O-Line Reshuffling?

As reported on Bengals.com, Marvin Lewis has suggested that Stacy Andrews will have a chance to start next year, which is either a reaction to--or pseudo-validation of--the recent move to put the franchise tag on the big man.  The question is, whose job would he take?  Andrews has most of his starts at RT in place of the aging Willie Anderson, but Anderson reports that he is now 100% healthy.  Of course, this could be posturing on his part, but it would seem unlikely that the Bengals would bench Anderson after dropping a big contract on him last year. 

One of the rumors floating around is that Eric Ghiaciuc will get benched in favor of Andrews.  One theory is that the Bengals will move RG Bobbie Williams--who has quietly been a rock on the right side--over to center, and keep a line-up of Levi Jones, Andrew Whitworth, Bobbie Williams, Stacy Andrews, and Willie Anderson.  Reports last year indicated that Bobbie Williams often made line calls in place of the fledgling Ghiaciuc, so they feel confident that he can provide the mental acuity generally required at the offensive center position.

The really intriguing part of this is what it could mean for the running game.  Listed at 300 lbs. on the depth chart, Ghiaciuc is by far the lightest offensive lineman.  Replacing him with the massive 342-lbs. Andrews would mean that our offensive line's average weight (according to the roster) would go from 326 lbs to a preposterous 335 lbs.  Now, I know 10 lbs doesn't sound like a lot, but that's spread out over five lineman, and in a power running game, 10 lbs is huge.  In fact, I would wager that an average weight of 335 lbs. stands as one of the largest offensive lines in NFL history (by contrast, at their heaviest the 1984 Redskins offensive line, nicknamed "The Hogs," weighed in at a now-pedestrian 285 lbs. on average.  Oh, the joys of steroids).

Of course, the question remains as to whether Bobbie Williams--whose gut has its own gravitational field--could ever be nimble enough to play center.  Time will tell, but if Marvin does decide to go with the All-Fatman lineup, here's to hoping that Rudi J. regains a little of his old power running form.

PS An interesting side note, the Bengals report that RB Rudi Johnson is currently in an offseason program to regain some of the weight he lost prior to last year, when he dropped from a previous playing weight of about 225 to 218 lbs.  It seems Marvin may have been very serious about rejuvenating the power running game.