Until I see it he's not to be relied on. All we have to go on is what he's showed us at guard, which wasn't impressive. I guess if Joe ever does get to be the a Rams OLT, then running left will be out of the question.
Of course he does but that doesn't mean we can plan for him to lock down the position. Which is why I see him as depth until he shows otherwise.
He was impressive in 2018 playing at his natural position. More than one pro evaluator was impressed including the Ram FO and scouts. Does he have flaws in his game? What rookie doesn't. Playing him at LG a position he's never played and barely practiced at proved to me that Kromer is clueless when in comes to the actual technique differences of each position.
Whitworth is clearly showing his age. His footwork isn't nearly as quick and his anchor is slipping as he is often bull rushed back into Goff. His flaws in 2019 were those of an OT in decline. In the last several years Whitworth historically graded out in the mid to upper 80's then in 2019 against better competition he dropped big down to the low 70's. So who do you trust? The young player who in his first game graded out as well or better than Whitworth in 2019 or the aging vet who's game took a sudden nosedive? Look at the tape Andrew is not the same man in 2019 as in previous years. There were plays where it was painful to watch him struggle. Who's tape do you trust?
My money is on the young guy who is more likely to improve his game by strengthening and improving his technique. Hoping a 38 year old OT who will be 39 in December will somehow regain his youthful form seems far less likely. Andrew trains year-round, yet his physical struggles were surprising. What more can he do that he already doing? IMO Andrew's real value would be as a o-line coach. I'd rather see him coaching the o-line than Kromer and Dickerson.
We saw last year that Kromer and Dickerson were unable to make adjustments to their o-line during the season. They proved their incompetence by even starting the system with a high school level run blocking scheme and were unable to make adjustments to their scheme during the season. Kromer was so busy positional cross-training his players he neglected to install more than a simplistic outside zone blocking scheme. I'm sorry but even good high school o-lines practice more than one blocking technique. IMO O'Connell will use both inside zone and power gap schemes this year.
The bottom line IMO last year's o-line failures and struggles were due to poor coaching not lack of talent by the players. They lacked coordination and even basic technique and that is completely on the coaches. Putting Noteboom at LT when he had guys like Evans, Shelton, and Brewer on the roster proved to me that Kromer does not play to his players' strength. He doesn't understand that there are sound reasons that in the NFL physical metrics do matter and why college OT's like Evans are better off playing inside, with the reverse being true with Edwards. So, in my opinion, it's really premature to condemn the talent of the o-line already on this roster. Considering where they are drafting they, in all probability, are not going to get players in the draft significantly better than the guys they have.
Kevin Connell was at SDSU during the Chargers heyday with LaDainian Tomlinson's peak years. He watched first hand how effective a good power gap blocking scheme with a good lead blocking FB can be. It's basically the same scheme used by the 49er's today so it still works. For that, you don't need heavy-footed road graders. You want linemen who can get off quickly and move and block with power as they exploit a gap to create the lane. So people need to be mindful of exactly what kind of lineman a team needs.
Linemen like other skill positions also need to be scheme fits. As such Evans needs to be at OG and Edwards needs to play at OT. Why do you think the majority of the o-line players were collegiate OT's? IMO it's because they have better feet and mobility. That all points to a transition to an inside zone and power gap scheme.
Some of the moves the team has made and especially the moves they haven't made, all point to an emphasis upon scheme fit with this team unlike previous years and other franchises. Personally I think it's a good perspective.
