Ben Longshaw - Media Day

[dropbear]

1.  You say the QB is your best friend, do you have a relationship with any of them yet?

2.  You choose Joe Staley as your render, who has been the model of steady, and loyalty.  Will you model your player on those as well?

3. What are your personal goals for your rookie season?

4. Typically in leagues like these/and in the NFL O linemen are overlooked for their contributions.  How would you like to see O Linemen rewarded in a unique way?

5. Where do you think linemen go in the draft? (which round)

1 - I haven't had a chance to spend time with any of the guys other than those who were on Team 2 with me, and even then it was brief. I got along with everyone, though. I've got a lot of respect for Devitt - he had a rough game and just kept getting up and trying to put the pieces back together. I'll happily bust my ass for a QB like that. From an outside perspective, I loved the way Christ played. I work well in a team where we throw first and we've got an accurate QB who can march us downfield. We don't necessarily need a guy who throws bombs, because we can just complete those short passes and me and the guys on the line can stonewall the defense. I love playing that sort of football that frustrates the guys on D and drains their energy. I think I'd fit nicely with Christ.

2 - Absolutely. In my opinion, continuity is more important on the offensive line than anywhere else in football, probably on par with coaching. Wherever I get drafted, that's gonna be my team. Full stop. Every team needs an anchor, and that's the guy I'll be. Put an undrafted rookie who can't throw straight in at QB behind me and I'll fight as hard for him as I will for a guy coming off an MVP season. That's what you need on the O-line, guys who'll fight no matter what.

3 - To develop the core of a team that will compete for years to come and establish myself as the top pass-blocker in the league. This first year is gonna be a crap shoot, and like people are saying, it's essentially a rebuild for every team. I want to lay the foundation now for a team that will compete for a decade or more. And that all starts on the offensive line, and I want to be that cornerstone guy who you know you can count on to be there 10 years down the track, so you can sign, draft or develop elsewhere.

4 - For me personally, my reward comes vicariously through the rewards of my teammates. If I'm playing well, and the guys next to me are playing well, typically that means the whole team ends up playing well. And recognition or not, that's a hell of a lot of fun to be a part of. That's all that matters to me. I don't saying winning is number 1, because winning is a byproduct of that sort of culture that we build.

5 - I think at least half of us will go in the first. It's an extremely deep defensive class, we saw that in the Bowl game, and there's a bunch of QB's, too. I just think that after the GM's watched 11 sacks in that game, they're gonna be eager to get their guy on the line before someone else.