Redskins: Studs and duds from the team’s Preseason Week 1 loss to the Browns

Dud: LG Ereck Flowers

Yes, the offensive line was bad enough to have two duds. And Ereck Flowers was certainly one of them.

Flowers was signed this offseason and the team hoped to turn him into a quality guard. He had been a human turnstile at tackle but he still had the size and athleticism needed to make an impact on the interior, if he could develop.

As expected, that has been one big “if”.

Despite the move, Flowers struggled to block on Thursday night. He didn’t open up many lanes in the running game early on and also committed a holding penalty. He’s still not comfortable at the position through no fault of his own; the Redskins signed him to play guard, but due to the Williams holdout and Christian injury, they had to play him at tackle in camp. So, he is very late transitioning here, so there may be some extra growing pains.

Flowers still doesn’t look like a quality lineman and they’re running out of time to evaluate him. The problem, though, is that the team’s depth is so poor that they may not have many options that are better than him. And their lack of depth was on display all night with the poor performance of their backup lines.

If Flowers had flashed a bit of potential, that would’ve been one thing. But he just generally struggled and continued to look like a replacement-level player. If he’s the team’s day one starter at left guard, which is looking possible at this point in time, the position will continue to be a weakness for the squad.