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I like it when everybody's right.
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Whats interesting here is that the Eagles paid their RT also. Lane Johnson. He is $15.2M against the cap next year. Granted he is in the top 5 of RT, but he's still a RT. Maybe the think he can switch to LT. Big IF.
Lane Johnson is not a right OT. He is a high-picked first round future left OT playing on the same line with one of the best LEFT OTs in the game (Jason Peters) who is long in the tooth and will retire soon, at which point Johnson moves to the left side.
And if that happens before LJ's contract runs out, he will be one of the cheapest top LOTs in the game.
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I know he was a high pick, but that doesn't guarantee he will be able to play LT. I don't even think the Eagles are expecting to switch him to LT.
What is interesting is that Peters got hurt last year and was lost for the season and they didn't switch LJ to LT. They played 5th round pick Vaitai at LT instead.
This year they drafted Mailata in the 7th round and they have him slotted as a LT. Believe it or not. I heard Ross Tucker say that kid looks great and a natural LT. Called him a steal. My point being is that I wouldn't bet that LJ ever plays LT. It very possible that there next LT is Vaitai or Mailata.
Now if Peters retires at the end of the year, since he'll be 37 next year, and the Eagle keep LJ at RT and one of cheap kids at LT that may end up being the same as the Rams with Hav at RT and NoteBoom at LT.
I didn't say he would play LT BECAUSE he was a high pick. It's the other way around. They picked him high because he WILL play LOT. They're dilemma is that Peters is the best LOT in the game but he keeps playing (he's in his 15th year now). (Peters was signed as a UDFA in 2004. Whitworth was drafted in 2006). So they didnt' know when Peters would be done, and here they were picking high with Johnson available. As it happens Peters's deal ends after 2019 though no one knows if he will come back next year.
It was smart to not disrupt the OL last year when Peters got hurt (moving LJ last year would mean changing 2 OT positions on a playoff run instead of just one and it's smarter to do just one.) Either way that's not the future. (The strategy could work because LJ is a good enough OT to not require any help so they shifted all the help, TEs and RBs etc, to cover Vaitai on the left side and let LJ play on an island the way most teams do with the LOT).
So the fact that LJ gets 3-4 M more than the 2018 going rate for ROT 2nd contracts has to do with his future at LOT. Nothing else explains it.
The details on the Lane Johnson story are not news. This stuff is all common knowledge.
Here's a good analysis that indicates why Vaitai is not the future. [
www.bleedinggreennation.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2018 02:47AM by zn.
