Are There Any Big Name Offensive Guards Available In Free Agency?

[PHAT-MONEY]

i like our guards.. young and talented if you ask me

[chiguy]

They may be young and talented, but we need a lot more competition for the two guard slots and the center position. Because we're young, I'd like to see us bring in some veterans (not old ones, but guys with 3-4 years of experience) to compete. If Setterstrom and Incognito have it, then they'll beat out a FA and we'll have a lot of depth. If not, pwe'll have a good FA and guys who have shown ability as depth. Either way we win.

Tackle is different. There we have two talented starters, one of whom is in the twilight of his career and another who has his head planted in his rectum. But neither of those two guys will by themself destroy the team. We need a player to push Barron and to eventually replace Pace. That sounds more like a draft pick to me. Past that, we need to look for "depth" players, not potential starters there.

Assuming we don't run a Martz-like offense under Saunders (which would change a lot of this), I think we need this work on the line headed into camp:

--Starting veteran guard
--Top 3 round talent offensive tackle
--Veteran backup tackle, even if Steussie comes back
--Veteran backup guard, though someone like Brown can fill this if he doesn't need to start

If we run Martz's offense (with Saunders at OC), we need another starter at tackle and a center because the linemen are going to have more responsibilities. We can't wait for young guys in that scenario.

[Tony Soprano]

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I've been calling for us to upgrade this O-line for about 4 years straight.

I will say this - if you want to be 3-13 - this is the line for you.

It seems the nature of Fans is to defend each player individually - and then say, our line sucks!

Our line does happen to suck.

Guys that start for us wouldn't even make a lot of other teams.

I think we need to upgrade throughout, even our depth, but realistically we can't do that in one off-season. I'd sign a better (and more dependable) 3rd OT than Stuessie, who's just too old. Draft an OT for the future (we almost always draft an OT somewhere in the draft). Draft an interior lineman (Guard or Center) in the first two rounds and another one to develop late in the draft. And explore the Free agent market for a Center or Guard.

That seems like a lot but, really, it seems like we always draft an OT and a OG
late in the draft (or many times, we do). Maybe we should just do a better job and draft someone that will develop - or find someone that's not on other team's radar.

So with late round picks, which many teams seem to have more than one of those (multiples in the 5th and 6th rounds) - draft an OT and an OG.

Sign via FA a decent, dependable 3rd OT that can fill in for either starter at OT.

Draft a Center or Guard in the first two rounds.

Seriously look at a center or a guard in Free Agency.

Another way of doing it is to dedicate our second round pick to the OL - if
the best player is an OT - go with that. If that is the case, I'd take a C or
OG with the 3rd pick. If you take an exceptional Hammer of a FB, you can
call that an O-lineman pick in my book.