We’ve been drafting guys. Lots of guys.

That’s not neglecting. You can criticize them for not doing it sooner, but it takes time to develop tackles.

BINGO. People around here act like we can just go down to the LT store and buy what we need. Seriously, people are now saying Cam Robinson should be a FA target in the off season. Bobby is getting excited about cam Robinson and I’m not convinced it makes us better.

And for the record, I’m all for trading tons of draft capital to fit the issues. I would have done that in a heartbeat for Alt.

Mitch said it - don't make it true.

I've looked into this, it's just not accurate. Taylor isn't out there taking abnormally deep drops. He does what OTs do and folks decided to take Mitch's word as Gospel because they were predisposed to disliking Taylor due to the penalties last season.

You’d think the Mahomes Affect could draw a top tackle in? Maybe some other positions? Is not having a ring worth the salary?

They made a straight mistake. But they tried to acquire a LT.

If you want to call it a failure, sure but they didn't neglect the position. They drafted a LT in the 2nd round. He just isn't ready.

Nobody yet.

And Creed hasn't cost any money yet.

The point isn't that it's impacted us to this stage as the contract hasn't kicked in. It's that it very well COULD going forward and this season (and previous ones) demonstrate very clearly how.

A guy like Cam Robinson is going to be more difficult for us to sign and firm up the LT position for the next several years because we'll have Creed's contract on the books instead.

Nobody's frustrated by what the contract HAS done - it hasn't started yet. The conversation is as to what the contract COULD do in the future.

You can get away with paying a couple of guys on the OL elite money, even if it's centre and guard. If you're paying your RT elite money to be not good at all, that's where the problem contract is.

This. I haven't done it as much this year but I do occasionally watch the All 22. Trey is not struggling because of Taylor. The majority of his problems have been him just getting beat hard right up the middle.

The question isn't what you can 'get away with' -- it's what makes sense.

Terron Armstead signed for 5/$75 million -- that's a $15 million AAV. The offense is better with Armstead at LT and Slappy McSlapdick at C. We know this because we've SEEN this.

This offense was just fine with Austin Reiter at C. And he's as replaceable as they get. He's the Wanya Morris of Cs. He just plays a position that doesn't matter nearly as much.

It won’t start kicking in until 2026. Chris, Kelce and Thuney will all be gone. Sure we’ll have paid McDuffie and Bolton but space will be there.

And yeah I get the premise of this point. I think it applies better to Nick Bolton, who is not the best at his position like Creed Humphrey.

Edit-Chris will likely be gone in 2027 not 2026

Never underestimate the dopamine hit that comes with a 'name' telling you what you wanted to hear.

If anything, the idea that Smith has struggled in pass protection may be a little overstated. He's lost ugly a few times and that's created the belief (I certainly had it).

But when you dig into the numbers he's been no worse than solid in pass pro.

What it's starting to look like is that interior pass protection just isn't moving the needle as much right now. And that seems to be confirmed by what we're seeing from our DL despite having the most dominant interior pass-rusher in the NFL.

It's just looking more and more like we have a misallocation of talent and, going forward, perhaps a bit of a misallocation of resources as Thuney and Creed end up with the highest cap figures at their respective positions in the NFL. They could be EXCEPTIONAL at pass protection (in fact, they are) and it's still not solving our fundamental pass pro issues.

What you need on the interior is 'solid'. Once you get past that, your marginal returns on 'spectacular' seem pretty minimal.

I still feel like we're hand-waiving his impact on how good our run defense has been this year.

Bolton's going to be a major part of that.

If we try Tranquil at that spot next year, our run defense is going to suck eggs.

May be necessary; there's only so much money to go around. But I think it will absolutely be impactful.

I'm not saying the Creed contract will be a wise move, I'm saying we didn't get Terron Armstead at OT we got someone playing worse for more, and that is the egregious albatross of a contract from which other issues derive.

Should we have compounded this by overpaying a C, nope, probably not.

Not even close.

Taylor isn't the reason Morris has sucked. And Taylor isn't playing poorly - he's been pretty much average in pass protection.

And as you said, Smith's been solid in pass pro, he's just also not been paid a boatload. But yes, LT has been the disaster, and the problem in affording an even average one will be the combination of an overpaid elite C, and an overpaid average RT