Redskins big on O-Lineman Branden Albert, also, as per usual, I was wrong

Huge hat tip to Ryan Wilson at the Fanhouse for tracking down this non-trivial nugget of info per Redskins Insider that I somehow missed, despite reading that space daily. First and foremost:

Versatility has been cited by the coaching staff as a plus in Washington for years now. This is especially true on an aging line, where there is little or no certainty where the next injury will come; is it Jansen or Samuels at tackle or Kendall or Thomas at guard? Our o-line backups reflect this trend towards utility: Jason Fabini (also called "furbini"; draw your own conclusions) spent the entire 2003 season at tackle but recently filled in for Randy Thomas at guard here in Washington. Although Todd Wade is primarily a tackle, until the team signed Kendall he was being groomed as a guard replacement for Derrick Dockery. So what if it didn't work out? Mike Pucillo is no longer with the team but last year played backup center as well as backup guard; the year prior he'd spent some time lined up in jumbo sets as a blocking TE.

In other words, all things equal and you'd rather have versatile players than not. And Albert is a versatile player. Because of this, he's not outside the realm of being traded for to acquire:

Again, draw your own conclusions. I disagree with trading down, although unfortunately our #21 pick looks less and less likely to yield good value for our needs. Elsewhere at Redskins Insider, of substantial interest to those of us concerned with the injured offensive line: I don't want to milk anything out of Jon Jansen but I'd love to get two or three more years out of him at tackle. And frankly I don't see why that's not possible. Without acknowledging the not-so-subtle differences between the two positions, why can Pete Kendall, born 1973, continue to play quite well at guard yet there is little chance that Jansen, born 1976, will be capable of playing tackle three years down the road? Am I just being a wishful thinking homer?

FULL DISCLOSURE OF MY OWN INEPT. Five hours after Redskins Insider posted the piece referenced above, I wrote at someone else's site on the prospect of the Redskins taking a defensive tackle in the first round:

As a Redskin fan speaking to someone who may not follow the team as closely as I do, I attempted unsuccessfully to speak with some authority. Unfortunately, I hadn't done my own due diligence on the matter. Though it might have been the "conventional wisdom" of some Redskins fans or mock drafts that we wouldn't take a defensive tackle, I probably overstated the fact and almost certainly failed to represent what the actual coaches believe. Once more, per Redskins Insider: As Greg Blache will no doubt have a more significant impact on who the Redskins draft than any mock draft, any uninformed weblogging fan like yours truly, or some imagined prevailing conventional wisdom, my suggestion that the team wouldn't take a defensive tackle was in error. I don't know that the team will not take a defensive tackle and there is some evidence to suggest that at least one important decision maker with the team hopes they do just that.

Returning to the draft and Fanhouse's commentary thereof, I'd like to emphasize that as much as the team likes Albert, there's a good chance he won't be available, but others might:

I am assuming that proximity to Virginia schools is mere coincedence and that these two players are heavily considered by the team only after a sober, careful, and objective analysis of their respective blocking talents. The good news here is that we have some options at addressing the offensive line even if Albert doesn't fall in the 1st, thus affording us some much needed flexibility under drafting circumstances that were certainly more limited than I'd expected, at least in the Sports Blog Nation Mock Draft (which may or may not be indicative of anything that happens in real life).