Oli Udoh got 1st team snaps at Right Tackle; Allen: “LG & RT are still open. Penning is progressing but Udoh will get a look at RT.”

Snakehead said

How? How would they know a RT in his prime would be diagnosed with degenerative knees and probably won't play again? They did draft an OT in 2022, but he's had his own issues.

People on here complain about why they didn't draft Spears due to medicals, but Ram is a perfect reason why you don't draft someone who will more than likely not have a full career due to known medical issues.

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I took his post as could have done more to be prepared in case Penning wasn't ready to play RT this year. They could not have known last year was it for Ram until late last season at the earliest. That being said, they have known that Ram has a degenerative knee condition for several years so they knew it was coming at some point they just didn't know it would be this year. But, I agree this is why you don't draft a guy like Spears who has a limited shelf life that could end at any time.

But, for example, they could have signed an average vet RT in free agency this year for Penning to compete with for the job so that at worst you have an average starter at RT. And the time to do that was a few days to a week into free agency. Or they could have taken another Tackle in the draft by using some of their picks to move up in a deep OT draft. I'm not sure that guy is out there right now unless there is a trade available.

To be fair, I'm not sure who that average vet RT was, but I suspect there were better players than Udoh available earlier in free agency since Udoh is really more of swing guy that can adequately play Guard and Tackle rather than a real RT.