Jared Gaither Is Back To Healthy

[BloodRaven]

[url="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8200f784/article/gaithers-back-feeling-great-ot-eyes-return-to-lineup?module=HP_headlines"]Hallelujah it's a miracle![/url]

[Romo Ravens]

Please put Oher back at RT and put Gaither where he needs to be!

[wayne]

Hope they let the best man win the competition at LT but moving Oher back to RT and Gaither at LT is when our O-line was at its best. I hope Gaither is willing to play RT if that's how it plays out though and I have a feeling by how he is talking he doesn't.

[Bltravens]

Oher has already stated he doesn't care which side he plays on. I highly doubt Gaither is brought back unless its under the 2010 agreement as a tendered RFA.

[berad]

Love the subtitle. It smells like a Rosenhaus ploy so, of course, I take it with a grain of salt. If it's really the case, great! But it sounds like Gaither has his heart set on LT and, if he can regain '08-'08 form, he can have it IMO.

[BloodRaven]

It's no secret that Gaither has taken advice from Rosenhaus on how to maximise his potential earnings, now this could mean he played up the severity of his "back injury" as a way to protest moving to the right side, or they decided a year on the shelf was less damaging than a year at RT. I think there are two ways to interpret this:

A He's one of the best left tackles in the league and wants to play and be paid like it, hopefully he stays as a RFA so we can assess his health and possible future contract. Theres also the possibility he could end up on a division rival like the Steelers.

B He's not worth the injury red flags and character issues so either he walks as a UFA or we slap him with a tender/trade him and get him the hell out of here.

[gabefergy]

[quote name='BloodRaven' timestamp='1306649887' post='691694']
It's no secret that Gaither has taken advice from Rosenhaus on how to maximise his potential earnings, now this could mean he played up the severity of his "back injury" as a way to protest moving to the right side, or they decided a year on the shelf was less damaging than a year at RT. I think there are two ways to interpret this:

A He's one of the best left tackles in the league and wants to play and be paid like it, hopefully he stays as a RFA so we can assess his health and possible future contract. Theres also the possibility he could end up on a division rival like the Steelers.

B He's not worth the injury red flags and character issues so either he walks as a UFA or we slap him with a tender/trade him and get him the hell out of here.
[/quote]
If by "no secret" you mean pure speculation than sure, those are two ways to look at the situation. Of course agents try to maximize the money their clients can earn, but I am not sure missing an entire season to a back injury is the best way to increase his value on the free agency market.

Now I am not saying we should just throw money at him, but hopefully we can retain his service as a RFA and see if A) he can stay healthy and B ) restore our offensive line to its 09' form.

[wayne]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1306652233' post='691695']
If by "no secret" you mean pure speculation than sure, those are two ways to look at the situation. Of course agents try to maximize the money their clients can earn, but [b]I am not sure missing an entire season to a back injury is the best way to increase his value on the free agency market.[/b]

Now I am not saying we should just throw money at him, but hopefully we can retain his service as a RFA and see if A) he can stay healthy and B ) restore our offensive line to its 09' form.
[/quote]
I agree, that's actually a way to spark the opposite effect.

[BloodRaven]

[quote name='gabefergy' timestamp='1306652233' post='691695']
If by "no secret" you mean pure speculation than sure, those are two ways to look at the situation. [/quote]

I said it's no secret that Rosenhaus advises his clients to create leverage, the speculation was purely my own opinion (key word being "could"). Maybe read a bit slower?

[quote]Of course agents try to maximize the money their clients can earn, but I am not sure missing an entire season to a back injury is the best way to increase his value on the free agency market.[/quote]

On average RT is one of the lowest paid positions in football but LT is usually second to the QB, are you going to tell me he hurt his stock by not playing a few games at RT? do you really believe no team would take a chance on a healthy marquee player because of a injury history?

[Bullrush]

It's unfortunate that our coaching stuff doesn't know how to build an O-Line. They destroyed what was a great O-Line a couple years ago by shuffling everybody around and by treating one of the best talents in football at the OT position like crap. The coaching staff made it very clear that they don't value Gaither, and John doesn't help the case with his silly comments about Oher who in his opinion is a natural LT, even though he struggled mightily against elite pass rushers and looks way more comfortable on the right side as a vicious run blocker, where he's not asked to block guys like James Harrison on a weekly basis with no help from a TE whatsoever. He doesn't have the technique, the quickness nor the feet to block elite pass rushers and shut them down. Gaither does.

[BloodRaven]

It goes beyond the coaching staffs assertions that Oher should play on the blindside, Cam was talking some hot garbage about Cousins starting ability and "left tackle feet". They basically told Gaither he was replaceable, but even Stevie Wonder could see our pass pro and ground game grinding down to a stutter.

Now unappreciated or not I don't condone most of Gaither's posturing, but even Ray was flirting in FA when his contract was up so the seems a moot point, he just want's what he's worth. The point is he is probably the closest thing to Ogden we will ever see and he's healthy, why not pay him?

[izvoodoo]

Of all the players in the league I feel like Gaither gets the most rose tinted treatment.

It's a chronic back issue, even if we had him under 2010 rules he should be traded.

He also struggled with elite pass rushers. Don't pretend he didn't, even joe thomas struggles with James harrison.

[Rav'n Maniac]

You know, I just want the best OL we can possibly muster and I feel that we should use the players in the best position that suits them. It all goes back to using the players to their strengths and if that means Gaither at LT and Oher at RT then so be it. It's got to be about the best protection for Joe and opening holes to run the ball through.

I understand that they want to give Oher as much time on the left side as possible, granted he is our future there.
We should always strive to be the best we can be at the "present". If it's not about that, then we have bigger issues here than we know about.

[flynismo]

[quote name='izvoodoo' timestamp='1306674663' post='691712']He also struggled with elite pass rushers.[/quote]


no, no he didn't. That's not even close to true.

[lgcs27288]

This is more than likely a ploy, he tweeted almost the exact same thing for Frank Gore yesterday.

[berad]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1306682698' post='691723']
no, no he didn't. That's not even close to true.
[/quote]

Really. There are few times Jared Gaither has ever "struggled" to play at top-form at LT, even when he was out there with one arm.

[PWNEDbyDEANO]

I must have missed something, why is there all the optimism about Gaither?

[JO_75]

We need to try to keep Gaither at all costs and put him at LT and move Oher back to RT. Our offensive line is MUCH BETTER when we have Gaither at LT and Oher at RT, and Yanda at RG. Jah Reid can be a backup behind Oher at RT, Gaither must be kept even if it's on a 2-3 year incentives deal but he must be at LT.

[Clutch Ravens]

Wait, a snake-in-the-grass agent saying all his injury prone clients are over their pretty serious injuries?

No Freakin' Way!

[ed.s52]

Why not return Gaither? He shown great ability and I doubt any other team would lay down serious coin for him considering the injury issues among other things.

Even if its just a one year deal, or an incentives based one, or both, return him so we can see if he ACTUALLY recovered

[ROH522155]

Somehow we need to find a way to hang on to this guy.

[Ed_Reed20]

I don't see how the coaches don't know how to build a line or how Gaither was treated poorly.

The organization had their reasons for switching Oher to LT during mini-camp but had Gaither been healthy, I highly doubt the o-line would have struggled as much as it did.

I hope he's re-signed but it doesn't seem likely.

[izvoodoo]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1306696541' post='691764']
I don't see how the coaches don't know how to build a line or how Gaither was treated poorly.

The organization had their reasons for switching Oher to LT during mini-camp but had Gaither been healthy, I highly doubt the o-line would have struggled as much as it did.
[/quote]

They probably switched gaither so he would get motivated. Also it was worth seeing how Oher played at LT. Gaither got a lot of help on the left side, as most LT's do, but he played well. He's still a better run blocker than anything.

My big concern is I don't think Oher and Grubbs is as good a tandem as Gaither and Grubbs. Oher/Yanda and Grubbs/Gaither are both great tandems, but we might need to move harewood to LG so we can get some punch on the left side.

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='izvoodoo' timestamp='1306696814' post='691766']
They probably switched gaither so he would get motivated. Also it was worth seeing how Oher played at LT. Gaither got a lot of help on the left side, as most LT's do, but he played well. He's still a better run blocker than anything.

My big concern is I don't think Oher and Grubbs is as good a tandem as Gaither and Grubbs. Oher/Yanda and Grubbs/Gaither are both great tandems, but we might need to move harewood to LG so we can get some punch on the left side.
[/quote]

I don't remember Gaither getting a lot of help in '09 but the coaches moving him to RT to motivate him is possible.

Why should the team move Grubbs from his natural position?

[izvoodoo]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1306697699' post='691771']
I don't remember Gaither getting a lot of help in '09 but the coaches moving him to RT to motivate him is possible.

Why should the team move Grubbs from his natural position?
[/quote]

09 he got some, 08 he got a ton. I felt like he got more help than Oher did, I felt like Oher played Tamba Hali a lot 1 on 1. I'm not saying move grubbs, I'm just saying Gaither and grubbs is a good tandem because grubbs is a technician and oher doesn't have the punch gaither does. Yanda and oher is a strong tandem because yanda packs the punch and oher brings the athleticism. So if we're talking about keep gaither I think that synergy should be part of the conversation.

[flynismo]

,[quote name='izvoodoo' timestamp='1306696814' post='691766']<br />They probably switched gaither so he would get motivated.  Also it was worth seeing how Oher played at LT.  Gaither got a lot of help on the left side, as most LT's do, but he played well.  He's still a better run blocker than anything.<br /><br />My big concern is I don't think Oher and Grubbs is as good a tandem as Gaither and Grubbs.  Oher/Yanda and Grubbs/Gaither are both great tandems, but we might need to move harewood to LG so we can get some punch on the left side.<br />[/quote]

I always felt switching Oher and Gaither was a stupid move on our part.
Gaither played great at LT, Oher was a beast at RT. What did they possibly expect to gain by the switch? As it turned out, the worst case scenario played out..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[izvoodoo]

[quote name='flynismo' timestamp='1306698168' post='691773']
,

I always felt switching Oher and Gaither was a stupid move on our part.
Gaither played great at LT, Oher was a beast at RT. What did they possibly expect to gain by the switch? As it turned out, the worst case scenario played out..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
[/quote]

I think they just wanted to see it. Oher's a good talent and it was worth a look in some OTA. I feel like if Gaither had been healthy he would have been our LT. I'm still a believer in Oher as an LT, he just needs work.

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='izvoodoo' timestamp='1306698069' post='691772']
09 he got some, 08 he got a ton. I felt like he got more help than Oher did, I felt like Oher played Tamba Hali a lot 1 on 1. I'm not saying move grubbs, I'm just saying Gaither and grubbs is a good tandem because grubbs is a technician and oher doesn't have the punch gaither does. Yanda and oher is a strong tandem because yanda packs the punch and oher brings the athleticism. So if we're talking about keep gaither I think that synergy should be part of the conversation.
[/quote]

Oher is a stronger run blocker than Gaither.

The left side got enough movement in my opinion last season. Knowing that Grubbs played hurt all season makes his solid play even more impressive.

[SpeedKills]

Retain him... but at a reasonable price. Look, even if you are one of the top LTs in the league, you were injured before the season began and never played a snap. I think that our O-line plays best in its '09 form, and I think the FO will see that. If it isn't possible to retain him, then I like Reid at the RT after he's learned from our starters.

[izvoodoo]

[quote name='Ed_Reed20' timestamp='1306699180' post='691779']
I think you meant to write Harewood should be moved too LT and not LG.

Oher is a stronger run blocker than Gaither.
[/quote]

i don't think he has the athleticism to play LT and I've always admired gaither's run blocking. I'll watch more closely in the future.