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.”

DSnfla said
I think ( and let me know if you agree) that our OL issues really began before the 22 season. I'll leave Marrone out because you know my feelings on him. It started with the ridiculous pursuit of Watson from the Texans. From what I have been able to gather that prolonged pursuit of him prevented us from resigning Armstead. He wanted to come back but because we were not able to make him a legit offer due to Watson stringing us along TA signed with Miami.
In 21 out OL was Armstead, Peat, McCoy, Ruiz and Ram. How would you like to have that OL right now? the fault of not resigning TA rests solely on the FO, in no way should we have been chasing Watson and thank all the stars in heaven he went with Cleveland.
That put us in scramble mode @ LT. So we draft Penning, I'm not going to debate if we should have drafted him other than to say he was drafted just about where almost EVERY mock/ scout said he should be.
What I think we got wrong is that EVERYONE knew that TP was not pro-ready especially in pass-pro to start day one. What we should have done was sign a decent LT in FA ( and there were several available) to be a bridge starter @ LT until TP was ready, Which if he had been healthy maybe end of rookie yr or possibly yr 2. TP was thrust into the starting lineup WAY too early without having gotten hardly any work in his 1st season or the 2nd offseason.
22 was not a good yr for O linemen. While the Olave trade was fine to trade away future picks looking for quality OL especially OTs was not a wise choice. Almost every OL taken in the 1st 2-3 rds have been underwhelming, even the ones at the top part of the draft. We were most likely not going to find a ready to start OT in 22 the whole trade to get a 2nd 1st rd pick hurt us and not because we took TP but because it diminished our drafts for the next 2 yrs

I do agree. The decision not to sign Armstead, whether because Watson waited to long or not, was a mistake that has led us to where we are now. They had to get a LT in that draft and Penning was seen to be the best one available where they picked. And he may have been, but that doesn't mean he was ready to start. They should have taken another player, moved back, or just have not made the deal with Philly include getting two first that year. But taking Penning at that spot meant that they were essentially forced to rush him to start because they had no other LT option. That contributed to him never developing to the point he needs to be. He was always likely going to take a year or two to develop.

Then they had to take Fuaga. Luckily Fuaga looks to be the real deal and was solid value where they picked him. But, if they had signed Armstead back then, the entire OL would look so much better and you could have Armstead at LT and Fuaga at RT until he moves to LT when Armstead retires. And maybe we would not have taken Penning and instead used that pick on a young DL, WR, TE, or Guard. Lots of possibilities for how it would have gone, but yes, not resigning Armstead was the beginning of the downfall of our OL. And yes, we are really lucky that Cleveland guaranteed him all that money because we would be worse off now having made the Watson trade.