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Redskins Double Take: Brandon Scherff – Guard or Tackle?

By Chris West

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Jun 16, 2015; Ashburn, VA, USA; Washington Redskins offensive tackle Brandon Scherff (75) lines up during drills as part of day one of Redskins Minicamp at Redskins Park. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Riggo’s Rag writer Chris West and Co-editor Maurice Barksdale debate as to whether Washington Redskins first round pick Brandon Scherff should play right guard or right tackle.  West thinks right tackle, Barksdale right guard.

West’s take:

Recently, Washington Redskins first round draft choice, Brandon Scherff, has been playing Right Guard for the Redskins. Up until last week, Scherff had exclusively played Right Tackle. The roster on the team website lists him as both a guard and a tackle so which should he play?

When the Redskins drafted Scherff, the Redskins General Manager Scot McCloughan was asked a question about where he would play. McCloughan responded that Scherff would play right tackle for the Redskins. Since he was the fifth pick in the draft overall, this made sense.

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Rarely are guards taken early in the first round of the NFL draft. The last time a guard was drafted as high as fifth in the draft was in 2001 when the Arizona Cardinals chose Leonard Davis. Davis also played some tackle for the Cardinals.

In 2013, two guards were drafted in the top ten with Jonathan Cooper at seventh by the Cardinals  and Chance Warmack at tenth by the Tennessee Titans. Both are starters currently but neither has reached a pro-bowl level of play yet.

The Oakland Raiders chose Robert Gallery with the second pick of the 2004 draft to play tackle for them. Gallery was basically a bust at tackle and was moved to guard where he played for the remainder of his career. Gallery played college football at Iowa, just like Scherff.

Gallery played seven seasons with the Raiders. He finished his career with the Seattle Seahawks in the 2011 season. Gallery started all but one of the games that he played in his career.

Will Scherff’s career mirror Gallery’s? No one knows yet but Gallery at least was allowed to play tackle for his entire rookie season. Scherff has not even played in a preseason game at tackle yet..

The Redskins pass defense was extremely poor in 2014. The team gave up the second most sacks in the NFL with 58. Scherff was drafted to help reduce that high total of sacks surrendered by being a bookend at right tackle with Trent Williams at left tackle for the next decade.

The Redskins have inserted 2014 third round draft choice, Morgan Moses, at right tackle. Moses had a terrible rookie season before getting injured in week 14. Coming back from a lisfranc injury to start over first round pick Scherff at right tackle is a surprise for Moses in his second season.

The Redskins would be best served by leaving Scherff at right tackle for now and seeing him develop there. He will never develop the pass protection prowess the Redskins need from him inside at guard. Not allowing their rookies to develop has been a consistent theme for the Redskins for many years.

I fear that the Redskins will never see Scherff’s true potential if they make this move to guard permanent for Scherff. There are many other options for the Redskins at right guard including 2014 third round pick Spencer Long, 2015 fourth round pick Arie Kouandjio and 2012 third round pick Josh LeRibeus.

With three early round picks to choose from to replace Chris Chester, the Redskins should let them compete for the spot and not make Brandon Scherff the next Robert Gallery.

Barksdale’s take:

When I first took a hard look at Brandon Scherff as a possible draft pick for the Washington Redskins I always thought that even though he was an offensive tackle, his skill set and temperament might be better suited to guard.

He could surely be a good offensive tackle but I think he could be an outstanding guard. I watched him closely at OT in the Iowa’s bowl game against Tennessee and Scherff struggled in pass protection against the Volunteers pass rushers.

It could have just been a bad game, as it happens to the best of them.  But I felt this should have been a dominant performance for Scherff, especially with him being the top offensive line prospect in the draft at that point.

I still felt Brandon Scherff was a top ten caliber pick and I especially liked his nasty disposition as a blocker.  But since I saw him as more of a guard than a tackle and guards typically aren’t top five picks, I didn’t really consider him as much as other prospects for the Redskins.

However, Redskins GM Scot McCloughan drafted Scherff anyway and the initial plan was to play him at right tackle.  But Scherff has struggled some in pass blocking and second year tackle Morgan Moses has shown much improvement over last season in training camp.

The object of building the Redskins O-line shouldn’t be to use Scherff at offensive tackle simply because he’s a top five pick, or because others have been a bust moving from tackle to guard.  It should to get the best five offensive linemen on the field.

If Moses has emerged as one of the best five and he’s a better OT right now than Brandon Scherff then he needs to be on the field.  Even if eventually Scherff can become a better OT than Morgan Moses.

But I think Scherff can be more effective at guard, especially as run blocker.  He’s nasty and powerful, so I think those attributes can be better served as a guard and that mindset and demeanor can be infectious to the rest of the O-line.

The Redskins need someone to set the tone in the new power running game and that’s where Scherff can help them the most early in his career.  If his pass blocking improves then they can move him to tackle but for now Brandon Scherff needs to play guard.

So what’s your take?  Who do you agree with West or Barksdale?  Should Brandon Scherff play right tackle or right guard?

Next: Redskins release Unofficial Depth Chart

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