Chuck Carroll of FootballNewsNow.com had the Raiders' Bruce Campbell on his radio show. Campbell told Carroll and his co-host, former Raider Jay Richardson, that he was making a position switch to tackle. Campbell practiced exclusively at guard in his rookie 2010 season after playing left tackle at Maryland. Campbell had this to say about the switch:
"I really don’t mind too much," Campbell said regarding the transition back to tackle. "I mean guard led me to realize a few things like that I can run block . . . I have a bit more confidence at tackle now even more because of me playing guard."
This news comes as a surprise to at least me. The popular thought had been that—depending on what happens in free agency—Campbell would get a look at right tackle with Joe Barksdale, but the likelihood would be that he would take over right guard duties for Cooper Carlisle. Carlisle is likely to be cut. Jump over for more on Bubba Ho-Tep....
Now, just because Bruce said he was switching to tackle, it doesn't mean that he will be playing their exclusively, but he sure made it sound like it. And, if nothing else, it seems like he will be playing there more than at guard.
So who is going to be playing right guard? I think this news means that the Raiders are going to sign a free agent. Carlisle is not a good fit for the power scheme, nor is he worth his $2.5 million contract. Maybe they end up signing Langston Walker or Samson Satele to play guard. But it now almost seems certain that they have to sign a guard.
That leaves Barksdale and Campbell to battle for the right tackle spot. Hopefully not for starting duties. With the lack of OTAs, it is going to make a rookie starting at tackle in week one less than ideal. Last year the Raiders had four tackles on the roster. Hopefully they still plan on adding one.
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