I make it a point to never wish or cheer an injury to a player because I know their lives do go beyond Sundays and beyond their NFL careers. I hope Brian Winters is able to recover and continue playing for the Jets. The coaching staff obviously believes he was the best option for the left guard job, and I don't think that comes lightly. At 1-5, it's good for the Jets to be put in a position where they have to see what the team has at guard. With Ferguson, Mangold, and Colon aging, the Jets will need to make some moves to improve the offensive line, and testing the depth players in games will only help the front office make better informed decisions in March, April, and May.
The best possible case is Aboushi stands out as a quality guard. I honestly think Winters will only get better as well, but if Aboushi shows something good we can place Winters at RG next season. That is wishful thinking, but the silver lining is that at least Aboushi can show what he's got, good or bad. Both Winters and Aboushi had the physicality to become eventual starters coming out of college, but both played tackle their entire college careers and needed some time to transition. Winters' size projected him as a guard, whereas Aboushi's size projected him as a guard or right tackle. Winters played in the MAC in a run heavy attack, while Aboushi played in the ACC. Aboushi needed more pro strength training before becoming a legitimate option to start, so we'll see what he's got.
My projection for Winters is back-up swing lineman. His problems won't be rectified with a move to the right. Kent St must have played some very low caliber DE talent for Winters to have been a successful collegiate OT. His feet are pretty bad. I think he may have a future as a better than serviceable starter at center. DTs can get by him but have a hard time trying to go through him. Aboushi needs to continue to get stronger but I think may have found our LG. If that's the case, our short term o-line needs would be at RG and possibly RT, not sold on Giacomini. Maybe we can draft an OT that can immediately compete at RT early and move to the left side when Brick is ready to be put out to pasture.
I was very worried when I heard that a jets o line man was down. While I reflect the sentiment of my fellow forum members in regards to injured players, especially on our own squad, I was pretty relieved to see that it was just Winters. Lets see what our Oline depth is made of.
