Interesting: "Could Carimi be our LT in 2012?"

I never thought about this option.

LINK to the article

Quote:

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http://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cg...RT&rnd=7099088


Top 10 NFC breakout players

5. Gabe Carimi, OT, Chicago Bears
He is the best player of this much-maligned unit, but he gives this O-line hope for the future. His 2011 season was cut short by knee problems, but he should be fine in 2012. He has good feet and athletic ability, and his long arms give him good separation from the defender. He is also mentally and physically tough. While he seems to be most comfortable at right tackle, there is talk he could move to left tackle to protect QB Jay Cutler's blind side. Carimi and this e

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Could and why not open it up to all the tackles, but if they really have faith in CW and Webb, I'd perfer to let him develop into the RT that they envisioned.

everything should be an option on this oline

when your 30th ranked as a unit change is needed

Obviously we're all guessing about the oline at this point. But I never considered the Carimi option. And it may be unnecessary if Webb has in fact improved enough to be a quality LT for us. Chris Williams is a real solid LG. It would be nice to leave him where he can be solid, instead of putting him at LT.

Webb might be better suited as RT. He looked better as an RT to me, than he has at LT. Carimi is inexperienced, but he looks better than Chris Williams in space. We drafted him (I thought) as a LT. He was the Outland Trophy winner as a LT at Wisconsin (nation's best olineman).

Carimi credits a lot of his oline skills as coming from him being a skilled black belt in karate. It helps with his hand placement, athleticism and coordination. Kind of like Kreutz at his prime seemed to benefit from his skills as a heavyweight wrestling champion.

Carimi needs a year perhaps to get his "sea legs" at RT. Plus he may need to be worked into the lineup slowly. Had he been healthy I would bet he'd be high on the list for starting LT.

I'm not sure that moving Carimi this year before he played a whole season at RT is such a great idea but if that's a consideration then they need to make that decision quickly and begin letting him work there. No matter what he'll struggle some with the top pass rushers just like Webb does. The most immediate effect would probably be a tremendous reduction in the number of mental errors.

If they're gonna flip flop the OT's and move CWill back to LG then that should be on the agenda just as soon as camp begins. It's been said in other articles that the key to this lines success will be for the starting five to be selected as soon after camp opens as possible and let them develop familiarity with one another.

I have to agree with this. I believe that 50% of the success of any Oline comes from knowing and trusting what the guy next to you will do. There has to be a lot of coordination of effort between those guys. Far more than the average fan could ever know or appreciate.

Moving Carimi to the left side would bring about the same results as Webb brought last year. Bad move for this season.

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Originally Posted by soulman

I'm not sure that moving Carimi this year before he played a whole season at RT is such a great idea but if that's a consideration then they need to make that decision quickly and begin letting him work there. No matter what he'll struggle some with the top pass rushers just like Webb does. The most immediate effect would probably be a tremendous reduction in the number of mental errors.

If they're gonna flip flop the OT's and move CWill back to LG then that should be on the agenda just as soon as camp begins. It's been said in other articles that the key to this lines success will be for the starting five to be selected as soon after camp opens as possible and let them develop familiarity with one another.

I have to agree with this. I believe that 50% of the success of any Oline comes from knowing and trusting what the guy next to you will do. There has to be a lot of coordination of effort between those guys. Far more than the average fan could ever know or appreciate.

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The continuity is an important factor, and I was thinking about that this afternoon, after my original post. It means the best option is for Webb to take another step of improvement so we don't have to move folks around. But it sounds like they may have already made up their mind for Chris Williams to be a tackle (starter or swing tackle). This moves Spencer from RG to LG. I understand they may need to do this, but if Chris Williams ends up sitting on the bench, that would be a shame. He has been in the LG role for quite a stint now, and he got to the point he looked really really good there. Arguably our best lineman. He just seems like a "natural" there. When he was at LT he looked like an alligator armed tackle, lost in the bigger space. At guard he is just fine in the smaller space.

It almost makes me wish they'd grab one of the FA tackles that's still out there as our swing guy. There's still a couple of them who are older, and have had injuries that would make them more affordable options for us - and they'd be savvy veterans who could come off the bench if either of our starters went down. The downside is that it would mean one less roster spot for a developing young player. That sucks too. But maybe the veteran would be a 1 year gig, and we'd draft a solid (real solid) oline guy next draft anyway.

If we had a full offseason without a lockout, I have to hope we would have at least given him a shot there. Since he has been out recovering, we again are missing an opportunity to see if he can hang there with pros. I would hope that Tice doesn't share the same stubborn stance on players and that he would get a look sooner rather than later just in case CW and Webb can't hang.