In 2016, Matt Kalil was placed on injured reserve with a hip injury ahead of the Vikings’ Week 3 matchup with the Carolina Panthers – that same week, the Vikings would lose Alex Boone to an injury in the first half and would turn to their top interior backup to play out the rest of the game. The next week, their right tackle Andre Smith would go down with injury, and because their top swing tackle was already on the left side replacing Kalil, they turned to the same player who had taken snaps at left guard the week prior to switch positions and play on the outside. A left tackle, right tackle and left guard all suffering injuries in a three-week period – sound familiar?
It sure does to Jeremiah Sirles, who was the backup that got his first playing time in Minnesota at left guard against Carolina before kicking over to right tackle the next week for the Vikings, a spot he would occupy for the remainder of the 2016 season.
And that just might be the story here in Carolina after the team announced that starting left tackle Matt Kalil had an arthrosopic procedure performed on his right knee Monday in Florida after he battled soreness throughout camp and during the Week 2 preseason game against the Miami Dolphins – with Daryl Williams and Amini Silatolu already on the shelf, that would make for the third offensive lineman to miss time for the Panthers – and they haven’t played a regular season game yet.
“Things like this happen so you’ve just got to make sure that you’re prepared and ready when your opportunity comes that you take it,” Sirles said after practice in which he took most of the reps at right tackle with the first team. “I’ve said it before, opportunities don’t come often in this league, so when they do, you’ve got to make sure you take advantage of them.”
“That’s kind of been the story of my career; I’ve kind of been wherever I need to be [and] whatever I need to do to help the team win, whether that’s tackle, guard [or] center; I just try to prepare every week even if I am a starter even if I’m not, because you never know what can happen.”
Opportunities like this are the reason why he prepares, both mentally and physically, to play across the offensive line – even left guard reps with the scout team are better than no left guard reps at all – and the chance to start is one of the reasons that Sirles signed a one-year deal with Carolina in the offseason; Sirles is going to get that opportunity, albeit not at the left guard slot at which he thought he’d be competing. Ron Rivera and the Panthers have long spoken about the importance position flexibility, whether it’s a hybrid running back/wide receiver like Christian McCaffrey or a hybrid tight end/fullback like Alex Armah – perhaps you’re familiar with the hybrid linebacker/safety role the team refers to as the “buffalo nickel”.
“Jeremiah is another one of those guys,” Rivera said. “You guys know that I talk about position flexibility, especially on the offensive line – those play huge. Guys that can play more than one position, they have a chance to have a bright future in this league and play for a while.”
With Sirles starting at right tackle, second-year lineman Taylor Moton, who was promoted to starter at right tackle when Daryl Williams was injured, will move over and start at left tackle – if Moton starts Week 1, and all indications are that he will, whether it’s at left or right tackle, it will be his first NFL start. But just as John Matsko has reiterated to his offensive line unit all summer, if they come in to practice with a starter’s mentality, when they’re asked to make that jump, they won’t be worried, they’ll be confident.
Even if they started last week at right tackle and are now being asked to prepare at left tackle – not as hard of a switch as you might think, at least if you listen to Moton.
“Everything is just kind of flipped over,” said Moton about the switch from right to left. “So for me, I’ve known that I might have to go at either spot, left or right, guard or tackle – so I’ve done what I could to make sure I get reps at it. Obviously, it’s not the same as going against a live player, but going against a guy like Mario Addison [in practice] all week has helped me prepare and gotten me better, so I feel confident about it and I’m excited about the upcoming game.”
So with Williams, Silatolu and now Kalil on the shelf, it gives the coaching staff a chance to see what they’ve got in terms of depth on the offensive line; while the injury situation may remind fans of 2016 – injuries over the course of the season to Michael Oher, Ryan Kalil, Gino Gradkowski and others led to Ron Rivera calling the line “about as catastrophe as you can get” – it’s not exactly the same. Rivera said after practice that none of the injured lineman have a time frame to return, but none of the injuries are season-ending.
Daryl Williams was at practice Tuesday for the first time since dislocating his patella and tearing his MCL on the first weekend of training camp, working on the sidelines with trainers.
“It’s not like these guys have died,” Sirles joked after practice. “A lot of times people are like ‘Man, these guys are hurt! They’re never around!’ But these guys are still around, I’m still learning and talking to Daryl – Daryl’s one of my favorite guys on the team, he’s awesome and a great player, I remember watching him on film in Minnesota.”
The current situation on the offensive line may be fluid – the team has started a different lineup each week of the preseason thus far and will start a new group of five against New England on Friday – the positional flexibility of guys like Greg Van Roten, Taylor Moton and Jeremiah Sirles has been useful thus far and will continue to have great value as the Panthers head towards their Week 1 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys.
