Team who might trade for a center.....

[CaptainKickass]

The Seattle Chicken-Hawks had their starting center go down with injury, the news said he'd be out something like a couple months or better.

I assume TT still has some connections to the Seattle front office.

The only thing I don't know is what they might be willing to part with.


Speculation?

[swede]

It seems that teams are usually more comfortable trading draft picks than personnel, but it would be nice to find a promising young punter for one of the linemen we can't keep anyway.

[pbmax]

Their center is out 4-6 weeks. Maybe we can borrow Jon Ryan back?

[HarveyWallbangers]

I can't see trading Wells. He's our best OL on the bench, and our starters have the flexibility to move around. There seems to be a huge dropoff from Wells to every other backup OL (especially on the interior).

[Partial]

I can't see trading Wells. He's our best OL on the bench, and our starters have the flexibility to move around. There seems to be a huge dropoff from Wells to every other backup OL (especially on the interior).

Agree. Plus if either guard gets hurt they can slide Spitz over and bring in Wells and take only a minor step down. Keeping him on the bench would be a great move.

Plus, from a competitive standpoint I'm sure wells isn't happy, but it must be nice to collect a multi-mil pay check and save your body.

[BlueBrewer]

I can't see trading Wells. He's our best OL on the bench, and our starters have the flexibility to move around. There seems to be a huge dropoff from Wells to every other backup OL (especially on the interior).

Agree. Plus if either guard gets hurt they can slide Spitz over and bring in Wells and take only a minor step down. Keeping him on the bench would be a great move.

Plus, from a competitive standpoint I'm sure wells isn't happy, but it must be nice to collect a multi-mil pay check and save your body.
\


For players who have made it to the starter level in the NFL, I would think there are very few that would ever think its nice to get paid and I don't have to play. They have to have a huge competitive drive to get to where they are and I highly doubt they can just turn it off, unless you are Cletious Hunt

[Harlan Huckleby]

Wells is going to play a lot. Do you remember any season where no offensive line starters missed time? Wells will come off the bench when any starter goes down, he's practically like a 6th man in the NBA.

[Patler]

Wells is going to play a lot. Do you remember any season where no offensive line starters missed time? Wells will come off the bench when any starter goes down, he's practically like a 6th man in the NBA.

I'm not sure he will. If Barbre is out , Giacomini probably steps in. If Colledge goes out, I think Lang may step in. If Clifton goes down, Moll might step in, or Colledge may slide out in which case Lang may replace Colledge.

I think Wells would go in only if Spitz gets hurt or slides out to replace Sitton. They have worked Lang some at RG, but I think are more interested in keeping him on the left (perhaps as Colledge's eventual replacement when he leaves in FA. :twisted: )

[Scott Campbell]

I can't see trading Wells. He's our best OL on the bench, and our starters have the flexibility to move around. There seems to be a huge dropoff from Wells to every other backup OL (especially on the interior).


The question is do you keep a guy on the roster with limited versatility, and a known ceiling in a roster spot that's usually occupied by developmental players.

I think the bottom 4 or 5 roster spots are not for the best players. They're for guys with the best potential.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'm not sure he will. If Barbre is out , Giacomini probably steps in. If Colledge goes out, I think Lang may step in. If Clifton goes down, Moll might step in, or Colledge may slide out in which case Lang may replace Colledge.

Wells is much better than Giacomini or Moll, I'd be surprised if they didn't prefer to shuffle. Don't know about Lang versus Spitz at LG, but my guess is they would trust Spitz-Wells more.

[mraynrand]

I can't see trading Wells. He's our best OL on the bench, and our starters have the flexibility to move around. There seems to be a huge dropoff from Wells to every other backup OL (especially on the interior).

I don't understand. I thought that Wells was pretty much a center and nothing else. If he doesn't start, why would you keep an OL that can only back up one position?

[Patler]

I'm not sure he will. If Barbre is out , Giacomini probably steps in. If Colledge goes out, I think Lang may step in. If Clifton goes down, Moll might step in, or Colledge may slide out in which case Lang may replace Colledge.

Wells is much better than Giacomini or Moll, I'd be surprised if they didn't prefer to shuffle. Don't know about Lang versus Spitz at LG, but my guess is they would trust Spitz-Wells more.

How do you shuffle to get Wells in if Barbre gets hurt? Neither Spitz nor Sitton have played out there. If you aren't going to move one of them out there, you don't need Wells to come in.

I'm fairly convinced that Lang will get the first chance to go in for Colledge, so any single injury on the left side will not result in Wells coming in. I think Wells is first up only if Spitz of Sitton gets hurt.

[Lurker64]

Seattle's not going to want to trade for a Center, they just drafted Unger. They'll just slide him over to the middle (which is probably his best position) while the other guy gets healthy.

[Ballboy]

I thought MM didn't want the "shuffling" of the line anymore in an attempt to get stronger? So if a guard would get hurt, they would be replaced with a back-up, not moving Spitz over.....or did I miss understand what the "shuffling" was?

[Gunakor]

I thought MM didn't want the "shuffling" of the line anymore in an attempt to get stronger? So if a guard would get hurt, they would be replaced with a back-up, not moving Spitz over.....or did I miss understand what the "shuffling" was?

I'm not a fan of the shuffling of linemen either, but it makes sense from the standpoint that, should Sitton go down with injury for example, Wells/Spitz would be much better up front than Spitz/Lang or Spitz/Preston would be.

[Lurker64]

I thought MM didn't want the "shuffling" of the line anymore in an attempt to get stronger? So if a guard would get hurt, they would be replaced with a back-up, not moving Spitz over.....or did I miss understand what the "shuffling" was?

I think the Shuffling was more in reference to "trying to teach all the young guy to play three positions at once is inhibiting their development, we'll do better if we just let guys focus on one thing." However, that being said, there's some starting offensive linemen on this roster who have already shown themselves to be capable at playing a position other than the one they're starting at. Spitz has certainly shown himself to be a capable guard, and Colledge has certainly shown himself to be a capable tackle. So if a G or a T goes down, you move Spitz to the G's spot or College to the T's spot and fill in the vacancy with the respective backup who only plays one position.

I think we're going to see "no shuffling" much more apparent with the backups. Giacomini only has to focus on RT, Lang only has to focus on G, Meredith and Moll only have to focus on LT, Wells only has to focus on C, etc. Ultimately you want to get your best five available on the field, but you help yourself in case of an injury by having your backups keyed on the position they will be playing, rather than trying to teach them four positions at once.

[Freak Out]

What the hell ever happened to the FA we signed...Preston? I thought he was a center? Is the guy even around?

[Harlan Huckleby]

How do you shuffle to get Wells in if Barbre gets hurt? Neither Spitz nor Sitton have played out there. If you aren't going to move one of them out there, you don't need Wells to come in .

Ya, that is the one position where they are most vulnerable, and it's not easy to see how they would deal with it.

I doubt they would do any shuffling during a game. I think they would try to start their five best players the following week if somebody went down with a serious injury. Their veteran utility guy, Moll, has not impressed.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think we're going to see "no shuffling" much more apparent with the backups. Giacomini only has to focus on RT, Lang only has to focus on G, Meredith and Moll only have to focus on LT, Wells only has to focus on C, etc. Ultimately you want to get your best five available on the field, but you help yourself in case of an injury by having your backups keyed on the position they will be playing, rather than trying to teach them four positions at once.

Of course it would be great to avoid shuffling. In depends if they have confidence in the backups besides Wells, I'm not sure.

[Lurker64]

I think we're going to see "no shuffling" much more apparent with the backups. Giacomini only has to focus on RT, Lang only has to focus on G, Meredith and Moll only have to focus on LT, Wells only has to focus on C, etc. Ultimately you want to get your best five available on the field, but you help yourself in case of an injury by having your backups keyed on the position they will be playing, rather than trying to teach them four positions at once.

Of course it would be great to avoid shuffling. In depends if they have confidence in the backups besides Wells, I'm not sure.

In terms of the backups I think they have confidence in:
1) Wells is a more than adequate center.
2) Lang can play either guard spot, but will be better in pass pro than the running game.
3) Giacomini is not much of a downgrade from Barbre.

And I think that pretty much covers us.

[Harlan Huckleby]

2) Lang can play either guard spot, but will be better in pass pro than the running game.
3) Giacomini is not much of a downgrade from Barbre.

I doubt Lang is ready to play.

Not sure about Barbre vrs Giacomini. I think Barbre is a lot better, but that is just from a few plays I noticed. A JSO writer says Barbre is a much better athlete.

I think the answer at backup is Moll at all positions except center. And then probably some shuffling if injury looks prolonged.