Playing David Caldwell – Fixing the Offense
By Terry OBrien
Offensive Line
Here is where we stand with our current guys:
Brad Meester at Center – Free Agent in 2014 – making $1,000,000 2013
Austin Pasznor at Tackle – Trapped for 2014 – making $ 480,000 2013
Cameron Bradfield at Tackle – Free Agent in 2014 – making $ 556,000 2013
Luke Joeckel at Left Tackle – Signed for 2014 – making $5,300,400 2014
Uche Nwaneri at Guard – Signed for 2014 – making $4,183,500 2014
Will Rackley at Guard signed for 2014 – making $ 927,000 2014
We know I have Luke Joeckel at Left Tackle.
I think we keep Uche Nwaneri at guard, even at that salary.
Austin Pasznor is an Exclusive Rights guy so we sign him for three years at $650,000.
Brad Meester, do we try for another year from Brad or not? If not, what do we do. This is a tough call. I think the Offensive Line is in need and we better plan for a draft choice and shop the free agent market. We need another quality guard.
I think I am done with Will Rackley. He was too much of a liability.
Free Agent shopping: Alex Mack a center from Cleveland is a 27 year old really good center. He is making $5,000,000 now so it is a high risk signing. There are a lot of backup centers coming on the market we might want to look at. Most of the veterans coming free are aged. Brad, have your agent call me please.
In the Guard category Free Agency has some interesting prospects. Jon Asamoah from Kansas City is 25 years old and coming free. He makes $ 1,500,000 now, but I’d pay $ 3,000,000 for a good guard. Zane Beadles from Denver is a 26 year old making about a $ 1,000,000 per year. He isn’t a good pass blocker but he is an overall improvement over Will Rackley. Shelly Smith from St. Louis is a versatile guard, 26 years old, making $ 575,000. I’d like to target him but he is a restricted free agent and we would have to give up a 6th round pick for him. Let’s watch and see how he finishes the season.
In the draft, Anthony Steen from Alabama looks very intriguing. He might be able to play center as well as guard. I don’t know if he would last to the top of the third round or not. We will have to watch the combine. Maybe Xavier Su’a Filo from UCLA might drift to the 4th round and we can use one of the Eugene Monroe picks on him.
No matter what, we need a guard and center to protect our new Quarterback.