Last year Willie Colon and Max Starks battled for the right tackle job until the final week of the preseason. This year, Colon, Kendall Simmons and Chris Kemoeatu apparently don't have to fight for their jobs at all.Offensive line coach Larry Zierlein told the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat that he thinks that with the exception of center, the rest of the offensive line starters have been settled.
"We're pretty well set," he said of the line.. "We'll see what happens with the center thing once we get into preseason, but I'd say we're pretty well set."That may seem a little cryptic, but the paper insists that Zierlein was saying the starters have been pretty well picked:
Zierlein was then asked if his comment that the Steelers were "pretty well set" meant that Colon would be the starter at right tackle.If it's true, it's crazy. It would mean the Steelers re-upped Max Starks for nearly $7 million with no plans of giving him a chance to earn a starting job--he's had less than a week in camp to show anything. And it means that Kemoeatu was given a starting job without doing anything--he's still on the physically unable to play list and has yet to take a snap in training camp.
"Willie's looking pretty good," Zierlein said. "Willie's pretty good in the run game. He just keeps working on his protections and he'll get better. He's a competitor."
We'll see if it's true, but while there's something to be said for continuity, there's also something to be said for having competition for spots, especially for players who didn't play that well last year.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-31-2008 @ 1:07AM
144 said...
I agree to an extent. Though spots should be open to competition as a result to bad performance of last years line, setting the line now will help in the long run...
It's not good flip-flopping people and being indecisive. It takes away confidence and the process of familarity amongst the players. Structuring the line now will give the men time to become familar with eachother and they will get a feel for how eachother plays and feeds off of one another.
Kinks will corrected as time goes on. I'm not as worried about the line as everyone makes it out to be. We'll be fine. Not the best but better than last year.
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8-16-2008 @ 8:44AM
Pain Train said...
I think it was important to sign Starks at the time because there was uncertainty on the line. Since then M. Smith has had his surgery and by by all indicatiuons he is as good as new. Starks still gives us a nice backup. We will have to see if this makes starks affordable next year. I really do not see how he is going to fit in right now with everyone we have to sign.
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