Offensive Line

[123James321]

Darryl Conrad 6-3", 312lbs(OG) 25yrs
Ryan Donelly 6-5", 292lbs(OL) 31yrs
Matt O'meara 6-5", 285lbs(OG/OT) 27yrs
Bobby Sing 6-3", 315lbs (OG) 34yrs
Kyle Sleightholm 6-3", 295lbs (?) 24yrs
Steve Morley 6-7", 314lbs 37yrs

Probable Starters

*Dan Goodspeed 6-5", 319lbs(RT) 32yrs
Ibrahim Khan 6-3", N/A (OL[mainly center] 29yrs
Brendon LaBatte 6-4", 323lbs (OG) 23yrs
*Glenn January 6-5", 310lbs (OT) 26yrs

*denotes import

-I'm not sure if Kyle Sleightholm is a tackle or gaurd, but he's young and I was impressed with him. A couple yrs and he will be a gooder!
-I like Ryan Donelly because he can play anywhere on the offensive line.
-Matt O'meara can play both gaurd and tackle, and can play pretty well IMO.
-Bobby Sing is kind of old, and broken.. not sure if he has a place here.
-Obby is ready to dominate I think, so he will be an upgrade over the undersized Picard.
-The jury is out on Morley, but I read he can play anywhere on the line as well...

Everyone is super worried about our offensive line because we lost Picard a Gauthier and we really don't need to be... If Obby is healthy, which I think he is, based on what I have read and heard, he's easily an upgrade on the undersized Picard..

January is a slight upgrade on Gauthier. Sure Alex was a Canuck, but we have addressed that in other places on the team which is Rial Johnson. Rial is an upgrade over what we had last season at DE plus he is NI. So I believe our Canadian content is even stronger then last season.

My Question is who will be starting at Gaurd opposite LaBatte? Personaly I think a good one will emerge in TC out of the group we have.

Otherwise we have a Solid O-line

[papazoola]

...You my friend are right on.....Good post James.... :thup: I see a lot of youth mixed with experience....we'll be alright..

[MadJack]

The line has the potential to be good papa...............my only reservation is Carpenter as your line coach. He took a very good Montreal offensive line that had a good mix of youth and experience, that had been great in years previous, and made it absolutely dreadful, giving up the most sacks in 2007. Once he was gone, our line bounced back in a major way in 2008.

So you'd better hope he's learned from his mistakes, otherwise Mr LeFors will be running for dear life.

[123James321]

Thanks papa... I made a typo though, Steve Morely is 27, not 37 years old this year.

And I forgot Luke Fritz 6-6", 300lbs (OT) 31yrs

[PIGSEYE]

Good job James.

If the games are won and lost in the trenches, then this group won't be easy to push around.

[HfxTC]

@"PIGSEYE"

Good job James.

If the games are won and lost in the trenches, then this group won't be easy to push around.

Looks good but you have 2 imports starting on the Oline, a NI kicker...The key will come down to how well the NI play at the other positions to compensate for the 2 Import on the oline. If it affects your defensive backfield or defensive front... But protecting the QB, opening up holes, giving time for plays to develop has to be #1.

[PIGSEYE]

@"HfxTC"

@"PIGSEYE"

Good job James.

If the games are won and lost in the trenches, then this group won’t be easy to push around.

Looks good but you have 2 imports starting on the Oline, a NI kicker…The key will come down to how well the NI play at the other positions to compensate for the 2 Import on the oline. If it affects your defensive backfield or defensive front… But protecting the QB, opening up holes, giving time for plays to develop has to be #1.

Always takes time for a new o-line to mesh, and this is basically a new o-line.

What I am really looking forward to is seeing Picard start at centre for the Argos, and lining up against Doug Brown & Tyrone Williams. I liked Picard, but he is going to have his hands full with those two.

[on_in_two]

As soon as a starting Canadian goes down, the Bombers are in serious trouble with the ratio. They have zero Canadian depth on the O-Line, and, other than Labatte, they really have no talented Canadians on the O-Line.

Look for Kelly to trade up in the draft to get Morencie or Rottier. But it will cost him.

[PIGSEYE]

@"on in two"

As soon as a starting Canadian goes down, the Bombers are in serious trouble with the ratio. They have zero Canadian depth on the O-Line, and, other than Labatte, they really have no talented Canadians on the O-Line.

Look for Kelly to trade up in the draft to get Morencie or Rottier. But it will cost him.

What depth chart have you been looking at ?

The Bombers have 8 NI o-linemen, all capable of starting, in fact half of them have more starts than either Picard or Koch.

The Bombers may have problems, but NI depth is not one of them.

[123James321]

@"PIGSEYE"

@"on in two"

As soon as a starting Canadian goes down, the Bombers are in serious trouble with the ratio. They have zero Canadian depth on the O-Line, and, other than Labatte, they really have no talented Canadians on the O-Line.

Look for Kelly to trade up in the draft to get Morencie or Rottier. But it will cost him.

What depth chart have you been looking at ?

The Bombers have 8 NI o-linemen, all capable of starting, in fact half of them have more starts than either Picard or Koch.

The Bombers may have problems, but NI depth is not one of them.

I guess he didn't read the initial post Piggy..

2 imports to 8 NI's is a lot of imports???

Plus in all of our other NI starting positions, on in two, we have at least capable canadian backups(most are more then capable), as well as many different scenarios to work with...

If we are desperate we can switch up the O-line and start 4 canadians(although this will be the last option).. Luke Fritz or Steven Morley or Matt O'meara would start in place of January.

Or we could start Brock Ralph or Aaron Hargraves in the reciever sets... starting two canadians there instead of just one.

You may not know who some of these guys are, or how well they play because you are not a Bomber fan... But believe me when I tell you, we know who they are, we've seen them play, and we arn't worried.

[123James321]

here is an update on the offensive line and some interesting numbers

Glenn January: 6'5" - 310lbs - 26 this year - Tackle
Luke Fritz: 6'6" - 314lbs - 31 this year - Tackle
Steve Morely: 6'7" - 314lbs - 28 this year - O-Line
Kyle Sleightholm: 6'3" - 295lbs - 24 this year - Tackle
Matt O'Mera: 6'5" - 285lbs - 27 this year - Tackle/Gaurd
Jean-Francois Morin-Roberge: 6'6" - 325lbs - 25 this year - Center/Tackle?
Kelly Butler: 6'8" - 317lbs - 27 this year - Tackle

Kelly Bates: 6'3" - 301lbs - 34 this year - Gaurd
Ryan Donnelly: 6'5" - 292lbs - 31 this year - O-Line
Obby Kahn: 6'3" - 270lbs - 29 this year - O-Line(Primary Center)
Brendon LaBatte: 6'4" - 323lbs - 23 this year - Gaurd

Last years Lineman we lost due to free agency/Trade

Kyle Koch: 6'2" - 315lbs - 25 this year - Gaurd
Alex Gauthier: 6'6" - 326lbs - 33 this year - Tackle
Dan Goodspeed: 6'6" - 313lbs - 32 this year - Tackle
Dominic Picard: 6'2" - 302lbs - 27this year - Center

Starting O line last year

Gauthier - Koch - Picard - LaBatte - Goodspeed

Avg age : 28
Avg weight : 315.8lbs

Projected starting Oline with 2 Imps

Avg age: 27.8
Avg weight: 304.2

With Luke Fritz over Glenn January

Avg age: 28.8
Avg weight: 305

The more I look at it the more I like it. Our offensive line will actually be just as experianced, but a little smaller on avg. However, Kyle Koch didn't impress and was only a starter due to injury(decent back up though). Ryan Donnelly also just didn't cut it and probably won't make the team. Kelly Bates will be a huge improvement at gaurd. Our tackles won't be to much worse now with Luke Fritz/Glenn January/Kelly Butler all fighting it out. Kahn will be an uprgrade over Picard...

However, Kahn's weight isn't listed as high as I thought it would be, probably hasnt been updated. It will be interesting to see what he could get his weight up to by TC.

I think the offensive line will actually be improved over last season. The inside of our offensive line was severly plagued by injuries and we had no run game for the first half of the season. It certainly will not be as good as 2007 though.

[123James321]

Sorry I forgot to put down what the projected starting Line will be

January/Fritz Bates Kahn LaBatte Butler

Thats my guess anyway, Hopefully Butler guy signs soon!

[PIGSEYE]

I'm thinking Fritz will start at one of the tackle spots and January/Butler will fight it out for the other.

So that's 4 NI's on the oline

Brown on the Dline

A FB, either Oost or Stephenson

A receiver Franklin or Ralph, makes 7 NI's.

Logan could go in at safety also and rotate out when Johnson rotates in on the dline.

Kelly has many options.

[123James321]

@"PIGSEYE"

I'm thinking Fritz will start at one of the tackle spots and January/Butler will fight it out for the other.

So that's 4 NI's on the oline

Brown on the Dline

A FB, either Oost or Stephenson

A receiver Franklin or Ralph, makes 7 NI's.

Logan could go in at safety also and rotate out when Johnson rotates in on the dline.

Kelly has many options.

Which is a big improvement over the past few years. We have always struggled to put 7 guys on the starting roster.

[papazoola]

....we certainly are more flexible.....it's just a matter of putting the right people together and that takes time....the 'jelling' factor....Sleightholm could surprise us this year....another ni of note....He chose to go back to finish his courses last year...and would have most likely made the team in 08....According to sources....keep an eye on this guy..