Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Panthers’ offensive line is in flux going into the draft.
Having traded Trai Turner to the Chargers for Russell Okung, let Greg Van Roten and Daryl Williams walk in free agency, and brought in John Miller on a one-year deal, there are once again as many questions as answers as to who will line up where come September. One of the biggest questions in this regard is what is going to happen to last year’s second round pick Greg Little – does he take some time to continue to develop behind Okung at left tackle, or does he move inside where the departure of Turner and Van Roten has created a far clearer path to a starting role.
“We think Greg is very talented and has a chance to be a very good player and maybe have some position flexibility,” Marty Hurney said last week about Little and the movement on the offensive line. “One of the goals this offseason, and we have plenty of them, is to try to improve the depth of our offensive line and we thought that being able to get a left tackle with the ability that Russell Okung has – it was very hard to trade Trai, but we thought it was a decision that we wanted to do in the big-picture plan of our offensive line.
“So we have all the confidence in the world in Greg [Little] and it gives him time to come in and get with a guy that’s played in this league at a high level for a long time and develop and grow.”
So it would appear that the Panthers are, at the very least, going to try out moving Greg Little inside while Russell Okung starts at left tackle in 2020.
They shouldn’t do that.
What Little Does Well
As Greg Little lost much of his rookie season to injury, to examine what he does well and what he doesn’t, we need to go back to his college tape in addition to the games he played last season – while the player he is now isn’t exactly the same player he was a year ago, it does give a fair representation of the strengths and weaknesses of his game. The major selling point of Little’s game coming out was his remarkable athleticism, with really quick feet, good knee band and great balance:
This is obviously a useful skill for any player to have, guard or tackle, but this is especially valuable at tackle, where it allows him to cover speed rushers around the edge while also having the balance and control to prevent defenders from being able to beat him back inside. He also has the advantage of long arms and good hand-eye coordination that allows him to hold is own in hand fighting on the edge:
There is a lot more to what Little does well, but the point is that his game is all built around movement and finesse – while this is exactly what gives him a chance to become an excellent blind side pass protector, it is far less valuable on the interior, and while his hand fighting could come in handy while playing guard, his upside is far, far greater at tackle – even before you start taking positional value arguments into account.
What Little Doesn’t Do Well
Like with a lot of taller tackles, one of Little’s bigger issues is maintaining a consistent pad level, especially in the run game where, at times, he failed to get his knee bend right and ended up getting negated at the point of attack:
This would only be a bigger issue inside, where pad level is even more important, and while this is something he will need to work on whether he is at tackle or guard, if he does move to guard, it’s likely going to cause him significant issues in the run game and make him very susceptible to power rushers in pass protection. His hand usage was also a little passive at times, and while this is a more minor concern, if he is going to have any chance of being successful on the interior he is going to need to have far more active hands:
Little’s issues aren’t profound, and he played well enough in the games he was healthy for last season that it is fair to think that he needs polish and practice reps as much as anything, but moving him to guard would require a significant amount of work before he should be seen as a consistent starter.
The other thing that needs to be considered in this argument is what the payout is for each of these paths.
Even if Little becomes a good guard, the value of this compared to the value if he becomes a good tackle just doesn’t compare. This isn’t because good guards aren’t valuable – because they are – but a good left tackle is one of the hardest things in the NFL to find. The Panthers have spent the best part of a decade trying to locate a long-term replacement for Jordan Gross – including trading up in the second round less than a year ago to get Little – and if they think that he can be that player with another year of development, that is a far greater payout than him playing at a high level at guard right away.
Moving Little to guard would be an easy move from a purely short-term point of view – all the downside would be down the road – but this would be a move that has little benefit beyond the short term. Little is an out-and-out tackle in both skillset and physical traits, and while he could line up and take the reps at guard, Dennis Daley is a far more natural fit at the position, with the possibility of adding to the position further in the draft also being on the table.
Greg Little, the left tackle, might not be something the Panthers get to see in Week 1 – and with Okung on the roster, it may not come about in 2020 at all – but Greg Little the left tackle is a far more valuable player than Greg Little the left guard.
Let’s hope the Panthers view it this way as well.
