Originally posted by NeeJ49er:
Thomas has a lot of upside and could develop into an above average left guard, being that he played LT in college, his pass protection should be stellar and provide better protection for Kaep .....Martin was thrown into the fire earlier than expected and more than held his own ....Kilgore may have a fight on his hands if Thomas and Martin come into camp strong and ready to mash some defensive lineman ......
what do you guys think ? ...are we settled and our offensive line ready to go? ...or do we need to draft an offensive lineman maybe in the 3rd or 4th round to compete for playing time
In response to the OP's original question.... My answer is no.
Going to throw Kilgore into this equation as well. I know he played well last year but it was a small sample size and I honestly don't know how dominate he was. When the Oline looks like a turnstile, maybe Kilgore just looked the best of the bunch. I'm not trying to knock the guy, I just think we haven't seen a whole lot to make a decision. Like everyone falling in Love with Stevie or LLoyd last year because they had some nice catches early in the year. As time went on they faded to the back ground. (No need to bring up HarRo in a response). Point is that i'm still undecided about Kilgore. And the fact that Baalke drafted Martin makes me wonder does he envision him taking the Center spot or the guard spot or just depth.
As to Thomas and Martin. I love the upside but It's hard to land picks in the draft. We are banking on the fact that both those picks will turn out to be studs. Martin got thrown in early, but he did suck at center. Maybe he does better at guard? Thomas is promising, but I think he has torn the ACL twice now, once in high school and the other during the private workout before the draft.
For me, I want a dominate Oline. It gives Hyde more opportunities to push the ball and be that power run team and it protects Kap. I view it as protecting your investments. You signed Boldin, Kap, brought in Torrey, etc... you want to use them wisely? I don't think you will be able to see what we have in those guys if the Oline is shaky.
Kilgore, Thomas and Martin could pan out. But I don't want to waste another year of Boldin and Kap and Torrey, Hyde, Bowman, vets etc...
Oline I think is easier to land in the early rounds. I am hopeful that Baalke uses picks 1 or 2 on landing a top lineman. When you wait till the later rounds we start to get the ACL guys or the Looneys from the 4th round etc... It just seems like more of a gamble.