On Sunday, in a dome, the Eagles will start a rookie center between two new guards who were discarded by their previous teams. The tackles will be Jason Peters, the only returner at his position, and Todd Herremans, who is making the difficult switch from left guard to right tackle.
In April, Reid explained the decision to draft the 26-year-old Watkins, despite his advanced age and relative lack of football experience, by claiming the erstwhile firefighter could step right in and start at guard or tackle. On Wednesday, we learned Watkins would sit behind Kyle DeVan, who will be in his sixth full day as an Eagle.
"When you move from college to the pros," Reid said of Watkins, "that's a tough deal. When you move from tackle to guard, that's another tough deal. And when you move from the left side to the right side, that's another tough deal. Then you add on to it missing part of camp. So he's been playing a catch-up game all the way through."
That's true. It was also true in April, when Reid anointed Watkins a starter on draft day.
Since the beginning of time, or at least the introduction of the forward pass, we have been told that continuity and synchronization were vital to successful offensive line play. Now we learn that it just doesn't matter if the five linemen have never taken so much as a preseason snap together.
This would be easier to buy if the salesman hadn't pulled this bait and switch on us before.
Two years ago, Reid made the timely but difficult decision to part ways with bookend tackles Tra Thomas and Jon Runyan. He traded for Peters to play left tackle. He signed Stacy Andrews. He moved Andrews from right tackle, where he'd been successful, to right guard. He moved onetime first-round pick Shawn Andrews, Stacy's brother, from right guard to right tackle.
