Broncos sign Russell Okung

[boogiewithstu2007]

Very glad we took Trent Williams in that draft.

He's a good player.... That was a good pick...

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Will Seattle have an oline next year or will Wilson have to make a play every down

I"m a little worried right now... However we do have 9 draft picks so I"m not gonna panic just yet... Gems can be found ...

 

[tducey]

Decent signing for the Broncos IMO, still got to address the QB situation though.

 

[shopson67]

Yes, but to that I'd just say it's a mostly meaningless and false dichotomy. It has little bearing in how I'd rank OT's.

Disagree completely. Tackles above a certain standard are blindside tackles, unless the team is blessed enough to have an even better tackle already on the roster. They face the premier pass rushers.

Substandard college left tackles are projected to be right tackles or guards at the pro level.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Tackles above a certain standard are blindside tackles

Does that really have anything at all to do with the skill of the OT, or is that more pertaining to the QB. The latter seems to be quite a bit more likely. In which case, it only makes sense to rank OT's, not LT or RT. The fundamental techniques in play are really the same, even if mirrored.

They face the premier pass rushers.

That's rapidly changing and is becoming in many cases to be demonstrably false. Chargers fans for instance will see Justin Houston x2, Von Miller x2, Khalil Mack x2, as well as JJ Watt. The LT is just as likely to run into a run stuffing DE than the top passrusher these days. Additionally, many rushers can and will be moved (like JJ Watt just for giggles) so it further dilutes and damages the static model which this argument relies upon.

Substandard college left tackles are projected to be right tackles or guards at the pro level.

So, there you go. They are valuing blindside protection, but not because LT's are intrinsically better per se; bad OT's are bad OT's. Any bump in the turnover rates from having a poor LT is pretty negligible given the data we have now tends to support sack rates being just as much a function of the QB as the o-line itself, let alone one lineman.

Is there really a difference between a good LT and a good RT? Bottom line, I'd say no. Technique travels for the most part.

 

[Southieinnc]

I guess I am going to have to disagree. To me some will depend what they do in the draft. My guess is they still go OL somewhere in the top-3 rounds. They have the 5 starters but they need depth and with OL these days you can't expect a rookie to start and find success especially at the OT position. So red shirt a guy for a year then if he shows great promise you have a viable option that is much cheaper and locked in for 3-4 more years. So I can see lots of ways beyond just injury that the Broncos don't pick up the option. Heck if he does stay healthy and has a decent to good year but they like the young guy then they also get a draft pick out of the deal with him then signing a big contract elsewhere. With Comp Picks now being tradable they have become that much more valuable.

I don't see any LT in the draft that will be ready to start for a championship team in 2 years.....

 

[cdumler7]

I don't see any LT in the draft that will be ready to start for a championship team in 2 years.....

You could be right. It does seem that it almost takes the entire 1st contract before you start seeing results from an OL player you draft at least at the OT position. You can find guys to play the inside positions and have success right away but those outside guys really we have only seen one in the past 5 years come in and dominate from the get go and that is Tyron Smith drafted in 2011. All others that dominate at the LT spot seem to have been before 2011.

Now I will say the Broncos will have a guy entering his 3rd year in the league though that played LT in college and that is Sambrailo. He will most likely play LG this year with us picking up Okung and Stephenson but when Clady went down Sambrailo was that guy so my guess is they will cross train him to play LT and LG this year. So maybe by his 3rd year in the league he is ready to take over that position and we can draft and inside guy this year to sit for a year and then come in.

Like I said this signing of Okung gives the Broncos lots of options. I hope he performs well and the Broncos do exercise his 4-year option and we have our LT spot figured out for a few years. If he doesn't perform well or gets injured though at least the Broncos have an easy out and can go from there to figure out what they should do. Heck we could go the way of FA again next year or we could see Cleveland wanting to trade Joe Thomas as he would be entering his last year of his contract and their price of a 1st round pick and more probably wouldn't apply anymore.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

You could be right. It does seem that it almost takes the entire 1st contract before you start seeing results from an OL player you draft at least at the OT position. You can find guys to play the inside positions and have success right away but those outside guys really we have only seen one in the past 5 years come in and dominate from the get go and that is Tyron Smith drafted in 2011. All others that dominate at the LT spot seem to have been before 2011.

Now I will say the Broncos will have a guy entering his 3rd year in the league though that played LT in college and that is Sambrailo. He will most likely play LG this year with us picking up Okung and Stephenson but when Clady went down Sambrailo was that guy so my guess is they will cross train him to play LT and LG this year. So maybe by his 3rd year in the league he is ready to take over that position and we can draft and inside guy this year to sit for a year and then come in.

Like I said this signing of Okung gives the Broncos lots of options. I hope he performs well and the Broncos do exercise his 4-year option and we have our LT spot figured out for a few years. If he doesn't perform well or gets injured though at least the Broncos have an easy out and can go from there to figure out what they should do. Heck we could go the way of FA again next year or we could see Cleveland wanting to trade Joe Thomas as he would be entering his last year of his contract and their price of a 1st round pick and more probably wouldn't apply anymore.

Elway should be arrested for highway robbery with the contract Okung signed. This contract is so one sided it's ridulous. Might be a long time before a player decides to rep himself. Okung looks like a fool.

 

[cdumler7]

Elway should be arrested for highway robbery with the contract Okung signed. This contract is so one sided it's ridulous. Might be a long time before a player decides to rep himself. Okung looks like a fool.

It definitely is a very team friendly contract. He decided to bet on himself to play well to maximize his value. Very different than what most agents would want as they want the guaranteed money mostly for their own sake that the time spent is worth it for them to get paid.

I did see that the NFLPA is going to lower the agent percentage fee and I do think this contract has a lot to do with that. We are talking about a guy that although he has the injury history probably gets $10-12 million day 1 of FA with an agent per year with at least $20 million or more in guarantees. Teams were throwing money around like it was confetti on New Years Eve. So for him to get $5 million with none of it guaranteed is crazy. I'll take it though as he will be a nice addition at a very discounted price at a position we needed some major help.

 

[Duffman]

You could be right. It does seem that it almost takes the entire 1st contract before you start seeing results from an OL player you draft at least at the OT position. You can find guys to play the inside positions and have success right away but those outside guys really we have only seen one in the past 5 years come in and dominate from the get go and that is Tyron Smith drafted in 2011. All others that dominate at the LT spot seem to have been before 2011.

Now I will say the Broncos will have a guy entering his 3rd year in the league though that played LT in college and that is Sambrailo. He will most likely play LG this year with us picking up Okung and Stephenson but when Clady went down Sambrailo was that guy so my guess is they will cross train him to play LT and LG this year. So maybe by his 3rd year in the league he is ready to take over that position and we can draft and inside guy this year to sit for a year and then come in.

Like I said this signing of Okung gives the Broncos lots of options. I hope he performs well and the Broncos do exercise his 4-year option and we have our LT spot figured out for a few years. If he doesn't perform well or gets injured though at least the Broncos have an easy out and can go from there to figure out what they should do. Heck we could go the way of FA again next year or we could see Cleveland wanting to trade Joe Thomas as he would be entering his last year of his contract and their price of a 1st round pick and more probably wouldn't apply anymore.

I think with Sambrailo at LG( and he's actually entering his 2nd year not 3rd(unless I misunderstood your post)), Paradis at C, and Garcia at RG I think the Broncos will have a great interior to the O-Line for years to come. And as long as Stephenson plays better than Schofield and Okung can at least stay healthy I don't see why Denver wouldn't be set at the Tackle positions either.

 

[cdumler7]

I think with Sambrailo at LG( and he's actually entering his 2nd year not 3rd(unless I misunderstood your post)), Paradis at C, and Garcia at RG I think the Broncos will have a great interior to O-Line for years to come. And as long as Stephenson plays better than Schofield and Okung can at least stay healthy I don't see why Denver wouldn't be set at the Tackle positions either.

I was meaning for next year. Let's say the coaches like what they see in Sambrailo in practices when he goes to that LT position and Okung while doing well doesn't completely wow the team. I could see them deciding it be better to go the cheaper/younger option in Sambrailo on the outside saving around $11 million for the position and being able to use that elsewhere to help out the team. When you throw in then they can draft an interior guy (which they will at some point) and have them ready next year it makes our OL that much younger and cheaper to grow together.

Now again option 1 that I hope happens is Okung stays healthy and plays really well as does the entire OL and like you said we are set for quite a few years with a top level running and passing OL. I mean when you look at the rest of the OL not like we are spending a ton anyway with 3 guys on rookie contracts so we can afford to pay Okung $12 million a year. Just mostly being a guy that knows how Elway likes to handle things of always planning 3 years or more in advance when making decisions and I am sure he has a plan in place if Okung doesn't work out.

 

[shopson67]

Does that really have anything at all to do with the skill of the OT, or is that more pertaining to the QB. The latter seems to be quite a bit more likely. In which case, it only makes sense to rank OT's, not LT or RT. The fundamental techniques in play are really the same, even if mirrored.


That's rapidly changing and is becoming in many cases to be demonstrably false. Chargers fans for instance will see Justin Houston x2, Von Miller x2, Khalil Mack x2, as well as JJ Watt. The LT is just as likely to run into a run stuffing DE than the top passrusher these days. Additionally, many rushers can and will be moved (like JJ Watt just for giggles) so it further dilutes and damages the static model which this argument relies upon.

So, there you go. They are valuing blindside protection, but not because LT's are intrinsically better per se; bad OT's are bad OT's. Any bump in the turnover rates from having a poor LT is pretty negligible given the data we have now tends to support sack rates being just as much a function of the QB as the o-line itself, let alone one lineman.

Is there really a difference between a good LT and a good RT? Bottom line, I'd say no. Technique travels for the most part.

Technique does indeed travel for the most part. In college and in the NFL, the better technique travels to the blindside (which is LT for the vast majority). If a tackle is good enough, they play on the blindside. You can rank them together if you wish, in most cases at least the top 25 will be left tackles, as the scarcity of left-handed starting QBs requires it.

It is telling that young OTs often start at RT until they prove they can handle LT.