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Weakest Offensive Line Position


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There have been a ton of threads addressing the problems that the Redskins have at Right Tackle, but the team might be in more trouble at the other line positions. My thoughts as to the breakdown by position go like this.

Left Tackle- we are used to Chris Samuels holding down the fort at this position, but his advanced age combined with the injury problems that he had last year lead to the question of will he be ready in time and will he return to his usual dominant form?

Left Guard- Derrick Dockery is an average NFL guard who is young and does not have a history of injury problems. He makes occational mental errors, but also has a penchant for pancaking people when he run blocks. The only real question here is how quickly will he readapt to the Redskins blocking scheme.

Center- Casey Rabach is a trooper who fights through injuries, but he gets overpowered in both run and pass blocking to often for us to consider him a reliable center. We also have no servicable backup at the position currently.

Right Guard- Randy Thomas, when healthy is an above average Right Guard. He has not been healthy for the last two seasons though, and has still not recovered enough to be ready. I consider him a ? at best for the upcoming season.

With that said there is no real backup for him. I see either Rineheart getting the backup spot this summer, or the skins could move Williams over to guard. That would actually be a good fit for the position if he is at weight, because he was always a mauler in run blocking.

Right Tackle- Jon Jansen, Stephon Heyer, and Williams are all competing for the starting job at this position and all have NFL experience. All of them also have obvious flaws and none seem like everyday starters in the NFL. Jansen is old and slow to shut down the edge, Heyer is a natural pass blocker but cannot shift his man off the line on runs, Williams is a complete unknown who has talent but may not be able to produce because of weight.

this is my assesment of the positions imo

anyone else want to share their thoughts?

Hail

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Dockery is an above average NFL guard, especially in short yardage and goal line that the Redskins struggled with in 2008.

Samuels is 31, but then again Flozell Adams is 32 and I don't see any blue chippers behind him and no one in Dallas or the media is crying that the 'sky is falling' :)

Right guard is the weakest spot because Thomas is a question mark in terms of health with a serious injury and there is no backup with any NFL experience from 2008.

I think you could see the newly signed Jeremy Bridges start at RG if Thomas can't go (Bridges played mostly guard for the Panthers) and see Stephon Heyer start at RT.

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The Skins have always problems with depth on the OL primarily because they have chosen not to address position in the draft. Until they make a consistent commitment to address this problem, they'll always be putting bandages on the situation instead of cement.

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The Skins have always problems with depth on the OL primarily because they chosen not to address position in the draft. Until they make a consistent commitment to addressing this problem, they'll always be putting bandages on the situation instead of cement.

Right, and then in contrast you have division rivals like the NYG who take stud OTs (Beatty) for depth in the 2nd round, even when their line is already stacked. I pray that 2009's starting OL stays healthy, that a few of the 'projects' pan out to give us impact/depth AND that we then finally spend 2 early round 2010 draft picks on a franchise OT and an elite OG/OC.

The entire right side of the line from Rabach over to RT is a nightmare, and another injury to Samuels would render the entire OL ineffectual.

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I just find it bizarre that we are paying so much attention to a position which has 3 players with NFL experience competing for the spot and overlook a position which has No Certian Starter (RG) and only one player capable of holding down the position ©

I guess I am just trying to say that the Right Tackle position will not lose games for us, but RG and C may.

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These kinds of threads scare me because unlike other positions, this isn't as much of an unknown. Jason could have a huge year, or a subpar one. Same with the young receivers. So at least there, we can have some naive optimism. But we saw what happened with the o-line last year, and if that's any indication, the best 'skill positions' won't do much when they can't get the ball past the line of scrimmage. The only way I see the o-line having any success this coming season is if the younger guys and new signings come through. I mean, does anyone think we can win a lot of games if we stick with Samuels-Dock-Rabach-Thomas-Jansen/Heyer for the entire season?

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anyone else want to share their thoughts?

Hail

I basically agree with your assessment.

I think that Center is the weakest position for 2 reasons:

- Imo Casey Rabach when healthy is at best an average center.

- We currently don't have a back on the roster at Center

although we're giving Jansen a more serious look at the Center this off-

season

- Also i think the biggest positive impact to the offense and offensive line

would occur if we had a beast Center that could handle most match-ups

1-on-1 without help; that would have a ripple effect on the rest of the

line b/c the Guards won't need to double team the Center's man.

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I think we're okay at OT if there are no injuries.

Right now i have the most faith in Stephon Heyer. That's right.

He has made some mistakes, but seems to improve with each snap.

Personally, think we should be grooming Heyer at LT and eventually

consider moving Samuels to RT.

I have injury concerns with Samuels, and Jansen.

I also have back-up concerns it seems like former UDFA Devin Clark is the

main back-up at OT, but the Redskins just signed a journeyman OT.

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I think we're solid at G.

Dockery is an upgrade over Kendall.

IF Thomas is healthy LG and RG are solid.

If not i think/hope that Rhinehart is gonna be ready to start and play well.

I think Bugel will have ready to go after last year's 'redshirt' season.

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