Unsurprisingly Montez Sweat Jersey , Jay Gruden said that there was no update on Trent:"There is no update on Trent."Interestingly, the last question of his Thursday press conference was about which position group..." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHogs Haven homepageHorizontal - WhiteHogs Havena Washington Redskins communityFollow Hogs Haven online:Follow Hogs Haven on TwitterFollow Hogs Haven on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchHogs Haven main menuFanpostsFanshotsSectionsRedskinsMastheadOddsShopCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Looks Like Someone Has A Sixpack Of The MondaysDaily SlopRedskins RecapsEDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Jay Gruden is clearly worried about the offensive line, with good reasonTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesUnsurprisingly, Jay Gruden said that there was no update on Trent:Interestingly, the last question of his Thursday press conference was about which position group really needed to continue to improve.Jay?s usual modus operandi is to say something along the lines of, ?All of the position groups need to improve,? and then to go on to list two or three positions, naming a half dozen players and talking about how it is the job of the coaches to get them ready.He didn?t do that this time.He waded straight into the answer:I think this is more than just an unspoken commentary on Trent Williams? absence.Jay watched the season implode last year as the Redskins lost linemen to injury.On the first day of camp, Chase Roullier was out and Tony Bergstrom was in because Chase apparently had a hamstring injury.The team is clearly looking to fill the long-standing hole at left guard, and spent two mid-round draft picks to help make that happen.Jay Gruden and the Redskins have typically relied on having a team that is strong in the trenches, and they have invested draft resources on both sides of the ball to make that happen.Increasingly ? and especially this off-season ? it is apparent that team is trying to get faster.Faster at running back.Faster at wide receiver.Faster at linebacker.Faster at safety.It looks like self-scouting has told the Redskins that they were too slow to compete.But this is a team that believes in the big-uglies packed in near the ball.This team should be lining up Trent Williams, Wes Martin, Chase Roullier, Brandon Scherff, Morgan Moses to face off in training camp against defensive players like Ryan Kerrigan, Daron Payne, Jon Allen, Matt Ioannidis and Montez Sweat.Jeez!Just looking at the names listed like that sends chills down my spine!Instead, here is where we are on Day 1 of Training Camp:The Redskins play an NFL regular season game in Philadelphia on 8 September ? about 45 days from now.They need to be building strength, coordination and understanding among the various offensive linemen.Instead, Williams in holding out and Roullier is missing time due to a hamstring.This needs a quick fix.Ereck FlowersPredictably, Jay Gruden was asked again on Thursday about Ereck Flowers and his role.Jay repeated the new line that he recently adopted - that Ereck Flowers was brought in to play offensive line, and that, while the original plan was to try him out at guard, his presence on the roster allows the team to take advantage of the fact that Flowers has experience at both tackles spots.Here?s exactly what Jay said on Thursday:I get the sense that Jay is being careful with his words here.He has a script in mind, and I think he?s trying toleave himself lots of wiggle-room.Jay?s wording on Thursday was very similar to what he had to say just a day earlier:You can see that Jay is trying to stay on script here, with his quotes from Wednesday and Thursday being really similar.The one difference is that, on Wednesday, Jay made reference to Flowers at ?left tackle?.I think this was a slip on Jay?s part.Listening to him, I get the feeling that he is trying really hard not to use the name ?Ereck Flowers? and the position ?left tackle? in the same sentence. When he said it on Wednesday Dwayne Haskins Jersey , he followed up (and in my mind, he was covering a slip) by then talking about Flowers at left guard and Christian at LT to make it sound like he?s just spit-balling.I suspect that the Redskins are trying hard not to build a narrative of Ereck Flowers as the answer to the hole at left tackle caused by Trent?s holdout.The fact is, however, the Redskins have very few options, and none of them seems appealing:One option is Geron Christian, who was drafted a year ago, but saw very limited snaps before being lost for the remainder of the season to injury.Christian did not inspire with his play in 2018, but he has been talked about as a ?project? pretty much from the time he was drafted.Morgan Moses provides an option at left tackle as well.If the Redskins become convinced that Trent Williams is going to continue his holdout into the regular season, perhaps the coaches will experiment with Moses on the left side during preseason.He had 43 starts in his UVa career, and he started all 12 games at left tackle in his senior season.It?s often not ideal to ask a guy to switch when he?s been playing effectively on one side of the line, but one or two teams do it every year.It seems worth noting that the Redskins have not filled the 90th roster spot created when Mason Foster was released immediately prior to the start of camp.Could there be a trade in the works that the team wants to keep under the radar while they continue to discuss the Trent Williams situation with his agent?Jeremy Parnell, Ryan Schraeder and Donald Penn are all available free agents, all on the wrong side of 30, and all likely to be significant steps down from Trent Williams.Despite dire predictions from numerous sources regarding the Redskins outlook for 2019, the team has a good mix of youth and veterans and promise at every position group.The defense played very well for half a season in 2018, and there are reasons to believe the defensive roster and coaching have improved.The running backroom is talented and deep.Reports from the first day of camp say that Jordan Reed looks great.The wide receiver group is young, with potential.There really seem to be two big questions facing the Redskins:Do they have a quarterback capable of running Jay Gruden?s offense in 2019?Can they field a talented offensive line made up of 5 skilled players who can work together to open holes for the run game and protect the quarterback?If Trent Williams returns prior to the start of the season, I?ll feel much better about the second question, and that will help make the first a bit less critical.But if the Redskins are forced to enter the season with a makeshift offensive line that lacks its veteran leader at left tackle, then all those dire predictions could come true.With Trent Williams and a competent quarterback, the 2019 Redskins have a shot at a winning season.Otherwise, the best news for Redskins fans in the coming year may be the excitement over the hiring of the new head coach and the buzz of selecting at the top of the draft.We?ve only seen one day of training camp, but it?s already clear that the Redskins need to solve the current issues with the offensive line if they want to be able to compete this season. Six years before the Rams chose Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick to be the savior of a struggling franchise, they tried the same thing with Sam Bradford.And if Bradford had been running an offense created by the likes of Sean McVay, he might still have that job instead of being on the other sideline Sunday with the Arizona Cardinals.Bradford faces the team that drafted him No. 1 when the Cards (0-1) travel to the Coliseum to face the Rams (1-0), who have been through franchise relocation and a thorough transformation in the three years since they traded Bradford and his troubled knee from St. Louis to Philadelphia.After a two-year stop in Minnesota, Bradford moved back into the NFC West this season with Arizona, where he finally gets to face the franchise that employed him for the first five years of his career. But when asked if the Rams' horned helmets stir up any special emotions, Bradford said: "Not really.""I think if it would have happened sooner in my career, maybe there would be more. But the staff there is completely different. There's only a handful of guys on that roster that were there when I was there Dwayne Haskins Redskins Jersey , so there's just really not a lot of connection that's still there for me."Indeed, the current Rams have few parallels to those not-so-good old days in Missouri.When Bradford left, this team was mired deep in a streak of 13 consecutive non-winning seasons. Bradford is seeing the Rams again after their evolution into one of the NFC's top Super Bowl contenders. Los Angeles has a star-studded lineup and a vaunted coaching staff led by McVay, who was a 24-year-old assistant tight ends coach for the Redskins during Bradford's rookie season with the Rams.The Rams come into their home opener fresh off an impressive Monday night win at Oakland, while the Cardinals stumbled to a 24-6 loss to Washington in coach Steve Wilks' debut. The Rams also drilled their rivals twice last season, a 33-0 shutout in their "home" game in London last October before a comfortable 32-16 win in Glendale, Arizona in December.While Bradford prepares to dodge Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, Goff is fresh and ready after sitting out the entire preseason and then barely getting touched by the Raiders."I don't think I've ever met Sam," Goff said. "I think he's tremendous. I have followed his career just through being a fan and being a fellow quarterback, and I think he's a great player. The guy that our defense is getting ready for is as good as he can be."More things to watch in LA:HOME SOUR HOMEFor all their success last season, the Rams still have won only four of their 15 games at the Coliseum since returning to Los Angeles in 2016. The franchise also is losing a home game this fall to the NFL's international schedule for the third straight season, giving the Rams only seven games to impress the nation's second-largest market. The players would love to establish a home-field advantage in their 95-year-old temporary arena before they move to Inglewood in 2020.SEEKING SACKSDespite a subpar game by the defense, Arizona did sack Washington's Alex Smith three times in last week's opener. That included the first career sack for Robert Nkemdiche and one by Chandler Jones, who has 5 1/2 sacks in five career games against the Rams, including 4 1/2 in four games since coming to the Cardinals in 2016. Jones led the NFL in sacks last season with a franchise-record 17. He could get some help on the other side if Markus Golden is able to return.practiced on a limited basis this week but might not be quite ready to play in a game. Golden led the Cardinals with 12 1/2 sacks two seasons ago.STUDY UPMcVay has a short week of preparation after a Monday night game, but the Rams boss gave his players two days off from intense practices. McVay is preparing for the Cardinals' new coaching staff by watching tape of the Carolina defense last season under Wilks, and the Denver offense last season under Cards coordinator Mike McCoy. McVay said Arizona running back David Johnson is "as complete as there is," comparing him favorably to Todd Gurley.CONTROLLING FITZLike just any team Arizona faces, the Rams must concentrate on 14-year veteran Larry Fitzgerald. Given his long history against this team, their attention is highly understandable: Fitzgerald has 176 career receptions against the Rams for 2,017 yards and 18 touchdowns. That's not only more receptions than any other Rams opponent, that's more catches than anyone has against any single opponent in NFL history. Only Jerry Rice and Bob Hayes have more TD catches against a single foe.HEY JOSHJosh Rosen will be at the game, but the quarterback probably will have to wait for his Los Angeles NFL debut. The Manhattan Beach native and three-year starter at UCLA should inherit the Cardinals' starting job from Bradford eventually, but he's returning to LA as a backup. Rosen lost twice at the Coliseum with the Bruins, including a 28-23 loss to Sam Darnold's Trojans last November.AP Sports Writer Bob Baum contributed to this report.