kearly":tyo5zu07 said:
I think this decision to start at guard is also a reflection on Tom Cable's past experiences. He learned some hard lessons trying to play both James Carpenter and Justin Britt at RT as rookies.
This is a really hopeful sign to me. They're going to be in enough trouble having to go into the season after losing 2 starters on the line (we saw how that went down last season). IMO their approach of just throwing guys out there has been a large factor in our OL having terrible, terrible stretches nearly every year. They need to minimize - as much as they can - the impact of the new faces on the line, and that's done by being more conservative and gradual about integrating new pieces.
Along those lines, I want Lewis at center at the beginning of the year as well.
Then, sprinkle the new talent in during years where 2/5 of the line hasn't vanished through free agency. Limit the experimentation to 1 or at most 2 spots on the line, being extra careful at tackle.
I think it was DavidSeven who pointed out early last year that he thought their recklessness with too many positions was going to finally kill a season, and he was on the money. I'm praying they actually absorbed the lesson. I worry that moving Gilliam over is evidence that they have not. I get the "best-athlete-on-the-field" approach but dammit, that approach taken too far is what brought us the Nowak experiment. I think I'd rather they left Gilliam at RT for the continuity and move him over some year when there has been less turnover at the position group.
