Quote Originally Posted by wickedsolo View Post
I agree that they are probably looking at Oher as the long term solution at left tackle UNLESS (which hopefully this is the case) they are in the position to draft a better LT prospect next year and/or are able to potentially sign a free agent LT.

At the end of the day though, a solid left tackle is one of the most difficult positions to acquire via draft or free agency. Even average left tackles never hit the open market in their prime because it's so hard to establish a guy who can adequately pass block on the left side.

If Oher can even be an average left tackle, then he'll be here for at least another 4 years or so and likely will be the LT. Sometimes it takes a guy a couple of years to really solidify their abilities at one position and they are bouncing Oher back and forth every other week (exaggerated, but the point remains), so it's probably not easy for him to really hone the skills for the LT position.

Houston fans were clamoring for Duane Brown to be cut after a year or two at LT and now he's one of the better LT's in the league. Same with Brandon Albert down in Kansas City.

Realistically, there are only 3 or 4 really "elite" (or what you could argue are elite) left tackles in the league right now [Long, Thomas, maybe Clady, maybe D. Brown] and there are several teams that are still successful with average and even - seemingly - below average left tackles. The Giants last year are a good example of this. The Cardinals re-signed Levi Brown and he's been nothing short of below average at LT since coming into the league...yet they felt compelled to keep him around. The alternatives just weren't good enough to make them comfortable with letting him go.

This is where the offensive coordinator and QB can really sow their oats with the passing game by game-planning around weak OT protection and getting the ball out quickly. that's what the Giants did last year with Eli, that's what the Bears do, etc.
I still don't think Brandon Albert is very good at all.
I'm deathl;y afraid that the coaching staff/FO thinks Oher can be the guy, I don't, at all.
I absolutely think the right move is to play McKinnie and Oher at left and right and draft a new LT next year. Then, we would have Oher and a rook to compete on the left, with reid and Osemele for the right. If the rook at any point in that year can supplant Oher, or looks poised to, then Oher can walk as a FA(assuming RT is handled, which to me is almost a gimme with the two we already have in house).
Our relative abundance of Rt's seems to point to me that hte FO likes Oher on the left, YUCCKKKKK.