Jon Jansen: Starter Next Year?

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Next year, the entire starting line (Jansen, Samuels, Thomas, Kendall and Rabach) will all be 31 or older. Given that stat, at least one or possibly two of them are not going to play the entire season. Which two? God knows, it's kind of a crap shoot. Actually, with five aging starters it's more like Russian Roullette with 5 bullets. While freak accidents are just that, with age comes brittleness, these guys simply aren't as flexible and resilient as they were 3 or 4 years ago.

Thus, cumulatively the likelihood of a "freak" accident occurring is increased. Mark my words - next year one of them will go down for the season, early, with an injury that all will say "Not much you can do to prevent [insert injury here]". I am not hoping for this obviously and will be thrilled if it doesnt occur, I just think its as likely as finding the open chamber in our game of O-Line Russian Roullette.

So while we can plan on Jansen starting, I wouldn't bet the ranch on him playing out the season. So Heyer (or somebody else) better be ready to step in at either tackle position. Same at the guard position and, clearly, they need a guard who can pull.

I don't know what's available in the draft or in the FA market, but I guarantee that this line has maybe one more year as a complete starting unit. In 2009, count on two or three new starters.

Get a line that can get a yard anywhere on the field, and we can win the f'ing Superbowl with the rest of the team unchanged.

JoeRedskin, you bring up some good points. But this phenomenon of injuries isn't unique to the Redskins, not this year and it won't be next year. We're not the only team even this season that have lost two starters along the offensive line. Injuries aren't an excuse in the NFL, they are a reality. So that's just life in the NFL, my man. People get hurt and people will continue to get hurt.

Not one single team in the NFL - NOT ONE - can lose two starters and maintain their running game. Do we realize that Jason Campbell is one of the least sacked quarterbacks this season? It's funny how that stat never comes up when talking about our offensive line woes.

We need to draft some quality depth for sure, but when starters go down life get's rough. And from there you have to coach around and through injuries. But it is what it is.