Hosted Nick Easton (Olineman) from Vikings - Signed with Saints (1 Viewer)

Stefan Wisniewski is available....and only 29. I'm surprised they didn't kick the tires. Heck, maybe they still will.
 
Well, haven't seen a single snap of Easton so my opinion is uninformed (not like that ever stops anyone from posting their thoughts anyway) but here's what I like:

  • He's young, smart and worked his way quickly into playing time as a UDFA OL (which is not always easy)
  • He's started at C and G so provides good flexibility there
  • He's a mobile guy who can move laterally, get to the second level and out on screens
  • His pass pro is solid even though his run blocking isn't as good (rather that than the vice versa)
What I don't like:
  • Considering his limited experience and injuries, $6m per year seems a little on the high side ($4m seems closer to feeling 'right') - but the contract details may shed more light
  • Two significant injuries in a short career. Some people believe that players who get a couple impact injuries are unlucky and not necessarily injury prone - I always think that guys who get injured will continue to do so. (however, he should have a clean bill of health coming in so fingers crossed)
Bottom line is: He's ours now, I hope he's healthy and awesome and continues to improve. It's not impossible to imagine him grading out at the same level at least as Unger did in 2018 (assuming he beats out Tom)
 
So there's a trend.

That trend is that we, as fans, judge contract values based on their reported maximum value in the press and then apply our internal measurement of what we think is 'right'. This becomes another excuse to then bash the signing.

Meanwhile, we should probably bear in mind that the actual cost of signing a player tabbed to start in this league is actually much higher than what we think it is. It was reported before FA began that a lot of teams would be bidding on a small amount of marginally above average OL for excessive amounts of money, because they're competing with each other for limited resources. And so it has come to pass.

I'm confident that if you went and compiled the max contract value and per year average of each OL so far signed in this period* you'd find that 6m per year is 'chump change' relatively speaking.

*This period, because what people signed for last year or before that isn't the comparator here. Every old contract is a relative bargain for the player you want to keep, compared to 'today's prices'
 
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Seems the saints had a little kneejerk reaction, but w/o knowing who else was out there this might be the best option now. Can't get worse than olin kreutz... hopefully

They had their sight set on Easton well before the announcement of Unger's retirement which tells me they knew about it and were being proactive.
 
So there's a trend.

That trend is that we, as fans, judge contract values based on their reported maximum value in the press and then apply our internal medieval of what we think is 'right'. This becomes another excuse to then bash the signing.

Meanwhile, we should probably bear in mind that the actual cost of signing a player tabbed to start in this league is actually much higher than what we think it is. It was reported before FA began that a lot of teams would be bidding on a small amount of marginally above average OL for excessive amounts of money, because they're competing with each other for limited resources. And so it has come to pass.

I'm confident that if you went and compiled the max contract value and per year average of each OL so far signed in this period* you'd find that 6m per year is 'chump change' relatively speaking.

*This period, because what people signed for last year or before that isn't the comparator here. Every old contract is a relative bargain for the player you want to keep, compared to 'today's prices'

There's another reported trend as well which is that finding competent OL is harder and harder to do with college schemes. Weak supply and high demand drives up the price. Backups like Kelemete are getting paid $4m per year as an example.

Also, again, not knowing the full contract details, even if it's $6m per year for Easton, what may be a little high in year 1 should be a bargain in year 4 with the cap on the rise.

Bottom line is that if he's manages to avoid the injury bug and plays reasonably well as a starter on our OL, this is a great deal.
 
There's another reported trend as well which is that finding competent OL is harder and harder to do with college schemes. Weak supply and high demand drives up the price. Backups like Kelemete are getting paid $4m per year as an example.

Also, again, not knowing the full contract details, even if it's $6m per year for Easton, what may be a little high in year 1 should be a bargain in year 4 with the cap on the rise.

Bottom line is that if he's manages to avoid the injury bug and plays reasonably well as a starter on our OL, this is a great deal.
If he's an average center, it's an amazing deal. Imagine what $6M a year would get us in 2022. Probably not even the worst starting center in the league. If he's just decent, we have a STEAL for 4 years.
 
Well, haven't seen a single snap of Easton so my opinion is uninformed (not like that ever stops anyone from posting their thoughts anyway) but here's what I like:

  • He's young, smart and worked his way quickly into playing time as a UDFA OL (which is not always easy)
  • He's started at C and G so provides good flexibility there
  • He's a mobile guy who can move laterally, get to the second level and out on screens
  • His pass pro is solid even though his run blocking isn't as good (rather that than the vice versa)
What I don't like:
  • Considering his limited experience and injuries, $6m per year seems a little on the high side ($4m seems closer to feeling 'right') - but the contract details may shed more light
  • Two significant injuries in a short career. Some people believe that players who get a couple impact injuries are unlucky and not necessarily injury prone - I always think that guys who get injured will continue to do so. (however, he should have a clean bill of health coming in so fingers crossed)
Bottom line is: He's ours now, I hope he's healthy and awesome and continues to improve. It's not impossible to imagine him grading out at the same level at least as Unger did in 2018 (assuming he beats out Tom)
Let me ask you this; how important is the center in run blocking schemes? I know that a pulling guard is vital to some run concepts, but what impact, other than line calls and keeping his assignment adequately blocked, does a center have? And would it be more important to have a pass blocking center or a run blocking center in most situations?
 
Let me ask you this; how important is the center in run blocking schemes? I know that a pulling guard is vital to some run concepts, but what impact, other than line calls and keeping his assignment adequately blocked, does a center have? And would it be more important to have a pass blocking center or a run blocking center in most situations?

As a former center, obviously it's the most important OL position!

Things obviously depend on scheme, play concept and defensive alignment but generally, the center will work with one of the guards for the 1 tech and the mike on run plays, zone or power. There will be occasions where the center needs to reach the 1 tech on zone plays so it's important for centers to be pretty mobile and good technically. Also, zone plays away from the 1 tech, the center needs to get to the 3 tech or the second level. What's very tough is power plays where the center gets no help, either because there's a 0 tech or other defensive alignment forcing the guards elsewhere. Having a center who can pull effectively opens up other options - not sure if I ever recall Unger pulling (not sure if Easton is good at this but certainly Minnesota last year pulled their center quite a bit).

Not sure if that helps. In short, the OL is so reliant on each individual player to work together that one guy consistently losing his matchups or not doing his job will ruin it for the whole group. Why is the center important? Because if you want to run inside the tackles, the center is at the heart of the melee and if he can't do his job you get 1 tech's hitting RB's in the backfield or forcing him to stutter or re-direct.
 
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im thinking the JCook or Ziggy deal is done by the end of the day now.
 

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