I was watching locked on saints Last night on YouTube, and in the last section he talks about the o-line with the gaps, and the drops of the tackles. It got me to thinking about Trevor Penning and his development.
It has taken Cesar Ruiz 3 years to develop in the pass blocking part of his game. His run blocking has been there though. Trevor is in the same boat.
Trevor has to learn how to block 2 different gaps - the B gap, and the C gap. Then, he has to learn where to be in his drops - whether it be a 3 step, 5 step, or 7 step drop. Then, there's shot gun and all it's drops.
Run blocking is pretty straight forward, but pass blocking is not. It takes time to learn and develop as an O-lineman in the NFL. Trevor had something like a 80 score in run blocking last year, but something like a 30 something for pass blocking.
Hopefully, he has been working on this during the off-season, but he has also been rehabbing the injury. How much work could he actually put in while rehabbing.
We all pretty much think it's his job to lose, and I hope we are right and it all comes together for him. I just thank God we have a James Hurst on the team. He's not great but he is serviceable and maybe even above average.
Trevor will get there. I think he is that talented. Maybe even during TC. We just need to give him time, and not get ahead of the process.
It's Andrus Peat I'm more worried about. He has never developed into what we need him to be. He's oft injured, and he misses too many blocks. Personally, I'd love for Saldiveri to be able to be developed enough to beat out Peat. It'd be nice to have Peat as a backup over being the starter.
Calvin Throckmorton is another one of our O-lineman that I'm excited about. He seems to get better every year. He's a very good backup for the saints.
Now though, I have to wonder. Landon Young. Is he developing as the backup tackle we drafted him to be. I don't know how much playing time he's gotten. But if Ram has to come out, can Young actually hold up. He was a 7th round pick after all.
I'm excited this year for this unit. I really want to see the entire starting O-line play together for an entire season, something we never got to see last year. This unit still concerns me as to whether some of the young guys can actually develop, but the more I hear from guys like Ross Jackson and the guys @ no.football, the less I seem to be worried.
Trevor has a lot to learn, but Doug Marone is one of the best o-line coaches in the league for developing young players. I'm excited to see this all take shape in TC.
Who DAT