The All Things Offensive Line Thread

[Darrell Green Fan]

My first thought when I woke up was how angry I am at the Washington Commanders for allowing this OL problem. Signing a team's castoff and expecting him to perform against Jalen Carter etc in 2 weeks is not a plan.

Then I thought of Jayden Daniels and how without a running game and lack of protection he will struggle. The opener will be a blood bath I believe. And fans around the country will laugh at us for taking the wrong QB. All of this pisses me off because I do not believe we took the wrong QB, we just never gave him a chance.

 

[DWinzit]

Fortner was actually a bust in Jacksonville. Disappointment for a 3rd round pick. I think I’d rather have Glasgow than any of these three because of system familiarity and size/anchor

Agreed, Glasgows experience makes him an obvious choice to me as a quick plug and play. I was just responding to the 3 included on the post.

 

[DWinzit]

Keim noted that he thinks Humphries could go sit on practice squad for a bit. There are a bunch of players who could go sit on practice squad without anyone claiming them. On offensive line, it would literally be any lineman sans the starters and Wylie. That is a very clear tell to go add at least two pieces post cutdown day

One thing Logan Paulsen brought up is that Wylie isn't comfortable on the left side....LG or LT. Humphreys is good at LT. Now perhaps it is the team that isn't comfortable with Wylie on the left, I know I am. He is not good at LT.

Whether they hope to Humphries to the PS or not will be interesting to see. We could have some pretty good pieces on the PS this year.

 

[Chris 44]

One thing Logan Paulsen brought up is that Wylie isn't comfortable on the left side....LG or LT. Humphreys is good at LT. Now perhaps it is the team that isn't comfortable with Wylie on the left, I know I am. He is not good at LT.

Whether they hope to Humphries to the PS or not will be interesting to see. We could have some pretty good pieces on the PS this year.

In one of his interviews with Grant and Danny he mentioned that offensive linemen, tackles specifically, after playing a certain side for a while their bodies (hips) change making it more difficult to switch sides. He mentioned Wylie specifically that he is better on the right than the left partially due to this. Id never heard that before, I would assume Logan knows what he's talking about though. Found it interesting.

 

[DWinzit]

In one of his interviews with Grant and Danny he mentioned that offensive linemen, tackles specifically, after playing a certain side for a while their bodies (hips) change making it more difficult to switch sides. He mentioned Wylie specifically that he is better on the right than the left partially due to this. Id never heard that before, I would assume Logan knows what he's talking about though. Found it interesting.

That is very interesting!

I have read and heard numerous times how hard it can be for OLmen to switch positions. So many people think it is simple to have a RT switch to LT or RG, or a RG flip to LG or C. Some players can do that but many others find it very difficult.

Coleman has proven to be good at RT and LT. When they tried moving him to G last year he had a hard time. However this year after being told he would be at LG and practicing the position solely, he was doing very well.

Regarding some of the other players, Gulbin had been receiving only a few plays at C and Good-Jones a few plays at G, then they switched them. That didn't go well but that doesn't mean they won't be better given more experience at those positions.

At the end of the day, I think many of us take too much for granted that OL can all easily switch positions. That is not true for many players.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

In one of his interviews with Grant and Danny he mentioned that offensive linemen, tackles specifically, after playing a certain side for a while their bodies (hips) change making it more difficult to switch sides. He mentioned Wylie specifically that he is better on the right than the left partially due to this. Id never heard that before, I would assume Logan knows what he's talking about though. Found it interesting.

I can totally see that. I played a ton of softball, left or left center. When I played right field it felt like everything was backwards. It was like putting your pants on with the left foot first instead of the right. Try that some time, you may fall on the floor.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I think there's no question SOMEBODY is coming in at center. My guess is by Tuesday.

Wylie, FWIW, is an incredible veteran piece on the OL. He can play 4 spots. You don't want him to start, but he is apparently a good teammate, smart, and versatile.

Something to remember about backups: if they were good enough to be starters, they would be. But they aren't, so they aren't. You're going to have a drop off between a starter and a backup.

What you want in backups is competency and versatility. Wylie has both.

 

[Faithful Fan]

In one of his interviews with Grant and Danny he mentioned that offensive linemen, tackles specifically, after playing a certain side for a while their bodies (hips) change making it more difficult to switch sides. He mentioned Wylie specifically that he is better on the right than the left partially due to this. Id never heard that before, I would assume Logan knows what he's talking about though. Found it interesting.

That makes sense to me, your natural stance is easier than the switch stance in many sports. I wouldn’t expect switching sides of the line to be as hard as switch hitting, but I could certainly see it being difficult.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

In one of his interviews with Grant and Danny he mentioned that offensive linemen, tackles specifically, after playing a certain side for a while their bodies (hips) change making it more difficult to switch sides. He mentioned Wylie specifically that he is better on the right than the left partially due to this. Id never heard that before, I would assume Logan knows what he's talking about though. Found it interesting.

I don't know about their body, but I have heard that switching sides is like learning to write left handed (if you are right handed). Everything is backwards. And you drill so much to get precision on footwork and hand placement on one side, it doesn't easily translate to the other. So you have to re-learn it so it becomes muscle memory on the flip side. It's not common to have somebody who can flip flop easily.

And everybody has a stronger side, even the ones who can play both are more comfortable in one of the two spots.

 

[method man]

I think there's no question SOMEBODY is coming in at center. My guess is by Tuesday.

Wylie, FWIW, is an incredible veteran piece on the OL. He can play 4 spots. You don't want him to start, but he is apparently a good teammate, smart, and versatile.

Something to remember about backups: if they were good enough to be starters, they would be. But they aren't, so they aren't. You're going to have a drop off between a starter and a backup.

What you want in backups is competency and versatility. Wylie has both.

Keim all but said on a recent pod that the hang up with Glasgow is money and role. If he were willing to sign for the vet minimum to come in as a backup, he’d be here.

At the end of the day, money talks. He’s made $48M in his career. An extra mil or two makes a difference for him. He played for $3m in 2022 and 2023. Give him one of those contracts that is $2M with the potential to earn up to $4M/$5M and get him here asap

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Keim all but said on a recent pod that the hang up with Glasgow is money and role. If he were willing to sign for the vet minimum to come in as a backup, he’d be here.

At the end of the day, money talks. He’s made $48M in his career. An extra mil or two makes a difference for him. He played for $3m in 2022 and 2023. Give him one of those contracts that is $2M with the potential to earn up to $4M/$5M and get him here asap

He also said in the same podcast I believe that role was important. And that he probably didn't want to come back and be a backup. And I don't think they wanted somebody to come in and promise them a starting job.

 

[peanut0862]

Listening to DQ and AP today I got the impression that they don't think we have a need at center. I want to say they know more than I do but it's hard

 

[Always Commander Never Captain]

They're really banking on Allegretti not having a recurring injury issue.

In fairness to them, he played in 99% of the snaps in 2024 and 25% of the snaps in 2025 without injury. But it still seems too risky to bank on that continuing when the player has barely practiced all summer.

 

[Boone]

Communication is great. Being a bunch of great guys is... great. When it comes to the play of the OL - show us. I hope they do.

 

[method man]

Why hasn’t Paul been talked about as someone who could move to center? He is highly intelligent and would have a career in tech if he weren’t playing football

 

[Koala]

My first thought when I woke up was how angry I am at the Washington Commanders for allowing this OL problem. Signing a team's castoff and expecting him to perform against Jalen Carter etc in 2 weeks is not a plan.

Then I thought of Jayden Daniels and how without a running game and lack of protection he will struggle. The opener will be a blood bath I believe. And fans around the country will laugh at us for taking the wrong QB. All of this pisses me off because I do not believe we took the wrong QB, we just never gave him a chance.

Going in to TC, Peters had addressed the OL more than adequately. We simply had a devastating injury to the one position you cant have an injury on, to the most important position, and probably the 2nd most important player on this team behind Jayden Daniels.

Its just unfortunate. I cant blame the front office on that. Theres not many teams that can lose their best Olineman in training camp, and not suffer. Theres no real way to make up for that.

Its actually a credit to AP that we have Brandon Coleman who has proven he can be a bandaid at LT. He's no Laramy Tunsil, he's not even good at LT, but he'll do -- which means we had depth at O-line.

If you lose your best Olineman on day 2 of TC for the season, and most of the consternation going in to the season is mostly over the BACKUP CENTER position, I think youve actually done pretty well from a roster standpoint to prepare yourself for catastrophe, because CATASTROPHE DID STRIKE.

 

[Conn]

But Coleman was not simply the backup swing tackle or something, who just had to be pushed into duty now. He’s way worse than Tunsil, goes without saying. But he was supposed to be the starting LG. Now Paul (who they really didn’t think that highly of before he came crawling back without a FA deal) is starting at LG. That’s two downgraded positions with one injury, and all the depth (Paul was supposed to be the LG depth) gets bumped up the chart, one step closer to playing.

Meanwhile, Allegretti may be an adequate C. We don’t know because he hasn’t really done it much, and missed most of training camp. If Allegretti misses time (which has happened very frequently during his career), we’re down to a non-NFL caliber C starting, as it currently stands.

So it goes a little beyond just being overly paranoid about “the backup Center”. It’s good we have a decent backup LT, maybe, but we’re one sprained ankle, or leg getting rolled up on, from being down 3/5 of our intended starting OL. With a murderer’s row of passrushers on deck from the jump.

 

[Koala]

But Coleman was not the backup swing tackle who just has to be pushed into duty now. He’s way worse than Tunsil, goes without saying. But he was also supposed to be the starting LG. Now Paul (who they really didn’t think that highly of before he came crawling back without a FA deal) is starting at LG. That’s two downgraded positions with one injury, and all the depth (Paul was supposed to be the LG depth) gets bumped up the chart, one step closer to playing.

Meanwhile, Allegretti may be an adequate C. We don’t know because he hasn’t really done it much, and missed most of training camp. If Allegretti misses time (which has happened very frequently during his career), we’re down to a non-NFL caliber C starting, as it currently stands.

So it goes a little beyond just being overly paranoid about “the backup Center”. It’s good we have a decent backup LT, maybe, but we’re one sprained ankle, or leg getting rolled up on, from being down 3/5 of our intended starting OL. With a murderer’s row of passrushers on deck from the jump.

But again, I ask what could AP have really done about that? Its just unfortunate. And Chris Paul solidied his role as the best LG for this team last year, he was very solid in that role and Coleman actually couldnt beat him out there. Coleman was the depth guy, not Paul. And now we are using the depth guy.
Again the Tunsil was catastrophic, and would put most teams offensive lines in to the scrap heap. Hopefully we can cobble together a mediocre offensive line until Tunil comes back, and JD's talents can make up the difference like they did in 2024. We have a better defense hopefully, but yes it appear like JD and McLaurin are gonna have to carry the offense. Again, I cant fault AP for it cause he did the right moves to turn this into a good offenslive line unit, preseason peoplle that that the oline was the strength of the team.

But its best player got injured. You have to acknowledge that major fact!

 

[Koala]

Why hasn’t Paul been talked about as someone who could move to center? He is highly intelligent and would have a career in tech if he weren’t playing football

Thats not the kind of intelligence thats required. Its more athletic/bodily intelligence. Hiking the ball smoothly, especially in a shotgun-heavy offense, is a skill. Now, calling out the protections is important too, and its the centers job cause he's the one that hikes the ball. That takes some intelligence I suppose but nothing that cant be taught. Thats not the issue for Chis Paul.

The bigger issue with slidng Chris Paul from LG to C, is the gaping hole you now have at LG. Which is by all means, a more important position than C. C is the least important position on the offensive line. Dont worry, we will be able to sign one of the scrap heap in the next coming days, hopefully.

 

[RedWolf]

We have had "post Hogs syndrome" for 30 years IMO