last summer's OL v. this summer's OL

Last summer v. this summer.

Last summer, Wells, remember, suffered the rare infection that sent him to ICU. He lost 40 pounds and had to regain it.

Long was recovering.

As one report as of Aug 2nd put it, “Offensive tackle Jake Long and center Scott Wells took a few snaps with the starting offensive line during team drills, but for the most part were absent from Saturday’s workout.”

Last summer’s possible alternatives to Joseph/Wells:

Robinson was considered a behind the curve rookie. He was supposed to start at guard but was not ready. Some say having him play 2 positions helped keep him back; in the end, since he had to replace Long later on, it may turn out to have been a good idea.

Washington, hamstring. Sidelined most of the summer. Injured early in camp. He returned to practice around I think Aug 17? It was late anyway. (In another post I mistakenly said this was an ankle).

Jones. Back surgery — injury came from a freak weightlifting mishap. He was basically not in game ready shape all season. As he says, “When I had back surgery last year, I wasn’t able to work out for a long time”

Barnes. Neck injury, I believe. Later during the season, ribs.

Rhaney. Knee injury, final week of pre-season. I don’t know how ready he was early on or if they could have counted on him for depth. Maybe later in the season he could have been a factor, if not injured.

Bond. No injury that I know of. Camp reports say he fell behind and kept blowing assignments, and that this was very visible.

They also had Hooey and Van Dyk, who didn’t make it.

So on top of being banged up, individuals kept missing practice due to injuries or recovery. The OL just did not play together as a unit.

Joseph, I think, was never supposed to play.

How is this summer different? I would not count on Donnal or Wichman much as starters. But Brown and Havenstein are in the mix. Jones, Barnes, Rhaney, and Washington are all healthy so far. Reynolds could be this year’s Turner (who played well enough in 2012 though he had not done anything before and has not done anything since)…or he could be this year’s Joseph. I am betting more on the former, because Joseph was washed up, and Reynolds isn’t old enough to be washed up. They also of course have Robinson and Saffold, though both are recovering. Who knows what to make of the others: Bond (lightbulb fixed yet?), Baker. There’s a few others.

But to me that names 8 who are in the mix: Robinson, Saffold, Barnes/Jones/Rhaney, Reynolds, Brown, Havenstein. To have more than that they need something, at least in terms of depth, from at least one of the following: Washington, Baker, Donnal, Wichman. Maybe one of the remaining guys (not named here) surprises.

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