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The offseason offensive line talk for the Arizona Cardinals has been mostly about how the left side is set with the signing of left tackle Jared Veldheer and the return of left guard Jonathan Cooper from injury.
What is very up in the air is the situation at both right guard and right tackle.
At right guard, three guys -- Paul Fanaika, Earl Watford and newly-signed veteran Ted Larsen -- will battle for the starting right guard job. At right tackle, it will also be three players -- Bobby Massie, Bradley Sowell and Nate Potter.
Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, who on Tuesday was a guest on The Drive on Fox Sports Radio 910 with Mike Jurecki and Jody Oehler, was asked about the players battling for each position.
You will note something in the interview. He gives very specific praise for the guards and offers very little for the tackles, speaking only in cliches.
See what I mean.
Goodwin was asked about the veteran Larsen.
"He's a guy, I think, who's started over 30 games in this league," he said. "He's got the demeanor you want. He's aggressive. He's very athletic. He's able to do the things we want to do at the position. He can pull and he's pretty good in pass protection, as far as anchoring down and not getting pushed back into the pocket, so I look forward to watching him compete with the other guys in there and see what can happen."
He then had comments about second-year player Earl Watford.
"Earl brings the qualities you want also," he said. "Earl's a physical guy. He has really strong hands once he locks on to you. It's very seldom you're going to be able to beat him. He's good in the run game and he's starting to come along mentally as well. I look forward to watching him compete."
Goodwin did not bring up Fanaika, and he was not asked about him.
Now for the tackles.
"You've got three eligible 'bachelors' as I call them that can fight out for that one position," hes said. "They're all trying to get that spot. I think what they have to bring to the table is consistency. All those guys have played a little football for us. Bobby (Massie) and Nate (Potter) started a lot of games two years ago, and obviously Bradley (Sowell) played a lot last year. They're all just going to have to put their big boy pants on and bring their lunch pails to work every day."
In one answer, he talks about "fighting it out," "putting on big boy pants" and "bringing lunch pails to work." That is saying absolutely nothing specific about who the team has. In fairness, Goodwin was not asked about specific strengths of the tackles, but the difference in the answers between guards and tackles is interesting.
Does it mean that Goodwin feels better about the guards he has? The one word that we got from Goodwin about the tackles was consistency. The guy that is the most consistent will be the guy that wins the job. Of course, with three guys that lack consistency, that could signal the possible drafting of a right tackle to add to the mix.
Which position do you feel the most comfortable with in terms of personnel? Do you believe that there is anything to read into with the difference in answers that Goodwin gave?
