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I really like the O-Neil pick for what he has the potential to develop into but here was one scouting review on where he is at: O’Neill is a terrific athlete for the position and possesses some of the best mirroring ability in the entire class. His punch and play strength are lacking at the moment though, and it’s concerning how poorly he performed Senior Bowl week. While there, he won only 27 percent of his reps in 1-on-1 practice.
Does this sound like someone who can come in and start at Right Tackle?
I was convinced that the Vikings had decided to move Remmers to guard and would grab their starting Right Tackle with their 2nd pick. However, with the lack of talent at the tackle position this year, I'm starting to wonder if that was a flawed strategy. Crosby is the best Olineman left and probably has a much better chance of starting on the line this year compared to O'Neil who needs a redshirt season to develop so he can add some bulk and strength. Crosby also projects better at the guard position so I have no idea what will happen with Remmers at this point.
More than anything else, we needed to come away with a day 1 starter on the offensive line. After 2 days of the draft, that player is still not on the roster. I guess we will see what happens today and if Crosby is the guy with our 4th rounder but Carolina is ahead of us and also has a need at Guard.
Passing on Hernandez and Williams may come back and bite us. Hopefully Rick can use some of the 6th rounders he accumulated to move up and get some guys who actually have a chance of making the team.
Maybe Rashid Hill has a place in the 3 year planning. I don't think we have seen his ceiling, and he has youth.
Don't back off of it. I think you were spot on about Remmers. It really is the only way that taking a 4th corner over one of those standout guards makes any sense at all. If Remmers is a guard now, then we didn't need a guard. And there were no tackles with any value at 30. Day 2 showed that. There were exactly ZERO tackles taken between Hughes and O'Neill.
The way I see it, if you're not right, then the Vikings screwed up big. It was crushing watching all those starting guards come off the board early in round two. Kinda makes me wonder if they had just used Remmers as a switch like Zimmer said they would in March: "It gives us more options," Zimmer said. "If we find a tackle in the draft or if we find a guard in the draft," it could determine Remmers' position.
If Remmers truly was a switch, then you take Hernandez or Daniels at 30 and your 4th corner in the 2nd. May not turn out any better, but it sure SYNCS better. Hell, you could still draft O'Neill in the 2nd if you wanted to and take your 4th corner in the 3rd.
As it stands I think Hill is our starting right tackle with O'Neill behind him. O'Neill needs time in the weight room and a lot of coaching, so his best case scenario is as a backup.
The O'Neill pick does seem like a headscratcher. Like you, I like a lot of his qualities - but he also reminds me of TJ Clemmings, and not only because both came out of Pitt: extremely talented and extremely raw. He really does not seem like an early starter at RT, and IMO it would be a shame if, like Clemmings, he gets pressed into action too early.
Another aspect is that, if he does fully develop his potential, he's kind of wasted at RT, isn't he? His athleticism and length are made for LT. I checked on Riley Reiff's contract...Reiff is signed through 2021, but his salary is about $11.5M the next two seasons, but after 2019, it jumps over $13M - but his dead cap starts dropping away. So it makes me wonder if O'Neill is a two-year project to take over for Reiff at LT.
We could use O'Neill as an extra TE, too. He's faster than David Morgan and Pitt used him in that role.
As for the right side of the line this year? LOL, no clues yet from this draft...
Quote: @Jor-El said:
The O'Neill pick does seem like a headscratcher. Like you, I like a lot of his qualities - but he also reminds me of TJ Clemmings, and not only because both came out of Pitt: extremely talented and extremely raw. He really does not seem like an early starter at RT, and IMO it would be a shame if, like Clemmings, he gets pressed into action too early.
Another aspect is that, if he does fully develop his potential, he's kind of wasted at RT, isn't he? His athleticism and length are made for LT. I checked on Riley Reiff's contract...Reiff is signed through 2021, but his salary is about $11.5M the next two seasons, but after 2019, it jumps over $13M - but his dead cap starts dropping away. So it makes me wonder if O'Neill is a two-year project to take over for Reiff at LT.
We could use O'Neill as an extra TE, too. He's faster than David Morgan and Pitt used him in that role.
As for the right side of the line this year? LOL, no clues yet from this draft...
O'Neill is more experienced than Clemmings. O'Neill has 3 years of starts (38 games) after switching from tight end.
Clemmings had two years of starts at right tackle (26 games) after switching from defensive end.
When you listen to Spielman and Stephenson talk about the early run on guards in the 2nd round in their pressers it is clear that they misread the interest in the interior linemen in this draft.
They more than likely thought they could get a guard (Smith or Corbett probably) with that 2nd round pick.
I think they "settled" for O'Neill and Spielman pretty much said as much when he said if they did not take an offensive lineman at #62 there would be no one left at #93.
This draft is starting to feel like 2010 all over again.
They screwed that draft up royally and only were saved with the Griffen and Webb picks.
The traded the #62 & #93 picks to the Texans to move up to #51 to get Toby freakin Gerhart. That was totally unbelievable. AP had just finished a 1800 all purpose yard season. Why do you need to use two high draft picks to get his backup?
In the 5th round they drafted Chris DeGeare (instead of Marshall Newhouse) and Nate Triplett who did not even make the team.
Who went in the 6th round. Antonio Brown and James Starks.
That year, the Vikings needed a tight end, a guard, a linebacker, and were in perpetual need of a safety.
Jimmy K was 33 years old, Shiancoe was 31 years old, and Dugan was Dugan.
EJ Henderson was coming off a gruesome injury.
Hutchinson was 33 years old and Herrera was barely average.
They had the disappointing Madieu Williams at safety and the even more disappointing Tyrell Johnson.
At pick #62 there was Jon Asamoah, Morgan Burnett, Navarro Bowman, Jimmy Graham, and others available.
In the 7th round they took Mickey Shuler Jr. and Ryan D'Imperio who they
tried to convert to fullback which failed. But 7th rounders are hit or
miss anyway.
I think Spielman trades down, farts around and passes on guys falling, and probably even drafts a punter. He wont learn from the Jeff Locke mistake.
I don't think it's possible for many teams to draft a day 1 starter on the OL. With all the "gimmicky" offenses that college teams run, I think it takes a couple of years to develop college O-linemen into NFL O-Linemen. So it might have been unrealistic to think that we were going to draft an immediate starter on the OL. Then again, maybe that only applies to OTs, since we've seen rookie Centers (and Guards) come in and start right away.
“I think there’s some things athletically that you can’t teach, in terms of some things that you can either do or you can’t,” O’Neill says.“And the things that kind of get you to that next level in terms of playing offensive line is more technical stuff, and those can be taught. I know speed and agility and that kind of stuff can be worked on, and it can definitely be improved, but you start out at a higher pace level than if, say, you played line your whole life. At least I feel that way.”
He was listed at 240 in 2014, and now at 297
So there is that...
My biggest concern is the reference to panic and all technique lost. Confidence will overcome that, but at the prolevel there's a whole lot effort to prevent that being an ojt developement.
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