I don't know if I'm using fan in the right context here, but we're all worried; Coach Bugel isn't. Per a Q&A at the Official Site with Bugel:

Q: Randy Thomas and Jansen have had injuries the last few years. Is there any concern about their durability heading into 2008?
A: "No, you can't be worried because injuries are a part of the game. I hate to use a cliché, but age never worries me. I coached Ray Brown at 42 years old, so I don't care how old you are. If you can still play, you're playing. Plus, Randy and Jon are in great condition. They've had time off, plus in rehab you have to work hard every single day. I never worry about injuries. Some guys who come off major injuries have great careers. Injuries are part of the game, really."

Age never worries you? This can't possibly be true. As much as I love Coach's enthusiasm about our old offensive line, I need position coaches willing to address issues, such as the unavoidable, never-ending process whereby young football players become old ones. (And I know that Coach Bugel, despite what he says publicly, is worried about the offensive line, including their collective age.)

The good news is that he has plenty of great things to say about Chad Rinehart, Stephone Heyer, and Andrew Crummey. Stephon has already developed as a reliable backup, Chad Rinehart is treated (in the interview) as a versatile offensive linemen who can play both guards and tackle, and Andrew Crummey receives heaping big praise along with his alma mater, generally. Apparently Bugel has a high opinion of Maryland prospects.

One issue unaddressed in the interview is our backup center situation or, more precisely, the non-existence of a pure backup center on the roster. No offense intended to Kyle Devan but I'm suspicious of his ability to make the team. The more likely scenario is that we ultimately brings in a veteran to fill that spot, as Jon Jansen is more useful as a starting tackle than he is as a backup center, should Rabach go down to injury.

Elsewhere, I know a couple of reader(s) are big on Byron Westbrook, but he got some bad print out of Redskins 360:

Highlights from the 7-on-7 passing part practice: James Thrash beating Byron Westbrook for a long catch, a one-handed catch by Devin Thomas and two Malcolm Kelly catches -- beating Westbrook to catch a long ball from Jason Campbell and, moments later, catching a pass from Todd Collins on a stop-and-go route. Defensively, LaRon Landry intercepted a pass that was deflected off Santana Moss.

Anecdotes such as these hardly tell the entire story on a player's development or performance in practice, but they don't encourage, either. Rather than dwell on the negative, though, let's be happy that both Kelly and Thomas are making noise in the receiving game. In the Q&A with Bugel cited above, he mentioned that the people this offense is toughest on are the quarterbacks and receivers, as it is largely the passing game that has been altered (the offensive line's pass blocking has not changed, per Bugel). It immediately struck me that, assuming -- and this is aggressive -- that both Kelly and Thomas find their way into the top 4 receivers on the depth chart, half of our starting receivers aren't really having to learn a new professional passing system, rather they're being groomed into from the get-go. For Moss and Randle El, this is a new offense. For Kelly and Thomas, this is no more a new scheme than it is for any and every rookie receiver in the NFL.

Finally, transaction news per Redskins Insider:

[T]he Redskins made two rosters moves - re-signing LB Rian Wallace and DE Dorian Smith and releasing Bryan Wilson and Eddie Jackson.

Don't know what to add besides best wishes and happy trails to Bryan Wilson and Eddie Jackson and welcome back to Wallace and Smith. I don't know enough about any of these guys to comment usefully. I will say I'm thrilled to see that Hogs Haven favorite Pete Schmitt is still with the team. Yes, it is true, I will never shut up about him.

My apologies for a short absence; I'm not used to disappearing for nearly a week, but real life monopolized my life. All I ask is that reader(s) stick with me -- regular updates this week.

Let me first state what this is not: I am not panicking. I am not actually all that concerned with the age of our offensive line at this moment, because I think they have enough juice in the tank to at least get the replacement parts installed before the whole thing crumbles. And, indeed, some of those service orders have already been placed; we just drafted Chad Rinehart and last year we developed undrafted rookie free agent Stephon Heyer. We also have a couple young bloods on the roster currently. Although they are mostly undrafted free agents, we've had success with Heyer and there is reason for optimism that lightning will strike twice on one of these guys. As reader Romans12 reminded, don't overlook Kerry Brown, who DraftGuys called a future Pro Bowler. Also, he can see into the future:

We also have one of the best offensive line coaches in the NFL in Joe Bugel. The list of "legendary" offensive line coaches is pretty small, but Bugel is on it. He's also been in the coaching business since 1964. I have enormous faith in Bugel to develop the next generation of Redskins linemen.

And I need it, really, because this unit is old, the oldest in the NFL. Fantasy Sports Forum recently did the statistical and data collection heavy lifting and observed the following:

1. As old as we are, the Redskins still get a fair great, which means we're around middle of the pack.

2. Our 3.8 YPC was pretty bad. There are only 3-4 teams with worse YPC in the entire league.

3. Our pass protection, by contrast, was quite admirable. With just 29 allowed sacks, we ranked around 13th in the league.

4. We received a good depth ranking, which I think is fair. We have Jason Fabini to backup the entire unit with Stephon Heyer looking like a reliable future starter in the NFL. The aforementioned Chad Rinehart doesn't hurt, either.

5. The average age of the Redskins offensive line is 32. That's the highest average in the league by a substantial margin. The 2nd highest were the Cowboys, at 30; everyone else is comfortable around 26-29.

6. Five of our starters are 30 or older. Exactly one other team has three players who are 30 or over: Da Bears. Everyone else is 2 or below.

All of which is said not to encourage panic but there's also no point shoving our heads in the sand, either. The team is in need of a youth movement on the offensive line, has taken steps towards that end, but we're far from finished. Chris Samuels is a Pro Bowl tackle; you don't replace him overnight. I consider Randy Thomas a pro bowl caliber guard, and he won't be replaced over night.

It is unlikely that the entire unit craps out all at once. Jon Jansen might miss some time next season, Casey Rabach might miss some time next season, Samuels and Thomas and Kendall might all miss some time next season, but they won't all miss all the time next season. Replacement parts can be brought in piecemeal, but they still need to be ordered. I see us addressing this position more in next year's draft and perhaps in free agency.

A brief note on Kendall... After we lost Derrick Dockery to Buffalo I was concerned how that guard position was going to shake out. We added Kendall and he played well in Dockery's stead. On the other side we brought in Fabini to replace an injured Randy Thomas, and he played well for the majority of the season (not great, but very well). I'm convinced that there are a lot of serviceable backups in the NFL that can help us ease towards transitioning from an old offensive line to a new offensive line as injuries become more prevalent. And a lot of the old guys, like Thomas and Rabach and Samuels and Jansen, are still playing at an extremely high level, so long as they can keep themselves on the field. There's no indication that any of them is getting substantially worse, merely more injury prone.

We need to ask Kerry Brown what's going to happen, because he can see into the future.

Football Outsiders has their post-draft analysis of the NFC East up, go enjoy. Author is a guest, one Mike McGibbon, and all seems to be in order in the story. I found no glaring errors, though I'm not sure the Redskins got, as McGibbon wrote, 10 draft picks as a result of our 1st round draft pick trade (I thought we gave up a 1st, 3rd, 5th ro a 2nd, 2nd, 4th. It's been a minute, though, so maybe my memory doesn't serve).

Either way, McGibbon knows a lot more about our undrafted free agents than I do, and thus I direct your attention to some guys to watch, per him:

Undrafted Free Agents

In all, the Redskins brought in 13 undrafted rookie free agents. Of those 13, four were offensive linemen. And of those four, Florida State’s Shannon Boatman and New Mexico’s Devin Clark may have the best chance to make the team, given that both started for most of their final two seasons. Dorian Smith, an All-Pac 10 first-team defensive end from Oregon State, will also challenge for a spot.

Quick look at the roster reveals that Shannon Boatman has already been lost. He, uhh, failed a physical. Tough break, guy. But both Dorian Smith and Devin Clark are, as of this writing, still with the team. The team has a lot of defensive ends (nine) and certainly more than we will by final cuts. Locks would be, in my opinion, Phillip Daniels and Andre Carter as starters with Demetric Evans and Chris Wilson backing up. Let's speculate that the team keeps 9-10 defensive linemen, and you have to imagine Kedric the Barbarian, Mt. Gomery, and Cornelius Griffin, with Lorenzo Alexander and Ryan Boschetti both in good position to make the team (although Alexander could make the team in any number of his superhuman capacities, so maybe he wouldn't even count as a D-Linemen). We're in need of upgrade on the defensive line, but that doesn't mean any rookie can just step in and take the spot of one of the more established veterans. That might've been the case a few years ago, but young linemen Anthony Montgomery, Chris wilson and Kedric Golston have started a youth movement at that position. Until Griffin and Daniels take the long walk, the Dorian Smiths of the world will have to earn a place on this team.

At offensive line I think recent injuries may encourage Coach Zorn -- a former expansion team quarterback who knew a thing or two about the perils of a bad offensive line -- to keep a larger than normal contingent of offensive linemen on the roster. Locks are the starters, obviously, in Jon Jansen, Randy Thomas, Chris Samuels, Casey Rabach, and Pete Kendall. I think Fabini and Stephon Heyer will probably be around as well. I hope Chad Rinehart makes the team, and he should. On Todd Wade I'm indifferent, as he hasn't done much to impress. We'll need to keep someone about to backup Casey Rabach at center; with versatile Mike Pucillo gone, the spot as of now belongs to Kyle DeVan, unless there is someone else on the team who can snap the football and block effectively.

Question to readers is: We've got a good crop of undrafted rookie free agents. These things are remarkably difficult to predict, and we are really at the mercy of the team in telling us who has impressed thus far, but is anyone willing to go on record on who will or will not make the roster? Who will be this year's Stephon Heyer (acknowledging that his position was aided in large part by factors outside control or prediction: injuries)? I'm aspecifically soliciting commentary on players local to reader(s) markets that maybe the rest of us haven't seen play so much.