overpaying might be valid this year if an overpayment at center means our franchise QB is not in jeopardy. If we lose Jayden two years in a row to injury then you have to question if he really can be a franchise QB (even though Burrow seems to be injured significantly almost every year and no one questions his franchise-worthiness.)