Last week Andy Reid left the door open to the possibility of moving left guard Todd Herremans to right tackle. Reid had talked about keeping the possibility open of playing number one draft pick Danny Watkins at left guard rather than at his assumed right guard position.
Yesterday he went on Mike Missanelli’s show on 97.5 The Fanatic and almost totally eliminated that possibility. It seems that the key to that change of mind is the fact that Reid and his coaches got the chance to see how far Justice has come in his rehabilitation from his knee surgery.
“I think we’re pretty solid at that tackle position,” Reid said. “ I think Winston or King will work that right side and then [Jason] Peters is pretty well locked in at that left tackle spot. …
“King Dunlap stepped in at both right and left tackle last year and showed us that he can play, so that gives us a little flexibility there, and Winston’s coming back off the [knee] injury and I think he’s actually doing pretty good.”
“When we had the few hours [Friday] when the lockout was lifted, we had the chance to visit with [Justice], and I think he’s good to go. Herremans does give you that flexibility, too, because he played tackle in college and he came in and has been a guard since, but he can play either side guard or either side tackle, so we do have some flexibility there. Right now, that’s probably not going to happen. He’s probably going to be playing guard and Danny will be playing guard.”
Notice that he didn’t close the door totally, but left a little bit of light. I’m sure if Justice doesn’t play well, then he’s open to changing his mind.
Was he watching the same King Dunlap that I was last year. Dude was awful.
If Justice recovers, he will be the RT! He Was doing a pretty good job untIl he was hurt. Problem was he couldn’t play with his injury and was replaced and panned by the press and fans. At the end of the day, I trust Mudd.
Paulman’s take on the OL of the Eagles for 2011
(barring any injuries of course)
Starters (5)
LT – Peters
LG – Herremans
C – McGlynn
RG – D Watkins
RT – W Justice
Back-ups (5)
LT – K Dunlap
LG – McGlynn/Veldeverde
C – J Jackson
RG – M McGlynn/D Reynolds
RT – A Howard
Practic Squad players OT F Topou and C J Kelce
I think Eagles go into the Season carrying 10 OL which is the norm
King Dunlap did fine last year – he got a lot of playing time, he keeps getting bigger (dude is tall and lean), he needs yto keep adding wieght – his frame can handle it – big long arms. Dunlap was one of the most highly touted OTs after his junior year – had a bad senior year and fell to the 7th round – just because he did not make the pro-bowl last year as a back-up does not mean he was ‘awful’.
The key word is Herremans will “probably” be playing guard. Watkins he definitively said “Danny will be playing guard.”
All we know is that the two settled spots are Peters at left tackle and Watkins at Guard. everything else is TBD.
I like Dunlap and Austin Howard and think Mudd will coach these players up to be preety good NFL Tackles… I expect Dunlap to actually push Justice for the Starting RT spot and a more then capable back-up for either OT spot..
I have always said, look around the NFL, quality back-up OT’s are almost non-existent and whenever a team loses their Starting OT’s they are in trouble.. I think with Dunalp, the drop-off is marginal and not significant at all and when you see team like even good teams like the Steelers, Bears,Giants,Colts,Chargers and even the Patriots lose an OT last year , they were in trouble and really struggled with their replacement/back-up OT’s
Pizzles, good point with Dunlap. Remember this guy ( the year prior to being drafted) was considered to be a potential 1st round draft pick. The eagles starting Oline this season will be:
LT Peters
LG Herremans
C Jackson
RG Watkins
RT Justice will start but by the end of the year, King Dunlap will take over.