Eric Fisher moving to right tackle, Donald Stephenson to left
Well, this is interesting. The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to stick Eric Fisher at right tackle and Donald Stephenson at left tackle, according to Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star.
Donald Stephenson is the starter at left tackle, Eric Fisher is the starter at right tackle.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 7, 2015
Fisher has been playing left tackle exclusively since the beginning of the 2014 season, after playing poorly on the right side in 2013. Now, the 2013 top-overall pick is being shifted back to the right side with Donald Stephenson stepping in at left tackle.
Paylor followed up on this news, and apparently Reid was not happy.
I asked Reid if it was disappointing to have a No. 1 pick moved back to the right side. Very testy. “Did you listen to what I said?"
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 7, 2015
The good news? Stephenson has shown to be much better on the left side than the right side. It is not a question whether Stephenson has the talent to play on the left side, he certainly does. The problem is that Fisher has not played on the right side in years, and he wasn’t good there to start with. Now Fisher has to reverse everything he has been doing to play a completely different technique.
Oh, and his Week 1 matchup is J.J. Watt.
This is going to be a defining moment for Reid with this team. He’s a great coach, but this is a huge gamble. The Chiefs are a team with Super Bowl aspirations, and there was ridiculous amounts of talk about how much Fisher has improved. If Fisher falls flat on his face and this line stinks because of it, Reid is going to get skewered.
I’ll say this for Reid, he is showing some serious guts. Most coaches would never make a move like this.
Here’s to hoping Reid is right.