I'm curious why you say this. I mean, I feel that way. But it's because I thought for sure when we drafted him that he'd be a good pro. So I guess my question is, what difference do you think there will be coming into camp that'll help him improve? What does he really need to work on to get better and how?
i dont remember but i broke down a pretty good take on Winters a month or two ago in a random thread, without knowing where it was i will re-cap.
Winters had two major hurdles to overcome last year. A) Level of competition in college/adjusting to the speed of the NFL B)changing position from OT to OG. Combining both is a large task especially for someone who had late 2nd -4th rd pick written all over him. Add in the fact that both Brick and Mangold had bad years, its not like were to assume he had the elite support on both sides we assumed hed have.
Hes a former wrestler, which is a two sided coin. That usually comes with a relentless motor. The downside is though, unless theyre nearly perfect, they will revert to their instincts and start bending at their waist when locked up thus losing their base and ability to reset for another punch to re-establish their hand placement.
Me, Cane, Badger, Heismanberg, quite a few of us were lobbying for Winters in the 3rd, especially when we hadnt takent an OL up to that point. The only question I had was , will he be as strong and tenacious in the trenches as he was in college when hes face with the cream of the crop? He was, when he executed clean from a technical standpoint, he gets a solid push off the snap, and is athletic enough to chip off, seal and hit the next level.
Physically he can do it, but hes got some stuff to work on. Like what i mentioned with about the risk some wrestlers present. sometimes he stops moving his feet to focus on being more aggressive up top when engaged. and the split second your not chopping your feet you can get put off balance, or just get stopped dead in your tracks.
He showed plenty of flashes, particularly in the run game, and looked overwhelmed at times in blitz pickups, but most OG's who arent elite prospects struggle with this initially. Later in the year his base looked cleaner in kick slides and trying to use his arm length to re-direct bull rushes, in the pass protection game. It didnt always pan out great, but he made progress.
Im honestly more concerned with the RG spot, Colon was above avg at best last year and theres no telling if he can at least provide the same level of performance this year. after this year he has no business starting in the NFL unless he resurrects the ghost of Ponce De Leon and finds the fountain of youth.
