National Football League

Andrew Gardner stepping in at RG as Eagles shift offensive line

Published Jun. 8, 2015 12:06 p.m. ET

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The lengthened holdout of Philadelphia Eagles incumbent starting left guard Evan Mathis has cause the team to do some shuffling along the offensive line. Allen Barbre has shifted over to Mathis' spot at left guard during the six OTA practices so far. Andrew Gardner has taken Barbre's place at right guard for as long as Mathis is out for. According to Eagles' offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, Gardner has made a seamless transition so far.

"Some of them will hide that because they don’t want you to know that because that decreases their value, obviously," Stoutland said, per Philadelphia Magazine. "But there’s players, like Andrew Gardner, I can tell from day to day, he can go left side, right side, it doesn’t affect him at all. Other players, they’ll be like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got to put a lot more time into this on this side of the line.’
"Because your body transition, when you’re moving as a left-side player, usually you lean a little bit to your right because the quarterback’s here. So you want to counter-balance your weight. You don’t want to go to your left and have all your weight go out here. So they have to calculate that in their brain if they go on the other side."

Gardner's role in 2015 is undefined and will remain that way until the Eagles resolve the Mathis holdout. If Mathis returns to the team, Gardner will likely serve as the team's swing interior offensive lineman, tasked with preparing himself to man either side of the line. If the Eagles do trade Mathis, Gardner will likely be pressed into starting action after the team neglected to add much depth behind him via free agency or the draft.

(h/t Philadelphia Magazine)

Photo Credit: Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports