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Leoram
This isn't as easy a deal as it looks to me. Although Bruss has potential, I watched the second Cards game again and Shelton made all the line calls and played really well. I mean, impressively. As you may recall, they were 10-2 and we lost 3/4 with Ramsey, Higs, and DD COVID inactive HOURS BEFORE KICKOFF! Coleman Shelton matters. If Bruss wins the spot, Shelton immediately becomes the first interior lineman off the bench with tremendous flexibility. If not, he can still slide to center if the need arises and Bruss can plug in and play. Either way, good stuff.
Frankly, I was shocked that McVay so quickly indicated Bruss was slated to be a starter this year. At least I believe that happened during the draft. Perhaps it was normal hype but the kind of communication Sean fosters seems to run counter to that choice. I'd love to hear what he had to say to Shelton after it occurred. I hope he prepared Coleman about what he would say and assured him the shot he's earned BEFORE the comments were made. If not, I hope there was an apology.
Shelton is not some revelation at OG. He's got better power than Allen for sure, and can handle power rushers better in the run game. But if he ends up winning OG it's a bad deal. That means Bruss isn't ready which is a bad start.
Also I don't trust Allen to stay healthy. Shelton's best role is backing him up or maybe being the starter at Center.
If they thought Shelton was a starting OG they would have filled that RG role from the interior depth options and drafted a backup center. Now it's possible they were wrong, but only way I'd think that is if we saw Shelton dominating when he got his looks. He's closer to marginal than he is starter material.
