Not at #2 overall. And he's not being asked to do anything but study his film and prepare.
If that's all he's asked to do, how can he fix his mechanical flaws?
The LT position is overrated and overdrafted. Won't be hard to find a team willing to move up for one.
Yes, on the field. Read what Bentley said about Robinson's talent level. If Mason were 6'0" 230 with 4.4 speed, impressive cutting ability, and the power to run through tacklers...I bet the Rams would have been a bit more patient.
When you draft a raw player with top tier physical tools, you tend to try and give that guy every chance to develop. The same isn't true of a 3rd round pick with only above average to good talent.
Okay. You seem to believe Greg Robinson is a major problem at LT. And I think we all recognize the issues our interior OL has had with the injuries. Look what Gurley has offered this offense.
Now, flip the scenarios. Give us a LT with talent equivalent to Gurley's at HB and a HB with talent equivalent to GR's at LT.(i.e. an elite LT and a mediocre to bad HB depending your stance on GR's play this year) Where does our offense stand? Hell, go look at Dallas's running game with McFadden and Randle (before he was cut). They have the most talented OL in the NFL with one of the least talented HB cores and haven't come close to Gurley's production.
That's with an OL that has an elite LT and arguably the NFL's best interior OL. We'd have an elite LT and the same issues on the interior. The OL, more than any other unit, is a sum of its parts. The HB is not that. One elite HB can have a gigantic impact. One elite OT on a OL otherwise full of holes and injury isn't going to be able to do enough on his own to make up for the problems with the sum of its parts.
In fact, HBs touch the ball more than any player except for the QB. With the amount of volume they have in the offense's game-plan, a top tier HB is an incredibly impactful player. The same is not true of the LT...especially not in today's NFL. Norv Turner is one of the few OCs that runs an old school offense where the LT still retains all the value he used to have. These new school spread offenses that focus on spreading the field horizontally and getting the ball out quickly do not place the same value on LTs that the old school vertically oriented deep drop offenses did. You need a LT that can take away the corner on a 7 step drop. On a 3 step drop, the LT just can't get beat inside. Odds are he can ride his man past the QB unless he's facing a DE with ridiculous bend like Robert Quinn.(then he can just grab him around the neck to keep him from getting to the QB or drag him down as he turns the corner)
Nobody was saying that after drafting Donald when we had multiple first rounders on the DL. Technically, at the time, we didn't "need" him either.
Because it didn't apply to the Donald pick. Donald was replacing Kendall Langford. Not Michael Brockers. Langford, like Brockers, was a run stuffer that didn't offer great pass rush ability. Donald brought a skill-set that we didn't have on our defense and replaced an overpaid veteran. He brought a skill-set that could elevate our defense to the next level. Not to mention the fact that Donald was an absolutely dominant player. He should have gone top 5 and would have gone top 5 if he was 6'3" 300 pounds. Who is that guy in this class? Who is that good that we can't possibly pass on him? Cause, frankly, if there is a guy that good...fine...take him. But what LT is Donald good?
Drafting a LT to replace Robinson does none of those things. Robinson isn't an overpaid vet. The rookie LT isn't going to elevate anything if we still have nothing to work with at QB and WR/TE. What he might do is displace Greg Robinson before Robinson has a chance to figure it all out. Maybe Robinson doesn't figure it out...and if he doesn't...then we deal with it. 3 years is a fair amount of time for Greg. But if he does figure it out, you've just wasted a premium pick because you're going to have to play one of the two guys out of position and you've neglected a position where that pick would have mattered more.
The franchise would be irresponsible not to draft the best guy available. That was considered an optimal drafting strategy last year on this board, don't know why that's changed all of the sudden.
Best player available has never been an optimal drafting strategy. Best value available is. You can't ignore need and positional value when drafting. LT doesn't have the same value to this team that other positions do. If the BPA is a LT, trade him to a team that needs him. There will be at least a couple teams willing to offer a good deal for the LT. This team has too many other real needs at positions where the talent should be equally strong.
I don't think either of us are going to change our minds. The only thing that will get me to agree with you on this is for GRob to prove it over these last few games. By prove it, I mean actually be an asset the entire game instead of four or five good plays amongst the penalties and mistakes.
Not going to happen. He's not going to fix his flaws in a few days of practice. He'll have a shot at doing it this off-season. That will give him the time and reps to get it done. During the season, it won't happen. You don't get enough reps and time to focus on those minute details while trying to prepare for your next opponent.(even if you know those flaws are present)
alm:.
