Washington Redskins superstar left tackle Trent Williams hasn't shown up to training camp yet. In his place, they've moved Ereck Flowers to the position.
Jay Gruden still has not talked to Trent Williams and Williams has not reported for the first day of actual practices. The plan is to use Ereck Flowers at left tackle, abandoning the hope to play him at guard… for now.
— Les Carpenter (@Lescarpenter) July 25, 2019
This is very bad for multiple reasons. First off, no offense to Ereck Flowers but everyone's seen him at left tackle and it wasn't pretty.
Second, Washington brought him in with the plan to try him at guard. I was really into this idea as soon as it was first kicked around.
Go look all the way back to his draft profile. A lot of experts were saying his game would translate a lot better at guard. Flowers has great strength but didn't have the quickness to seal the outside. At guard it would be a much smaller lane and he could flourish.
It also worked out very well for the Redskins, as Flowers could have slid into that left guard spot pretty nicely. Or at least he would've competed for the job and it seemed like his chances were very strong.
Things could get messy fast though. The longer Williams is out, the less time Flowers gets at the position. If he actual sits out long enough to miss some regular season games, suddenly that offensive line gets a lot worse – with Flowers replacing Williams at left tackle.
At guard, the Redskins have two rookies in Wes Martin and Ross Pierschbacher who could fight for the role – as well as veteran Tyler Catalina.
While the rookies could bring some excitement to the position, it would be nice to give Flowers a shot there.
Obviously missing Trent Williams hurts a lot on the surface – when just looking at how good he is. When you consider how much it changes the plans of the rest of the line – mainly Ereck Flowers – you realize this could turn into a disaster quickly.
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