“Baas was the starter last season, and didn’t make a complete mockery of the position. He started off the season with many mistakes, but grew into a competent starter in the second half.” He (and Sims) were not very good at all——remember, we went to a predominantly spread offense the second half to cover up the blocking scheme deficiencies, and still had poor to minimal pass blocking on most of the pass attempts.

Iupati’s gonna be one of those guys that come the 4th quarter is just tossing DTs around like ragamuffins. Of course, he’ll do some stupid things on stunts and probably draw a bunch of holding calls and otherwise stumble in pass protection. But he’ll be a run-blocking force almost immediately (as I think will Davis if his pass blocking isn’t so poor we can’t afford to start him).

If we stop this business of giving up on the run in early I envisage us running out a more than a few games over left side.

The real story here is that they are going into the season with 4 (or 5 if Boone steps it up) quality backups on the offensive line. I mean, they are going to have to get rid of Wallace for sure, and also at least Wragge or Boone for the 53-man roster. I don’t expect Iupati or Davis to be great right away, but the offensive line can now sustain 2 or 3 injuries and still put real NFL-caliber players on the field. That spells a trip to the postseason for sure.

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Iupati didn’t fare well in his Senior Bowl game especially against the sub 300 lb tackle from Georgia. It will be interesting to see if he can raise his game to NFL level early. By midseason, as he gets stronger and quicker per NFL standards, I am very excited to see what he can do. Early on I prefer Baas to protect Smith. If Smith is not healthy all season, there will be no playoffs IMO. Let Iupati [and Davis] cook a little more slowly. There will be injuries and there will be opportunities. Then, sort of like Posey, when Iupati and Davis are brought in, they have a better chance of success, and of being starters and maybe all stars for the next 10 years. There is absolutely no need to stick either of them in before they are really ready for success. Then when they do get in, it will be more of a flow, and a need than starting right off the bat.

were are num 1 draft picks missing alot of training camp until then this is just a bunch of ‘’jibber jabber’‘i even refuse 2 even ’’delve’’into this topic as much of it was a signed player .But i know its just something 2 do 2 pass the time

And much love for Jesse Sapolu, he was an excellent technician, a smart player, and a total winner, but in terms of raw power, Iupati re-defines beast…that said, if he has a similarly distinguished career, I’m totally happy.

Struggles early on, non-optimal pass blocking as a rookie, but on the whole, I think he’s going to become incredibly dominant within two years. And, if for some reason he doesn’t pan out the way he should offensively, the man’s damn fast…give him Sopoaga’s spot, and turn him into Halot Ngata-west…

I want to watch him man-handle people in the run game…that’s gonna be awesome.

I just looked at that photo again; anyone else notice how small that football looks in his hands? This dude is HUGE!