Rhyan may deserve a chance. Fans seem to forget that they don't know the whole story but the coaches do. They've seen Rhyan in practice. They know if he's better than the starters. Just because fans get impatient doesn't mean they have the answers.
Originally Posted by: wpr
Yeah the coaches do, and the coaches told him to stay seated, Newman is going in the game.
There is no reason to give up on him, but he had his shot in training camp, and supposedly Rhyan was unstoppable in pass blocking drills, got a ton of hype and got in preseason games and struggled more than Newman (based on coaches actions).
Also I'd argue that Hanson out played them both, but got injured and Packers released him injured (I'm expecting them to try to resign Hanson to the PS when his injury contract release runs out). Of course, I don't know how serious his injury was.
The article argument for Rhyan seems to be, he was a 3rd round pick, hasn't played in the regular season yet, he's not Newman and LaFleur chose Lane Taylor over Elgton Jenkins, Rick Wagner over Yosh Nijman, and Yosh Nijman over Zach Tom.
Which that's a horrible argument... Rhyan was a 3rd round pick, Newman a 4th round pick, and Scott Wells was a 7th round pick and so far has out played them both, so draft pick doesn't matter. And neither does the fact that he's not Newman.
He hasn't played in the regular season, how is the that a positive argument? That's just saying the grass must be greener on the other side, which might not be true.
As far as LaFleur choosing veterans over youngsters...
1) Lane Taylor was going into 7th year with the Packers, including 4th year as a starter, while Jenkins was a rookie. And looking at PFF preseason numbers, Taylor was one of the best in preseason and rookie Jenkins was was absolutely horrible in run blocking. Also Taylor got to focus solely at LG, while Jenkins worked all 3 interior positions and actually focused on LG the least of the 3 in preseason.,
2) Actually Nijman started before Wagner, so originally this is not correct, and Nijman moved to LT. It's when RT Billy Turner returned from injury that they moved Billy Turner over to LT and benched Nijman. But if you notice Nijman's career, he has a pattern, after getting a chance, he's consistently the first one to get benched. Even the OL coach with the expected Tom vs Nijman battle for starting RT... OL coach said sometimes people rise to the challenge, and other times people don't. And Nijman ended up behind Walker whom wasn't supposed to even be in the competition.
3) Yes, in 2022 OT Nijman got the call over OL Tom, but that's because they needed an OT. Where Gute said the Packers thought rookie Tom best spot would be Center, and they were working him in the interior a lot. While veteran Nijman got to focus on OT spots,.rookie Tom was asked to work at all 5 positions.
So yes, LaFleaur prefers a veteran that got to focus on one position, over rookies that were asked to focus on 3 to 5 positions.
But Rhyan nor Newman are rookies, and both focused only on the two OG positions in preseason games. So none of this applies.
I mean, if Rhyan is looking better in practices then maybe give a change a chance. But don't change just for change sake.
Also, if you're thinking of potentially making a change. After the next two games would be good times to make changes. Short week Thursday game, followed by a MNF game gives a lot of extra time. Then after the MNF is a bye week. Of course, considering they didn't IR Jenkins, maybe he'll be back by then.