Awesome write up, that took time and effort an we appreciate that - great work!!!
Mahoney may know what to do mentally, but kid sucks in his execution. I took a peek at our OL play last year, and it was way better, with guys that didn't make it into the NFL. The difference is they had plenty of experience in the scheme. Also, we're looking shaky because of the fact that Donaldson and St Louis aren't comfortable in their new positions...
We rolled the dice on a hypothetical and made the switch in positions for both players (St Louis & Donaldson); and tanked on that gamble. They may get better down the line, but we need solid play now, or we'll lose some games we aren't supposed to, until they get better around week 6-7.
If we're going to roll the dice, I'd roll it on some fundamental stuff like the following... Hear me out...though Boulware is smallish, He clearly has the quickest feet, and based on that, and the above, I wouldn't mind us going with this lineup:
RT: St Louis/Hillery/Herbert
RG: Donaldson/ Campbell
C: Gaynor/Dykstra
LG: Gauthier/Reed
LT: Boulware/Scaife
Quick feet & agility matters at the Tackle position, next comes comfortability & knowing what to do... I you dont have quick feet, you can't adjust & recover when a guy gets a beat on you with a different angle - again quick fee = Boulware.
We gotta end the project of converting St Louis into a LT, and help the guy get drafted in a decent round, instead of stinking it up on film at a high value position altogether. St Louis is capable, but his career has been at RT, and we took that away from him.
We need solid Top 10 play on at least one side of the ball, which is why I also think it makes sense to line him and Donaldson up together again, to repeat last year's raporrt there. Next, of all the guys that rotated in, Gaynor looked stout, and Center is a serviceable position so I'd plug him there, which will allow Gauthier to play some Guard, of whom is stout himself, which allows him to continue making calls at the line where we've had some breakdowns on the left side which means we're putting an experienced LG next to Boulware to help him out.
The young guys I mentioned at 2nd string will be guys of the future that need to get into the rotation now, so we don't look even worse next year.
My two cents... Go Canes!