With veteran Skins tackle gone, three in the mix to fill void

By Joseph A. White

ASHBURN

At the end of last season, one of Washington Redskins coach Jim Zorn's biggest concerns was right tackle, a vital position that opens holes for Clinton Portis and keeps Jason Campbell on his feet.

When the Redskins took the field Monday for the final set of spring practices, the story was the same.

"This position is legitimately open," Zorn said.

What was different was that Jon Jansen was nowhere to be seen for the first time in a decade. The 1999 second-round draft pick - the team's longest tenured player - was released Friday, and that's going to take some getting used to.

"He understood a lot of what was going on," center Casey Rabach said. "I make all the calls, but he fed me information. You lose that. He's the guy who's been around forever, who knows everything and has seen everything."

But the Redskins thought it was time to move on.

Jansen is 33 and had been hindered by injuries for five straight years. He signed Monday with his home-state team, the Detroit Lions.

Before looking forward, Zorn did something unusual before Monday's practice. He spoke to the offensive linemen about their departed colleague.

"I didn't want to have any speculation as to what may have happened and why and all that," Zorn said.

The race is on to fill Jansen's shoes, a contest that ends when the season opens Sept. 13 against the New York Giants. The contenders are an undrafted player entering his third season, a veteran with a disconcerting off-the-field history and a comeback player who's losing weight at an astonishing rate.

Stephon Heyer, the undrafted contender, is the favorite. Heyer has 12 starts over two seasons but needs to improve his run blocking.

Then there's Jeremy Bridges, who can play guard or tackle and has 39 starts over six NFL seasons. The Carolina Panthers considered him a valuable reserve, but he was cut to clear salary cap space. It didn't help that he was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges twice while with the Panthers.

Zorn said Bridges is in the mix for the right tackle spot but hinted Bridges might have to settle for a backup role as an interior lineman, especially with the news Randy Thomas had arthroscopic knee surgery last month.

And though Thomas is expected to recover in time for the start of training camp in late July, Bridges was listed as a guard on the roster distributed Monday at Redskins Park.

He's confident he can fit in quickly, no matter the position.

"It's a copycat league. No disrespect to the offensive coordinator, but there's only so much you can do in the NFL," Bridges said. "Just terminology. That's what it's basically about, learning how the Redskins do things as opposed to how Carolina did things."

The wild card remains Mike Williams, who said he's down to 381 pounds, from 450 in February and 404 in late April. The former No. 4 overall draft pick hasn't taken an NFL snap in three seasons, but the Redskins are impressed by his off-the-field preparations and his enthusiasm.

"He's rusty at the comfort level of being back in it," Zorn said. "He has the furthest to come, but he has tremendous talent."