Breaking down the Washington Football Team’s position battles: Left Guard
Current Favorite: Wes Martin
At the beginning of training camp, it was unclear which of the Wes’ would get the first crack at the left guard position. But over the first week-plus of padded practices, it has been the younger statesman that has taken a majority of the first-team snaps.
Along with Geron Christian at left tackle, it looks like Wes Martin is en route toward becoming the starter at left tackle. The 2019 fourth-round pick out of Indiana was active for nine games as a rookie and made five starts total. Toward the end of the season, he got to fill in for an injured Brandon Scherff and showed off enough upside at the position that fans thought he deserved a chance to start.
But first, Martin had to impress the new coaching staff in 2020 to earn that right. And given his frequent appearance with the first team, it seems to demonstrate that he has done that.
That said, it’s important not to write Martin’s name in ink on the starting lineup just yet. He is certainly the favorite, but Rivera did challenge him in a recent practice, as detailed by NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay.
Ron Rivera points to Adrian Peterson and Thomas Davis as guys that know how to work. Then he pointed out Wes Martin and said, “This is your chance. This is your FING opportunity. Are you going to take it?”
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) August 22, 2020
Finlay did clarify in a later tweet that he didn’t think Rivera’s message was specifically for Martin; it was more of a message to all of the young players and Rivera knew that Martin could handle it. Still, the larger point is that Rivera wants all of his players to be competing hard to earn a job. If Martin continues to do that, he should be in good shape to earn that moving forward.
We’ll see if Martin can prove to be the long-term answer at left guard. Given what we saw last year, fans should be hopeful about his abilities.