Our one FA signing this stage could be consequential.
G Rex Drake isn't an apparent superstar - a good run blocking lineman is okay, but not a build-around thing. However, he could take the leadership role from our current OL leader,
T Joey Dotson, who is currently pissed off about playing time. So...I had been planning to play Dotson this year to get him happy again.
If we switch to Drake, some dominoes fall. He's a 4-5, Dotson is a 2-3. My core guys (C Castillo, G Foreman, G Darby) are all in the 6-7 group and click with either leader. However, T Booker and G Turnbull are 4-5 guys...and would unclick with Drake in the lead seat. Worth it? Booker is a mediocre guy, a T3 caliber player on a good team... but we're perilously thin at T already. So, that's the big weakness here. With what we have on hand right now, my thinking on the OL would be:
2110
LT Dotson - LG Foreman - C Castillo - RG Drake/Darby - RT Peterson
Depth: Aydelotte? 96, Keith? 89, Borrelli 12
2112+
LT Foreman/Dotson - LG Foreman/Drake - C Castillo/Borrelli - RG Drake/Darby - RT Peterson?
Depth: ???
So... right now the plan at LT might indeed be to start our young up-and-coming LG Foreman. He's rated a 5 in the position (only an 8 at LG), and a formal position switch is at only 78%, for what that's worth. Using Dotson and Booker forever and just letting the rack up cohesion bonus isn't absurd, so that's in play too.
The deal with Drake is fully team-friendly, so we deliberately have options there.