The latest depth chart released by the Steelers today has Doug Legursky listed as the starting right guard and Tony Hills listed as his backup. The early word is Legursky will start there Thursday night against the Panthers and Trai Essex could make his first start at center if the Steelers choose to let Maurkice Pouncey sit out with his dinged up ankle. Essex reportedly took first team reps on Monday at practice with Legursky to his right and will indeed play there at some point against the Panthers.
The Steelers have had a revolving door at the right guard since camp started as both Chris Scott and Hills have made starts there. Scott has looked pretty bad at both the right guard and right tackle spot in all three preseason games thus far and looks to be well outside of the roster bubble at this point. Hills on the other hand has not been bad, in my opinion, in both of his starts against the Eagles and the Falcons, but apparently the coaching staff sees it differently.
Legursky was the starting right guard early last season after Essex injured his ankle, but he was not able to hold down the job long as Ramon Foster eventually took over the spot and never relinquished it. This could be just an effort by Mike Tomlin to get a final look at Legursky at the spot before making his final decision or perhaps he is dead set on him as his week 1 starter based on what he has seen out of Hills thus far. Needless to say, I think this is a position that could stay in flux all season long like it was last year.
I know it is not likely to happen now, but I would still be curious to see what right tackle Willie Colon could do at the position for a couple of series with rookie Marcus Gilbert playing at right tackle. I though Gilbert had a good game at both left and right tackle against the Falcons and I have been a long time proponent of Colon kicking inside until a new right guard comes along.
We shall see how all of this plays out with the week 1 meeting against the Ravens right around the corner.
