Chris Kemoeatu In Position To Start in '08

by Blitzburgh on Apr 29, 2008 11:17 AM EDT

At least so says offensive line coach Larry Zierlein. Coach Z said it was essentially Chris' job to lose:

"Chris is going to get the shot,” he said. “I’ll tell you what, I have a lot of confidence in that guy. (Chris) was ready to play last year, (but) Kendall kind of won the thing. But it was close,” Zierlein said. “When we came out of training camp and the pre-season games, the grades were close. But this kid is ready to play. I like him, I really do like him. I think he’s going to be a good player.”

Couple of thoughts about this. First, that's great if Chris K has developed to a point where he's earned the starting nod and is ready to excel. We'll be all the better for it. However, it also means we probably won't be seeing Willie Colon at the other guard spot. Why? Because high priced players like Kendall Simmons probably aren't going to be paid huge chunks of cash to sit on the sideline, especially if he's playing anything that resembles good, hard-nosed football in the trenches.

This scenario would probably leave Colon as the odd man out, with Marvel on the left side, joined by Chris K, Hartwig at center, Simmons at right guard, and Max Starks at right tackle. Mahan and Colon would be asked to be reserves. Not the worst case scenario, that's for sure, as MANY of our frustrations last year revolved around those two guys. But, I still have high hopes for Colon if it's at a guard position.

This is just April banter for now. But it sure will be interesting to see how this internal competition shakes out as we move into the summer and towards the preseason.

Thoughts?

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Chris K

It seems like an odd time for a position coach to bring up a guy who by all other accounts will be competing or a starting spot in camp. It almost sounds like they might be trying to talk him up to the rest of the league. I hope Chris can step up and be a solid player b/c that would go a long way to solidifying the OL. I do wonder what that will mean for Colon though b/c I want Colon to stay in the starting lineup so that he can continue to progress.

I do think if they had as much confidence in him as Z is letting on last year, they’d have got him more snaps than they did. He didn’t see a single offensive snap in 9 regular season games.

by cgolden on Apr 29, 2008 12:20 PM EDT 0 recs

I’m really interested to see how this shakes down.

Between replacing Mahan, losing Faneca, and shifting the line around again there’s just no telling if there will be any real improvement this year. I agree with you on Colon though. If they want him to take over as a tackle they need to get him in there every game.

My hope is that Hills proves to be a great tackle that can start or split duties in ‘09 and Colon gets moved in to guard, which seems like a no brainer to me but what do I know?

by BallsofSteel on Apr 29, 2008 1:42 PM EDT up 0 recs

Crappy Simmons

As I play with o-line formations in my head the sticking point always comes back to Simmons’ contract. He did not play up to it last year and it sounds like the contract was the only reason he started over Chris K.

So now we enter 2008 and if Chris has made this much progress than our line should look like: Smith-Chris K.-Hartwig-Colon-Starks. I’m not sure how great the pass blocking would be from this group of maulers but I think we would shove the ball down some throats with this formation. With Rashard and Willie one-two punching it the defense would be too tired to rush the passer. But this leaves two of the higher paid lineman, simmons and Mahan on the bench. Ugh… I’m hoping the coaches and FO look past contracts and go with this type of line. Seriously, I’d dare teams to stop our running game at that point. We’d look more like the Jags of this year with dynamic running and only situational passing, but our passing game when we used it has far more weapons then theirs allowing us to get big plays out of the passing game.

by Chicago Steeler on Apr 30, 2008 10:22 AM EDT 0 recs

Give Kemoeatu his shot

Chris Kemoeatu deserves a legitimate shot at left tackle. I agree that he didn’t start last year due the big contracts of the other linemen. The O-line lacked toughness and attitude last year. Someone posted a comment that having a player with the nastiness of a Conrad Dobler would not be a bad thing. That guy is Kemoeatu. We gotta be able to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

by Bleedblack&gold on Apr 30, 2008 9:03 PM EDT 0 recs