2023-12-29 16:42:01
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Driving a car with the opposite foot or shaving with the other hand would be a big challenge for anyone.
That’s how offensive linemen describe moving from right tackle to left tackle and vice versa. It’s a new position that requires different footwork, hand-eye coordination, and other techniques as you try to prevent powerful, fast defensive linemen from destroying your quarterback.
Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs and Cincinnati’s Jonah Williams are among those players who made the difficult switch this season, while Detroit’s Penei Sewell has constantly switched sides.
It is one of the most complicated transitions for an NFL player, one that often goes unnoticed because it is assumed that all offensive linemen do the same things. Yes, linemen have to block, but everyone has different responsibilities on the line and big adjustments are necessary.
“You have so many reps on one side and your muscles have memory, but all of a sudden you have to do everything the other way around and it feels weird,” said Wirfs, who was first-team All-Pro at right tackle in 2021 and made two Pro Bowls in that position before switching to the left side. “The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. But it does suck at the beginning. You feel very strange and it takes you some time to get used to it. It’s very easy to feel frustrated because you were successful on one side. But I have great teammates around me.”
Wirfs, a first-round pick of the Buccaneers in 2020, credits line coach Joe Gilbert’s work in making the transition process easier for him.
“He told me, ‘I’m going to let you fail. You’re going to be fine,’” Wirfs recalled. “I’m still getting there. There are days when I feel great and others when I think, ‘what am I doing?’, but I definitely feel more comfortable than I thought.”
Williams, Cincinnati’s 11th overall pick in 2019, played left tackle at Alabama and for his first three seasons with the Bengals until switching to the right side this season.
“I think that in the NFL and especially on the offensive line, technique is very important and is very ingrained in you, and it is not only about knowing the technique, but about feeling it, perceiving the distribution of your weight, your movement of feet and all that, so it’s not as easy as saying now I’m going to do it another way,” Williams said. “It requires a lot of training and a lot of time.”
Williams was coming off surgery for a dislocated kneecap, so he was limited in the offseason, but he made sure to prepare as best he could.
“Even if I just went out and got into a pose and held it for a good while each day, that was at least something I could do to shift my brain that way,” Williams admitted. “Fortunately, by the time camp came around, I was very comfortable with it and I’ve been more comfortable with it all year.”
Sewell, the 7th overall pick in the 2021 draft, was a left tackle at Oregon when he won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top offensive lineman. He moved to the right side after the Lions drafted him, only to make his first career start at left tackle, becoming the youngest player in NFL history, at age 20, to start at the position.
Sewell made the Pro Bowl at right tackle last year and has played there most of this season, save for two starts on the left side in weeks two and three.
“It’s tough, but I think with reps and the right mindset, anything is possible,” Sewell said of the back-and-forth. “When you switch, you have a different leg in front… so you have to push a different leg. You have to train that leg that has been behind all the time and now has to push. At the same time you must have enough strength to return to your place and stay vertical with your hips. Now when I talk about your hips, when you’re on the left side, you open out more just because you can. You have all that space to use, but then you switch sides, and you can’t really open up your left side, because that’s the shortest path to the quarterback and now your hips have to train with your mind.”
Several other offensive linemen have made the switch from one side to the other recently, including eight-time Pro Bowl selection Tyron Smith of the Cowboys; Austin Jackson, of Miami; rookie Broderick Jones of Pittsburgh; Walker Little, of Jacksonville; Dillon Radunz, of Tennessee; Mekhi Becton, of the New York Jets; among others.
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