If the Bears' OL did change

[jason]

If the Bears' OL did change, which option is preferred?

[adam]

The Chicago Bears still probably can’t believe their luck—they had the league’s best pass-blocking guard land in their lap shortly before the year when Josh Sitton was cut by the Packers. He showed immediately what an upgrade he could be for the team, and in 468 pass-blocking snaps, he surrendered only six QB hurries. Chicago’s interior was arguably the league’s best, with Kyle Long playing well and rookie Cody Whitehair having an excellent debut season at center, having been a college tackle at Kansas State. The offensive tackle combination of Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie was a different story, however, as the pair combined to surrender 73 total QB pressures and 14 penalties all season, with neither grading well in the run game. Tackle is an area for the Bears to focus on in the offseason, because that interior is already excellent.

 

Anything you can do to replace both tackles will be a line upgrade.

 

So I would like to see:

 

Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Morgan, Long

 

Long has experience on the right side and Whitehair has experience on the left side. They can't be any worse than Leno and Massie. The issue is by making a move like this, we weaken the interior of the line because Long/Whitehair is better than Morgan/Grasu.

 

I like for the line to have some consistency, so the only other option for would be leaving Whitehair in place where he was playing at an All-Pro level, and then move Long to one of the tackles, leaving the other in place.

 

[madlithuanian]

Oooh. That line-up is interesting. Would be nice if it worked.

 

Anything you can do to replace both tackles will be a line upgrade.

 

So I would like to see:

 

Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Morgan, Long

 

Long has experience on the right side and Whitehair has experience on the left side. They can't be any worse than Leno and Massie. The issue is by making a move like this, we weaken the interior of the line because Long/Whitehair is better than Morgan/Grasu.

 

I like for the line to have some consistency, so the only other option for would be leaving Whitehair in place where he was playing at an All-Pro level, and then move Long to one of the tackles, leaving the other in place.

 

[Stinger226]

Anything you can do to replace both tackles will be a line upgrade.

 

So I would like to see:

 

Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Morgan, Long

 

Long has experience on the right side and Whitehair has experience on the left side. They can't be any worse than Leno and Massie. The issue is by making a move like this, we weaken the interior of the line because Long/Whitehair is better than Morgan/Grasu.

 

I like for the line to have some consistency, so the only other option for would be leaving Whitehair in place where he was playing at an All-Pro level, and then move Long to one of the tackles, leaving the other in place.

Wow never gave that a thought. I think putting a rookie in with Morgan would be a stretch. so if whitehair moves then Grasu is the only new guy.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

If the Bears' OL did change, which option is preferred?

I am pretty good with leaving it as it is because I imagine next year we address LT early and cut Sitton. Morgan or possibly Whitehair will move to LG. Sitton may be a cut this year if Grasu looks better than Whitehair a C and they want to start the transistion early. Kush can also play C I believe.

 

The Whitehair Sitton Grasu Morgan Long would be interesting to see though

[Stinger226]

I am pretty good with leaving it as it is because I imagine next year we address LT early and cut Sitton. Morgan or possibly Whitehair will move to LG. Sitton may be a cut this year if Grasu looks better than Whitehair a C and they want to start the transistion early. Kush can also play C I believe.

 

The Whitehair Sitton Grasu Morgan Long would be interesting to see though

I dont see anyway this year that Sitton gets cut. He is a quality player and he will be here one more year and maybe two depending on the development of Morgan, his replacement. I think the big question will be if Grasu is healthy and above average at OC, then I think for sake of putting the best 5 on the line , he will force Whitehair to move either to LT or RT. I think since they tried to sign a player to take Massies place, that is more likely the place either Whitehair or Long will move to. I think Leno will be secure for one more year for better or for worse.

[jason]

I waited to see what others put, but all along I've thought Whitehair should be given a shot outside at LT.

 

Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Long, Massie

 

That's the best possible lineup to me. If it doesn't work as well as the brass hopes, move Whitehair back to C where he likely beats out Grasu, or move him back to G when Sitton gets long in the tooth. Either way, drafting an offensive tackle next year is PARAMOUNT.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

I waited to see what others put, but all along I've thought Whitehair should be given a shot outside at LT. Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Long, Massie That's the best possible lineup to me. If it doesn't work as well as the brass hopes, move Whitehair back to C where he likely beats out Grasu, or move him back to G when Sitton gets long in the tooth. Either way, drafting an offensive tackle next year is PARAMOUNT.

 

I already have them taking OLT in my very early mock drafts. Fanspeak.com has the 2018 drafts up to practice when your bored.

 

 

[Stinger226]

I waited to see what others put, but all along I've thought Whitehair should be given a shot outside at LT.

 

Whitehair, Sitton, Grasu, Long, Massie

 

That's the best possible lineup to me. If it doesn't work as well as the brass hopes, move Whitehair back to C where he likely beats out Grasu, or move him back to G when Sitton gets long in the tooth. Either way, drafting an offensive tackle next year is PARAMOUNT.

They tried to upgrade Massie in FAgency, so if someone moves it may be there. Leno is not terrible but just below average, and definitely needs an upgrade. With a new OL coach, maybe the new guy can raise his game in a contract year.

[AZ54]

I only voted to put Grasu at C, Whitehair slides to RG, and Long to RT. That's only IF we have to make a change which is likely due to injury but after his lengthy recovery from the ankle surgery I would rather not put him back outside. My preference is that we have our absolute best interior group which should be Sitton/Whitehair/Long. If we really need max protection just keep Shaheen and/or Sims next to the OTs. Both are good enough to adjust on the fly and run routes depending on what the defense does (i.e. rush 3).

[Stinger226]

I only voted to put Grasu at C, Whitehair slides to RG, and Long to RT. That's only IF we have to make a change which is likely due to injury but after his lengthy recovery from the ankle surgery I would rather not put him back outside. My preference is that we have our absolute best interior group which should be Sitton/Whitehair/Long. If we really need max protection just keep Shaheen and/or Sims next to the OTs. Both are good enough to adjust on the fly and run routes depending on what the defense does (i.e. rush 3).

I absolutely think we are in two TE sets 40% of the time. I think we dont keep a FB and use the TE as a HB sometimes.

 

So Shaheen and Sims

Meridith and White

Howard

[ASHKUM BEAR]

I dont see anyway this year that Sitton gets cut. He is a quality player and he will be here one more year and maybe two depending on the development of Morgan, his replacement. I think the big question will be if Grasu is healthy and above average at OC, then I think for sake of putting the best 5 on the line , he will force Whitehair to move either to LT or RT. I think since they tried to sign a player to take Massies place, that is more likely the place either Whitehair or Long will move to. I think Leno will be secure for one more year for better or for worse.

I doubt he gets cut this year as you said. It would take a scenario of all other players are better or as good (Grasu, Whitehair, Long, Kush, and Morgan) for something like that to happen. Plus what can they even do with his extra cap, I think they still have a lot of space left.

[Stinger226]

I doubt he gets cut this year as you said. It would take a scenario of all other players are better or as good (Grasu, Whitehair, Long, Kush, and Morgan) for something like that to happen. Plus what can they even do with his extra cap, I think they still have a lot of space left.

I think they extend a few players with the cap space,plus they can roll it over. Hicks definitely gets extended this year.

[adam]

There has to be a logical way to think about this. Each player has a grade at each position, by projecting what they would do at the new position, you would just need to find the right combination where you are not making the overall line grade worse than before. Massie and Leno were the clear weak links to the line, so we would need to replace them while only having a minimal impact to the interior.

 

Have other teams moved Pro Bowl Centers out to Guard and Tackle before?