The Houston Texans surprised their fan base when they let go of Eric Winston, who is one of the best right tackles in the NFL today. He was a fan favorite and has since moved to the Kansas City Chiefs. I figured the Texans would draft a right tackle early in the 2012 NFL draft, but they ended up sticking with veteran Rashad Butler and second year man Derek Newton.
The Texans were one of the best running teams in the league last year, but have lost the entire right side of their offensive line. The battle for the starting right tackle spot has been closely watched in training camp thus far, with neither Newton nor Butler creating any distance. There is so much indecision with the position, the Texans may actually go with both players.
Houston center Chris Meyers had a take on the possibility of going with a right tackle by committee approach.
“You know, if that ends up being the case, it ends up being the case,” Myers acknowledged. “They’re both in there, they’re both very high quality right tackles. I remember back to when Duane Brown was a first-round draft pick in 2008, we had Ephraim Salaam who was a long-time vet. He kind of took Duane under his wing and the first two games of that year they were going back and forth. Every other series or two series-one series so Duane could slowly get implemented into that starting role.”
This seems like a terrible idea. The offensive line is a cohesive unit and unless you have consistency, you can’t expect to get the best results. Hopefully the Texans sort it out before the season starts, otherwise they could be in for some serious problems.
Jeff is an NFL Featured Columnist for www.RantSports.com. He contributes mainly to the New York Giants and NFL Rumors pages. He also will occasionally touch on the NBA and humorous videos involving all sports.
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