Center vs. Guard? - Oakland Raiders Forum | Message Board

Karl · #1 (**permalink**) 04-05-2003, 04:06 PM

Can a center easily make the switch to play guard? It seems like it would be harder to play center.

If so, why not draft Faine. He must be more athletic than our current guards. Middleton is no youngster either. Can't trust BRobb, and Treu is average. I'm not sold on Collins either. Our OL needs to get more athletic and less fat. Run blocking is average to poor.

Faine sounds like a potential probowler and he's nasty from what I've read.

I'd much rather have him than McGahee. This guy seems like a sure thing. If BRobb returns to form, we can always trade him.

**Mr.Murder** · #2 (**permalink**) 04-05-2003, 04:32 PM

Best overall lineman is from Iowa, has played every spot on line well, will go around 15-20 in round 1...Kwame Harris best pure Tackle should be gone within top ten picks, Faine is a Guard center would be nice, could play any interior line spot.
Mo Collins would have left already if he was going to, after June 1 we add him much of Bruce Allen's deals leave hella cap space there for cuts after that date... he was way ahead of these other GM's on cap management.
Mo was our best runblocking interior lineman aside from BRobb, and he can also play Tackle very well like he did 2 seasons ago when half our O line was hurt. I would welcome him back, if he and BRobb can find a way to play without fighting each other over the SuperBlowout...
I want to see both of them return, our O line was what made it work, more so than our wr and qb... gannon isnt a deep passer, Brwon and Rice have limited speed and yards after catch, but our O line gave them ten counts to pass all year and let us run at will even without a leadblock fb in spread offense...
...losing 2 of those three would be terrible to chemistry...we would move on with Stinch and Maybe faine or Treau but I would rather faine gets groomed for Frank's spot he gets too many penalties.
Mo is a keeper so is BRobb for their play. Just hope Mo's agent and attitude are cool with staying Raider.
Think once BRobb gets 100% back as well he will agree with Bruce to reneg down and give us more cap room to add players if so desired. I am not selling the Raider Family short on their loyalty with these two players, think they will return and suprise the haters as usual.

**Eastraider** · #3 (**permalink**) 04-05-2003, 07:39 PM

We have an outside shot at Faine with our picks, depends on Tenn.

I argree with Karl that we need more athletic OL, but I am not sure our philosophy is to get OL like that (Pittsburgh, Denver). Big & athletic is more our style with more emphasis on BIG.

The chemistry thing will get fixed with winning.....

If we had to get an OT then you have to go 1st round for an OL, OG/OC can be had in the later rounds. The hardest positions to fill are: QB, CB, and DE basically the playmaker and the edge positions.

U know I want to go all D in the 1st round unless there is a future Pro-Bowler there, and If we took Faine I would not be too unhappy.

**Eastraider** · #4 (**permalink**) 04-05-2003, 08:52 PM

We have an outside shot at Faine with our picks, depends on Tenn.

I argree with Karl that we need more athletic OL, but I am not sure our philosophy is to get OL like that (Pittsburgh, Denver). Big & athletic is more our style with more emphasis on BIG.

The chemistry thing will get fixed with winning.....

If we had to get an OT then you have to go 1st round for an OL, OG/OC can be had in the later rounds. The hardest positions to fill are: QB, CB, and DE basically the playmaker and the edge positions.

U know I want to go all D in the 1st round unless there is a future Pro-Bowler there, and If we took Faine I would not be too unhappy.

**Mr.Murder** · #5 (**permalink**) 04-06-2003, 03:04 AM

Faine should be there round two agreed, think we trade a one down and stay ahead of the Tits to get him, Titans having to re-sign Ack and want another interior OL, think round 2-3 is where they plan on adding help there also good call. No need paying McNair if you cant block for him, only so long his 38 year old self can run like that.

Denver will try and trade a two up ahead of us, Shannarat wants to payback our BUCH BABY steal ofrom under his nose last year

. If they cannot do that or their target is drafted, they trade their three up into late two and get Teyo from Stanford, same height and speed as young Sharpe, a wr to become slot te, same style player.
Marty will get a lb, he sees Boss Bailey as every down player Seau no longer was. If he is gone he gets EJ Henderson. After that he needs edge help at de and cb.LB depth in Middle needs to be addressed.
Chefs will get a player on every level of their team if possible to keep vets playing on top and motivated, losing job is way to do it. Vermeil wants one more lb to what he added in FA this year to make them impact, Bailey the man he wants as well. Unless Trufant somehow slips. He doesnt have lot of picks to trade up with although he would do so with future picks if need be, dont see him doing it unless he trades ahead of Marty. Would be nice to see him stop Chargers from getting their new Seau.
He also needs rb insurance for priest, but 3 of their first 4 picks are going to be on defense. Tough call on it. Fewer picks, more needs to fill. The west is still going to be tough, but it is ours to lose. We need major screwups to do so.

mojobeast4694 · #6 (**permalink**) 04-06-2003, 01:56 PM

Simple solution, just draft Jeff Faine

liebo84 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-06-2003, 10:25 PM

OK, I know this sounds weird, but we could trade Brobb to Houston for the 3rd pick, where we could draft Kwame Harris. I like Treu, and that would give us a ******* line. Then we could draft a D-lineman at 31 and Magahee at 32? That could work.

Karl · #8 (**permalink**) 04-07-2003, 02:02 PM

We would be lucky to get a second round pick for BRobb at this point. No one has forgotten the SB.

**crizpynutz** · #9 (**permalink**) 04-07-2003, 11:56 PM

#1 - I agree with Karl, we couldn't get enough for Barrett Robbins at this point to warrant a trade.

#2 - I've been a big Jeff Faine guy all off-season and the fact that he can play Guard is a big reason. He's athletic, smart and nasty. The guy is primarily a physical, power blocker, but he has enough finesse about him to move around. Faine is the prototypical Raiders OLineman. Being from Notre Dame you already know they guy has a great head on him. His only weakness is his lower body strength. That is something the weight room and a good trainer can fix. Faine is a sure-fire Pro Bowl offensive lineman, it's just a matter of how long until he gets there. With Faine and Walker we'd have two pieces, at the minimum of a very strong, young OLine for our next generation team.

#3 - We don't absolutely 'need' to go all defense in the first round. We need one pick to be a DE and the other pick could go for the best player on the board that could serve a need. Next to DE, the OL is our biggest need as it is surrounded by a miriad of question marks.

#4 - Not all centers are capable of moving to Guard. Faine is someone very capable of that switch.

Karl · #10 (**permalink**) 04-08-2003, 01:38 PM

Another reason to draft Faine...

We hold off signing Collins until after 6/1. If a quality player gets cut, like a DE or S we sign him with the cap space we saved by not signing Collins.

I guess I'd rather sign Collins and dump Middleton if possible.

We also need another tackle. We're ok for this year, but after Kennedy retires, we need a backup.