What to do with the o-line?

[defiantgiant]

So this question's been raised in the sports media, and I thought it'd be interesting to hash it out here. Chris Williams is (hopefully) going to come back from his hamstring in the next week or two. He struggled a bit before his injury, but that's a pretty small sample size, and he was solid at LT last year. I have to assume that he'll get his job back on the left side once he's healthy. That raises the question, though - what do we do with Omiyale?

 

Here are my thoughts. Big Frank hasn't played badly on the left side, but he certainly hasn't been outstanding. However, he really played pretty poorly on the right side before the switch. He wasn't great in pass protection and looked severely underpowered in the run game. Also, consider that when he was in Carolina, they clearly thought he could only play one position - when their right tackle got hurt in 2008, they moved Jordan Gross to the right side so that they could keep Omiyale on the left. That they'd move their best pass-protector away from the QB's blind side says a lot about their views on Omiyale as a right tackle.

 

I'm not a talent evaluator, but to me, Edwin Williams and J'Marcus Webb looked like a decent run-blocking right side against Carolina. If it were up to me, I think I'd leave them in place, since they're both young with a little bit of potential. This upcoming stretch of games (especially against Seattle and Buffalo) could be a great time for them to solidify that right side and develop some chemistry. Omiyale certainly hasn't played well enough to make me think he should get the RT job handed back to him when his replacement is doing well. And really, how many teams can run the ball behind a 6'4" 315-pound right tackle?

 

So where does that leave him? I think in my ideal world he'd be Williams' backup, then the Bears would admit their mistake (like they did with Chris Harris) and go re-sign Josh Beekman to play left guard. Beekman's nothing spectacular, but you almost never hear his name called for blowing a block or getting flagged for a stupid penalty. If the young guys on the right side could develop some, Williams-Beekman-Kreutz-Williams-Webb could be an OK group of blockers.

 

Realistically, though, I think Omiyale might be ticketed for a return to left guard, with Garza headed to an interior-swingman role. His first stint at LG last year was a nightmare, but he actually looked OK once he took the job back toward the end of the season. And with the way Garza and Louis have played, Omiyale could actually be a minor upgrade if he can play like he did at the end of 2009.

 

What do you guys think? Where's Omiyale go once Williams comes back?

[Guest TerraTor]

Personally, I think Omiyale is terrible.

 

The two young guys played decent against a rather shit defense, not to take too much away from them, but really. I wonder if those two could play OG with Cwilliams and omiyale at the tackles

[Guest TerraTor]

Personally, I think Omiyale is terrible.

 

The two young guys played decent against a rather shit defense, not to take too much away from them, but really. I wonder if those two could play OG with Cwilliams and omiyale at the tackles

 

 

 

Added.... Man we shoulda kept John ST Claire

[defiantgiant]

Added.... Man we shoulda kept John ST Claire

 

I was never really that impressed with St. Clair. Swapping him with Shaffer seems like kind of a wash to me. When it comes to run-blocking, the guy I wish we'd kept is Lousaka Polite. I have no idea how the staff thought he wasn't good enough to beat out Jason McKie, then he goes down to Miami and

.

[jason]

Hell, I think Jeff Garcia is my answer to two different problems. I'd rather have Jeff Garcia on the OL than Omiyale. At least Garcia would be smart enough to not get false starts, and would be weak enough that the Tice would never dream of doing anything other than providing a second blocker as his backup (i.e. what Manumaleuna is supposed to be doing, but isn't, even though it is clear Omiyale's family tree includes a three toed sloth about four generations back).