Time to think about reworking the OL.

[HHURRICANE]

We have no depth at LG and LT.

At LT you have a Gandy who has blown in camp and has a UFA and a rookie 7th rounder backing him up.

At LG you have Reyes who has been solid, but another UFA and a another 7th rounder who played in NFL Europe.

Is anybody else worried?!

With the emergence of Aaron Gibson not only making the squad but potenetially starting, maybe it's time to start thinking about shuffling players to the left side. I know Gibson can play LT, but could he play back up on LG?

What about Preston? He isn't looking like he is going to see any playing time at RG or center even as second string.

LT looks the worst. We are screwed unless something major happens. I'm voting to have Gibson move to LT!!

[Tatonka]

gibson is in no way, shape, or form, a LT.

[Don't Panic]

This was a decision made in the offseason... Gandy is the man at LT. It was quite a gamble, but were there really that many other alternatives?

[YardRat]

It's ONE WEEK into camp...it isn't time to start shuffling anything yet.

[Dr. Lecter]

Marv and crew inherited a team that needs more than one offseason to re-build. I expect more O-line changes next year. Peters will be a LT.

The changes made this year are also going to help. Fowler > Teague. Reyes > Anderson. Peters will be better. Royal will help. Guys like Butler might good long-term depth.

This team will improve. But it was a mess after last year.

[im4bflo]

I'm always worried about the O-line every year.
They're so important, they're your running game, they're your pass blocking, if they're good enough, you can use your TE for more than blocking.
I believe they're starting to take it much more serious than they have in years, and may be on the way to fixing it finally, but we're not there yet, and we can't use our weapons to their full potential until we do. We've got great players that have to block, instead of adding to the offensive arsenal.

[Tatonka]

Hey Lecter.. i would be willing to bet that butler is our starter at RT as soon as next season. the guy has done well so far, and seems like he is real bright. he just reminds me of the type of guy that mcnally loves..

my guess is that other than replacing villareal.. and that may be gibson or preston, that all of our starters for next year are on the roster right now.

[Goobylal]

If Gandy were to get hurt, I'd bet they put Peters over there and either have McFarland or Gibson start at RT. And I see Gandy being gone in FA next year, because he'll want LT money and the Bills will want to move him to RT and pay him RT money.

[North_Coast]

How about we let the experts -- ie, coaches -- decide who's good and who's not and who should be shuffled where if there's to be any shuffling. Gandy is a serviceable LT. With better guard play from Reyes/Preston, he'll probably improve some since he won't have to try to cover Bennie's butt. Peterson is going to stay at RT because he's still learning to play tackle, and he's more effective on the right side where he's used to playing. Moving him to LT now will simply make him ineffective at LT and open a big hole at RT.

Besides, shuffling linemen isn't necessarily going to improve the line or its depth. What's going to improve both is some stability plus experience for the young players and adding some better linemen. This isn't something that can be accomplished in one season.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

I'm sure that this isn't going to make a lot of people happy, but IMHO this is what the Bills offensive line will look like this season:

The starters:

Gandy(LT)--Reyes(RT)--Fowler(C)--Villarial(RG)--Peters(RT)

The reserves:

The Bills will probably carry 8 offensive linemen on their active roster and perhaps have one inactive offensive lineman on their roster each week, and perhaps keep two, at most three, on the practice squad. Because their options on game-day will be limited, the active reserves are likely to be players who have demonstrated the ability to play multiple positions.

Active Reserves:

Preston (LG, C, RG)--is probably the only certain active reserve.

Gibson (RG, RT)--if he is in shape, performs well in preseason and shows he can handle the RG job, is the next most likely active reserve because he can fill in at those two spots and, in a pinch, Peters could be moved to LT, although he's probably not in good enough shape to handle being forced to play full-time at RT.

Undetermined--**see note below--the most likely candidates are: 1.) Matt Morgan (LT)--if he performs well in preseason, he can back up both tackles; 2.) Brad Butler (RT)--could impress enough with his technique to win a spot over Morgan even though this would mean Peters would be the LT back-up; 3.) Greg Jerman (OG-OT)--for some reason McNally seems to like him and he has experience to fill in at multiple positions; 4.) Justin Geissinger (C-OG)--must show that he can be effective at center in preseason, but, if he can, they could keep Preston strictly as a OG.

Inactive Reserve:
Undetermined--the most likely candidates: Morgan or Butler, whichever one does not make the active roster, probably Butler initially, unless he really impresses during the preseason, but, if he improves as the season goes on, it could be tough keeping him off of the active roster.

Practice Squad:
Terrance Pennington (LT)--you can teach a guy a lot of things, but you can't teach 36" arms and, with his pedigree and size, he is a developmental project that it would be hard to give up on without seeing if he has the potential to be taught how to play in the NFL. His rare physical make-up could allow the team to keep Peters at RT if he develops his skills.

Brad Butler (RT)--has already shown some good techniques in training camp, so he's a no-brainer for the PS if he does not secure a spot on the active roster and the team decides to keep a more experienced player as it's inactive reserve.

Aaron Merz (C-OG)--if McNally wants to keep Preston at OG and Geissinger does not show enough to make the roster and/or Butler makes the roster instead of Geissinger, Merz has a good shot at making the PS. McNally seems to like him and the fact that they immediately shifted him to Center after he primarily was a OG in college would seem to indicate that the team (probably McNally) saw something in him that they felt could be developed--he's definitely a project, though.

** McNally was quoted earlier this past week as saying that the Bills lack and need to develop depth on their offensive line. The reason that it is difficult to project which offensive linemen will make the roster as back-ups is that what McNally said is true. Other than Preston, the Bills have no real depth. If Gibson can show that he can stay in shape and learn to play the RG position, that would be a huge addition to their offensive line depth (no pun intended!). But, even then, the Bills would need to have a couple of the young players step up big time in order for the team to have adequate depth on the offensive line.

Because both Preston and Gibson project as being interior linemen, the most obvious weakness is depth at the tackle position. Pennington is a physical specimen who has the potential to develop at LT, but, unless and until he does, Morgan and Peters are the only players currently on the roster who could really step in there if needed--and Peters has never really played on the left side, although he projects well there. That means that Morgan pretty much has to step up for the Bills to have any depth there. Otherwise, it may come down to Butler or Jerman and, while Butler has shown some nice technique in camp so far, he is still a rookie and the Bills may opt to go with Jerman's experience, even though he hasn't shown much when called on to play.

The Bills have to hope that their offensive linemen can stay healthy this season because they simply do not have the depth to overcome a serious injury to one of their starters, especially at the tackle positions. At least at this point, it appears that they are a year or two away from having enough quality depth and cohesion on their offensive line to be able to plug in backups at every line position without suffering a serious drop off in quality. Both Butler and Pennington could solve that problem, but they are rookies and will need time, especially Pennington, before they are ready to play well enough to fill that need.

Finally, McFarland still might figure into this equation because he now has experience playing both OG and RT, but, as I see it, his shoulder injury could keep him from getting enough reps in training camp and the preseason to beat out Morgan and Jerman. IMHO McFarland and Geissinger will have to show that the are too good to be cut in favor of guys who offer the team more flexibility as reserves if they are going to make the roster. And, neither seem to be doing that so far, although that could still, potentially, change. Right now, though, I make them both long-shots to make the team.

All things considered, anyone who is concerned about the depth that the Bills have on their offensive line IMHO certainly has every right and reason to be.

[HHURRICANE]

How about we let the experts -- ie, coaches -- decide who's good and who's not and who should be shuffled where if there's to be any shuffling. Gandy is a serviceable LT. With better guard play from Reyes/Preston, he'll probably improve some since he won't have to try to cover Bennie's butt. Peterson is going to stay at RT because he's still learning to play tackle, and he's more effective on the right side where he's used to playing. Moving him to LT now will simply make him ineffective at LT and open a big hole at RT.

Besides, shuffling linemen isn't necessarily going to improve the line or its depth. What's going to improve both is some stability plus experience for the young players and adding some better linemen. This isn't something that can be accomplished in one season.

Peterson was on Seinfeld. Peters is our RT. Considering Preston plays at RG and Center I don't know how he is going to help the left side.

The point of my post was the if we lose Gandy or Reyes we are screwed. That's my reasoning for shuffling some players to the left.