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9er8er
Yeah, they could be a decent run blocking unit if they stay healthy, which we know is highly unlikely. But they are not going to be a good pass protecting line even if healthy. Havenstein has been injured all camp already, Saffold will not last a season, GRob can't pass protect. Brown is meh and coming off a serious leg injury and Barnes is only okay.
What has you optimistic about this group?
If we wanted to take the most pessimistic view possible I guess we could go with your projection.
Or we could go with an optimistic view which would be just as plausible.
First, OL is one of the biggest position groups where players show steady improvement as they gain experience. It's not typical to see immediate success. It is typical for the position for there to be a big jump in performance from year 1 to year 2 and another big jump from year 2 to 3. Therefore, projecting improvement for the young players that showed promise is reasonable.
As a whole last year, the OL was very young. An optimistic perspective says that as a whole there will be a big jump in performance due to the experience gained and coaching.
GRob showed much improvement at pass blocking as the season progressed. He was actually decent towards the end of the season. And he has looked very good in the preseason. This is year 3 where O'linemen typically start to realize their potential. If he continues his current trajectory of improvement, he will be very good.
Havenstein was very solid as a rookie. They've been cautious with his injury because the bullets weren't flying yet. But now he's healthy and has had a track record of health in college. So it's more realistic to project his health than it is to worry about further injury issues. We can also expect the year 2 improvement from him now that he has a year under his belt.
Brown showed a lot of promise in his rookie season and it doesn't look like the injury is affecting him. He also should see they typical big jump in performance as he heads into year 2.
Saffold may get injured at some point but he has typically averaged much more than 5 games during his career. And he said he feels healthier than at any point in his career. The more games he plays, the more he helps this OL be better than the 2015 version. Anything over 5 is an improvement over last year.
Wichman looked good last year in the snaps he got and has looked very good this preseason. He is very good depth when and if Saffold goes down. Oh, and let's factor in that expected year 2 spike in performance for him too.
Barnes was slightly better than ok last year and he's been improving on a year to year basis.
Donnal had a very strong preseason and he's another young player that looks to be much improved. He's good depth with Wichman.
I believe a reason for optimism is because of the strong investment in the position in 2015. Those players are not rookies forever and so there performance is not static.
