Let’s see what our O-line looked like at the end of last season:
Williams – LT
Lichtensteiger – LG
Rabach – C
Montgomery – RG
Brown – RT
IF, I’ll say it again, IF Jammal Brown is 100% healthy going into next season our Tackles look ok. We need a new developmental back-up guy at Tackle though. I think we can agree that Heyer has gotten as far as his talents will take him. I thought our Guard play towards the end of the season was ok. Not spectacular, but good enough for it not to be a "top of the list gotta have it now" need for us. Sure we could upgrade but between the three guys we have; Montgomery, Lichtensteiger and Hicks we should be able to find two guys who can start. Lichtensteiger seems to be a coaching favorite for some reason.
Then we come to Center. This is a problem area. Barring injury it’s the biggest question mark on the O-line IMO. Rabach might be great at calling out assignments and being a leader but he’s just not that good at blocking. His pass protection in particular is horrible and he's not getting any younger.
So if I’m looking to the draft I want a Center, someone who can come in and start right away so we can boot Rabach to the curb. I don't see us using our first or second round pick on a Center though so a developmental Tackle might be all we can hope for this year's draft barring a trade down scenario (which I'd like to see).
I don't think we can address Center in free agency this year even if there is any. The pic-kin's look mighty slim when I checked out the free agent list. All of the decent guys are either restricted or well past their prime. We don't need to go down that road again.