OUR OFFENSIVE LINE

Our offensive Line looks in a mess with Marwan Hage still up i the air over his injury and the loss of starting right guard Simon Rottier and the release of jack of all trades veteran Wayne Smith .

Add to this the fact that a prospect we picked last year in which we hoped could battle for a starting spot has been picked up by an NFL team ...Moe Petus a first round pick of ours last year was oicked up by the NFL tbay buccs and he could have started at C OR G for us . This might of been one of the reasons we let SMith go.

[url=http://www.thespec.com/news/article/715075--drew-edwards-has-centre-moe-petrus-signed-with-nfl-buccaneers]http://www.thespec.com/news/article/715 ... buccaneers[/url]

So we did pick up a guy from calgary that has played center and guard but his no star .... Tim O'neill .

I think we are ok at the tow import end spots with 2 incumbants from last year as well as good competition but
center and right guard and overall non import depth is the concern here

i think they should go grab free agent taylor robertson now since there is no good olineman in the draft other then Heenan that is worth picking 3rd overall unless we trade the pick for an OLINEMAN

Well, in all fairness, the report implying that Moe Petrus has signed with the Bucs is unconfirmed. There’s still a chance he can end up in camp this year.

It’s great to have Burris here, but it’s too bad that Mark Dewitt was part of the deal. I thought he did a fantastic job filling in for Marwan last season, and he could have slid over to the starting guard position to replace Rottier.

Otherwise, there’s a couple of other non-imports that could step up or provide depth…they’re just all a bit green:

Pascal Baillargeon - 3rd round draft pick from a couple years ago

Adam Rogers - Been on the Practice roster for a couple of years

Cody Husband - Was hurt all of last year

But yeah, you’re right. Despite being a terrible cliche, “Success starts in the trenches”. It doesn’t bode well to have a bunch of question marks on both lines going into training camp.

Yes, I think the offensive line will be an issue. I hate to see Mallett back there without the run support necessary. We have so many pieces to the puzzle, and I hope this important one is solved soon.

We're really only missing one starter from last season (Rottier). Depth is an issue right now but that can be fixed a little bit tomorrow. As of right now we still have a shot at getting Petrus into camp as well.

Let me just put it out there that the loss of Cobourne affects our line as well. If Mallet can't do almost as good a job of blocking that's almost like losing another lineman in my opinion.

That said, I'm sure several OL will be signed before camp probably out of the US colleges but I'm surprised not much has been done about it so far.

How does Giguere's signing affect the o-line? If he's as good as he's supposed to be, the team may end up starting three NI receivers, flipping one out for a NI FB/TE on occasion. Add this to Hinds at DB, and it leaves three NIs on the lines. (And if the decide to start Eiben, we're down to two on the lines.) One on D and two on O? Or three on O? Probably depends on Hage's status.

There's a lot of OLine bashing going on. I hope the guys use it as bulletin board material.

Starting two N/I receivers along with one at FB, DT, and DB means TiCats could go with two N/I on the OLine. I don't think it's a good long term situation though.

Petrus hasn't been invited to any mini-camps nor signed with an NFL team. There's a good chance he'll be at McMaster next month.

Pesztor went undrafted but did get an invite to a mini-camp with the Vikings. From what I've read on their website they are deep on the OLine. There's a good chance he'll be in the CFL this year.

There are also some highly regarded OLinemen in today's draft. It could very well develop that we end up with four N/I starting OLinemen.

The bigger concern right now is the Dline. Obie has to find an import rush end or two. Then there's the Secondary, but that's another topic for another day.

Yes, missing one starter from last year if you don’t consider Hage because of his injury. So take a weakened line and make them weaker still without Rottier…