AND said Morgan was a Tackle.Originally Posted by HarveyWallbangers
AND said Morgan was a Tackle.
There's gotta be something about Rasheed Walker the team has concerns about - from all the talk about competition, to splitting snaps with Njiman last year, and now drafting Morgan. I wonder if he's a bit of a headcase or they think he might be a little lazy/complacent.
They keep trying to push him - as they should -- but what strikes me as unusual is that they are being very obvious about it.
Last year it was Nijman they felt had become complacent. They used competition from Walker to try to get more out of Nijman before eventually Walker won the job. Maybe they're taking steps now to make sure Walker doesn't get complacent. It's also possible they feel Walker's future is at RG or RT. There were scouting reports suggesting that when he was a draft prospect.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
In hindsight I understand the Yosh hate. He didn't improve in the offseason. I'm not sure he ever took an offseason seriously. He was uber talented and that has gotten him to where he is and I think they saw a guy who should be a lockdown pass blocker, but never quite had the fire to be great.
I'm not sure they are going way out of their way to push walker as much as they probably figure he maxed out. I was really happy with his play after it became his job, but he isn't a top 5 LT by any means. If he plays to his end of season level he is probably top 15 MAYBE top 10. At such an important position, that's a guy you keep feeling insecure. Make him earn that second contract. Send him the offseason message that he better be maxing himself out. Short of guys like Jenkins or Gary who don't you treat that way? I want everyone feeling like the hold on the job is tenuous.
I also think Morgan probably wants a shot at being a LT so why sour the rookie right away by telling him the job belongs to a guy who had 8 good games? My best bet is Morgan lines up at RG this year after bouncing around a touch.
I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.
Ya, they may have been thinking; "If you aren't getting better, you are getting worse." Something was off. He should have been the frontrunner going in to 2023, just based on 2022. Instead, they gave it to Walker even though early on he was much worse than the 2022 version of Nijman. It will be interesting to see how Nijman's career goes from here.
Agreed, again. Any player who is just OK is a target for replacement. I found this year-end evaluation of Walker. I think it quantifies it well:
(Emphasis mine)
According to Pro Football Focus, Walker allowed six sacks and 33 total pressures. According to its pass-blocking efficiency metric, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap, he ranked 39th out of 57 tackles who had 50 percent playing time. In his final nine games (including playoffs) he allowed two sacks. His run blocking improved, as well. Sports Info Solutions charged him with five blown blocks (1.6 percent) and three stuffs (tackle at or behind the line). He was guilty of a team-worst nine penalties, including four false starts and three holding.
That doesn't take into consideration his improvement through the season, but there's no guarantee he maintains that, to be fair.
Sure it does, but it tempers it by how poorly he played at times earlier in the season. As you state, it is not yet known if he has established a new floor from which he will continue to ascend, if he has peaked and will now plateau, or if he simply had a good streak which he will be unable to achieve consistently.
All things being equal, I'd much rather have a young player ascending throughout the year as he gains experience. We gave Jordan Love credit for that, and I think we need to give it to Walker too.
PFF graded Walker at 66.4, ever so slightly higher than Elgton Jenkins last year. PFF had Meyers lower and Ryhan significantly lower. I don't take their grades as gospel, but they're worth something.
I think the Packers going deep on OL in this draft has a lot to do with the quality of OL available in this draft, and the overall poor play of OL in the NFL. If they keep 10 or 11 OL, that position room represents about 20% of their roster. Given how important it is to keep your QB upright, I think more teams should be taking 3 OL per year. I'm not reading too much into this draft as a reflection upon Walker. At this point he was a 7th rounder who has nicely outperformed his 7th round draft slot.
My concern on the OL is really Elgton Jenkins. We are not paying him $14M (cap hit this year) at a non premium position to grade out at 65. You should be grading in the 80s to justify that kind of dough. His dead money cap hit is cut in half next year, and I think he's the guy on the hot seat. And it's not because he's a bad player - it's because he's a good player getting paid like an elite player.
Rasheed Walker's cap hit is $1M this year, and $1.1M next year - at a premium position. Gotta love the rookie wage scale.
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