I think on back up OL this year I'd move Murphy to Guard and live with Spriggs as the swing T back up if you have to. Murphy looked better but not by much and I think he'd be a decent G. Most teams don't have a decent starting RT let alone back up so if we get an injury there we are just moved down into the boat with almost everyone else. Then we only have to activate one of our crappy back up Cs instead of needing a different back up OL active for every single individual spot. Unless Murphy just sucks as a G, I don't know.
Originally Posted by: steveishere
On game day rosters, normally there is only 7 OL active, the 5 starters, a back-up OT and a back-up C. A few run first teams keep 8 active, especially if they use an OT as a blocking TE in some roles.
So moving a guy to Guard only means he's not going to be game active, just like OG Lane Taylor wasn't game active sometimes two years ago, even though he seems to become the best of those back-ups now.
I thought Murphy looked better than Spriggs... and Spriggs has a lot of problems, while Murphy's problem was simply he wasn't athletic enough... but remember you can help out an OT with chip blocking from a TE and RB, which is how they got through a season with Barclay (pre-knee injury) starting at RT... chip blocking on most pass plays to stop the speed rushers and force the DE into Barclay and at that time, you weren't going though Barclay quickly.... of course post-knee injury, it just hasn't been the same for Barclay.
But my post is, they could use the very same method to help Murphy, because he plays physical... he mainly just needs help with the speed rushes.
So I'd go with Murphy and Patrick as the two back-ups right now. Just my personal opinion.