Kalil at guard.

possibly. He's most experienced of the options, other than Walker. I don't think, for any reason other than that, we'll see him, I don't think he'll earn it as much as our centers aren't good guard candidates.

 

I don't like Kalil at G. Honestly, if it comes to that, I'd rather see Bridges at RG before Kalil.

 

This is early. What I hate is Hennings policy of picking 5 and leaving them in hell or high water because of continuity, when its obvious they have to improve and that they're killing the team. Find the best 5, even if it takes the entire preseason to do it. Then put them in there and leave them, unless things are bad and don't improve. Then change again. Continuity is important, but so is playing well. Continuously playing badly is not good.

 

After thinking about this some more, it may not be horrible. Kalil C/Hartwig G sucked, but Hartwig C should at least be good, and we're away from the switching two guys to cover for one guy strategy.

 

by week 3, we didn't have many options. Hangartner had to be the C, Mathis was our only effective option at RG by that point. Granted, they stuck with Reyes too long in 05 also, at least to the point where we didn't see any of Mathis at all.
(note - I just defended Henning, lolz all around)

Who knows what the issue was with Mathis, but he's not been in the mix at all for a job he had won outright last year, so regardless of any personal issues, I guess there was some backing for the problems there. I still would like to see him play there a bit in the new offense, though.

I still think it says a lot about Butler that he didn't dress once despite our massive problem at tackle.


It'd be nice to know if all our problems at RG are based on solving the first two weeks, or solving the position altogether. For two weeks, I can see putting a slightly undersized Kalil at RG if he beats out the others. Ideally, of course, you'd rather have Hartwig there, since he has some bulk and can generate push, but for some reason he apparently failed there.

 

Um, it's pre-season...you gotta try different looks to see what works best. Might be short lived, but he might just stick.

 

I can see the logic of trying Kalil at guard. Let him get accustomed to blocking at an NFL level first. If Hartwig's detached groin becomes an issue he just has to adapt to the cerebral aspect of playing center. Just like the WR spot, these guys aren't going to grow much unless they get snaps.

 

You've been against Butler since Day 1, but it was acknowledged all along that he was a project and not someone capable of helping right away. That said, he hasn't shown much this preseason either.

 

agreed. I didn't see the point of a project that couldn't play at all, even in an emergency. The team wanted to bring Wharton, a guy with similar strength issues, along slowly, but he had a good base, a lot of playing time, and ended up performing.

I felt like there were better tackles, sure. I didn't want a tackle there, either. I don't have a vendetta against the poor bastard, I just didn't think he was a good pick. McClover hardly dressed last year too, but he had a lot of upside. I fail to see any upside with Butler, and he cost us a good deal more.

 

Butler has real quick feet I think = upside. He's looked good on a bunch of plays, flowing with the DE. Of course, there are the bad plays too. Not saying it was a good pick. I don't know. But I do think he has an upside.