There is nothing to suggest that this line is long term. It may not be this way past this mini-camp. Brown isn't here, we don't know who we'll get out of the draft and the coaches are exploring for the players abilities. To me, it's just player evaluations that need to be done before training camp opens. It means nothing. We have very well respected coaches that have to learn what they have in a short amount of time. I think we need to hold back the criticism until they are shown for their shortcomings.
True, CardShark. But this news is very disturbing...it obviously signals that the new coaching staff does not understand the strengths of their personnel.
It was bad enough to overpay for two UFAs in Al Johnson and Mike Gandy, one of whom did not play last year and the other struggles so much at tackle that he was moved to guard.
The moment the fortunes of the Cards' o-line changed last year was the moment that Nick Leckey replaced Alex Stepanovich at center--Milford Brown replaced a struggling Reggie Wells at LG--and Reggie Wells was switched to RT, where he played good, solid football.
Now it's back to square one...and really, the only player in place that we can seemingly count on to be good where he is is 2nd year RG Deuce Lutui. Go figure.
Oliver Ross is NOT a LT...that's a joke.
Reggie Wells is not a LG...that's a joke.
Al Johnson (our $7M dollar man) may NOT beat out Nick Leckey, who, IMO, is the most under-valued and under-rated player on the roster.
Mike Gandy is NOT a RT...that's a joke. In fact, how any coach could decide that Gandy is the guy to protect Matt Leinart's blindside when there's a guy on the roster who already has---is beyond any sense of reason or logic.
Therefore...at this point...seeing that at least 3 of the 5 positions may be played by players whose strengths don't fit those positions...it should cause all of us great concern for the braintrust (or rather, lack thereof) that went into these decisions.
And I don't just blame Whisenhunt and Grimm...I blame Graves and the entire Cardinal front office for this debacle.