![]() ![]() A center must be quick but strong at the point of attack. Frederick immediately became the rock for this unit. The Cowboys added to their offensive line in 2013, drafting their stalwart at center, Travis Frederick, with the 31st pick in the first round. Smith was named the All-Pro left tackle in 2014-17. He swallows up defenders quickly, allowing his running backs room to run and his quarterbacks the ability to drop back without fear of getting hit from behind. Smith has a prototypical body for an offensive lineman, with thick legs, long arms, giant hands and excellent feet. After allowing eight sacks on 641 pass-protection snaps in 2011, Smith allowed 19 over his next 4,591 snaps, spanning from 2012 to present. ![]() It was easy to see from the start of his career Smith was something special, even as he worked through some rookie struggles. The USC product was drafted by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft and immediately started 16 games. The anchor for those Dallas units was future Hall of Famer Tyron Smith. The Cowboys followed this plan and hit a gold mine. It’s important to draft offensive linemen - especially early in the draft when you’re expecting them to play fairly quickly - from well-known offensive-line factories. With less practice time in the NFL, it’s hard to develop players when wholesale technique changes are needed. College success does not translate into NFL success for a variety of reasons, including the college schemes and techniques, which are often very different between the levels. So, how did the Cowboys build this monster for it only to be torn down piece by piece? It starts with drafting the right guys, developing their talent with the right coaching and keeping them healthy.ĭrafting offensive linemen can be a tricky business. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, the success of their big boys only produced two playoff appearances and a single postseason victory. I don’t think a 32 year old Browner could cover man to man at this point in his career to give the Bears any quality play.The injury to Zack Martin in a Thanksgiving Day game against Washington was symbolic of the decline of the one of the NFL's best position groups. In other ‘OMG the Bears should sign this guy that was just cut’ news, the Seattle Seahawks just pink slipped corner Brandon Browner. He hadn’t played in the past two preseason games, which really could have helped his case to make the final roster, but either his injury was too much or the Lions had already made up their mind.” He continues on saying Schwartz was “missing practices regularly due to injuries. But Schwartz turned out to be a tad unreliable himself,” according to the Pride Of Detroit’s Jeremy Reisman. “Schwartz was brought along to help add a veteran presence and some experienced depth to the Lions’ young, unreliable offensive line. ‘And in 2013 PFF had him graded as the 8th best guard in all the land, so he must be an upgrade for the Bears! I mean he can’t be any worse than what the Bears have now!’ ‘But Lester, Pro Football Focus had Schwartz graded really good last year! I even have picture proof to prove it!” So, if you connect the dots, you’d realize that the Bears can’t plug a mauler like Schwartz into the interior of their line and continue running the zone blocking scheme. If 100% healthy, the 6’6”, 340 pound Schwartz could probably help a man or power based offensive line scheme, but the Bears have been running a lot of zone stuff this preseason. Hip, toe, ankle and leg injuries have stolen a possible 22 games from his career. He does have 39 starts from 2009-2015 at both guard and right tackle, while appearing in 74 total games, but injuries have been a constant issue for him. Schwartz (30 years old) was released by the Detroit Lions earlier today after only about five months in Detroit. So, should the Bears sign Geoff Schwartz? I finished my leftover pizza in a matter of minutes, so I had time as my lunch break wound down to slap together a quickie. El Jefe himself, Dane Noble, asked us Windy City Gridiron writers if any of us had a few minutes to knock out a quick “Should the Bears sign Geoff Schwartz?” article. ![]()
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