I don’t want to be that guy but … well, I’m gonna be that guy. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Gerry Dulac has been quite clear in recent months that Willie Colon IS NOT MOVING TO GUARD. First, some background.
Here’s what Dulac wrote in May:
More importantly, the move of Colon to guard isn’t going to happen, not now, not at any point as long as Bruce Arians is the offensive coordinator.
This misguided notion that Colon can or might play guard is rooted solely in his body type – specifically, that his short arms make it difficult for him to play tackle and make it more conducive to play guard, where you don’t have to reach for outside pass rushers.
It has nothing to do with the obvious reason – that Colon does not run well enough to play the position. I mean, in the five years Colon has been with the team, he has never received even so much as a single snap in practice at guard – not one!
The move is not going to happen. Cheerleaders on the sideline at Heinz Field will occur before Colon is moved to guard in this offense.
(Note to self: remind Gretz to check on the status of the Heinz Field cheerleaders next time he’s in section 522. Because apparently they’re coming!)
In late June, the Tribune-Review‘s Scott Brown wrote that “Coach Mike Tomlin and offensive line coach Sean Kugler have said they are open to the possibility of Colon playing guard in 2011.”
Which led me to write a few days later:
“So Tomlin and Kugler have stated publicly that they’re not against the move and BA, according to Dulac, is. Make of this what you will (My guess: Arians told Dulac it wouldn’t happen and Dulac believes him. Doesn’t mean it’s gospel, although it becomes moot if the Steelers aren’t making any real efforts to re-sign Colon. Which might also explain Dulac’s steadfast refusal to even consider it a possibility. Like most everybody not named Gerry, I remain skeptical.)”
So it’s with a shit-eating grin on my face that I read this from Dulac today (courtesy of Steeler Bill — yes, I’m naming names):
It appears the team has little interest in re-signing Starks, who had been their starting left tackle, because he is overweight and out of shape. It is more likely they will re-sign right tackle Flozell Adams if he doesn’t sign with another team.
If they do, it is possible they will move right tackle Willie Colon to right guard – something they have been reluctant to do because of their style of offense. But, with more teams in the AFC North playing a 4-3 defensive front, the coaches think Colon’s skills as a run blocker would be better served to help cover the defensive tackle.
Any other day and the big news is that the Steelers have more interest in Flozell than Max. Clearly, that takes a backseat because Dulac also drops the “ohbtwcolonmightplayguardeventhoughtheoffensesaysheshouldn’t — NOTHINGTOSEEHEREMOVEONTHXVMUCH!” on us. If there’s an unintentional comedy scale, he just broke it.
With that out of the way, the real story is that an offensive line featuring Scott, Kemo, Maurkice, Willie and Flozell is a marked improvement over Scott, Kemo, Maurkice, Ramon and Willie. Now if there’s a way for Gilbert or Scott or Williams to win the left guard gig (or, hell, as long as we’re hoping against hope, let’s have Gilbert win the LT gig), then we’ll be onto something.
Either way, thanks for the laugh, Gerry.
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