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LaRon Landry climbing depth chart

By Skin Patrol

On Monday I argued that LaRon Landry be given a shot to start for the opener. TexSkins agreed though The Fun Bunch expressed some perfectly reasonable consternation with a rookie starter. (We're voting for Katie, by the way.)

And yet I somehow missed that LaRon Landry has since moved up the preseason depth chart, per the Official Site:

The Redskins' top pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, at No. 6 in the first round, has already been elevated to the starting strong safety spot on the team's preseason depth chart.

The former LSU star was listed as Pierson Prioleau's backup heading into the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans. He ended up starting the game, however, while alternating with Prioleau through the first half.

I am not a professional on matters of preseason depth chart chicanery and perhaps this just is. What says you to that, coach Gregg?
"LaRon has put himself in a position so that everyone feels comfortable around him," assistant head coach-defense Gregg Williams said. "The opportunities that he has had this preseason caused his teammates to notice that they play better when he is in there. He has built trust in a lot of people."
That sounds pretty conclusive, though our defensive coach would say positive things about our highest draft pick, right?

Shutting up the cynicism, what's great about this is how it contrasts to last year's situation which was comparable in the right ways and thankfully not-at-all the same in the wrong ways. Pierson Prioleau was competing for position with Adam Archuleta. We listened and watched anxiously as Archuleta impressed neither fans nor the coaches. More important than that was what we didn't hear, or at least I didn't hear, happen, namely that Prioleau quietly picked up the starting job from AA. I've since been insulted, I think, for suggesting that Adam Archuleta wasn't a very good football player. If I deserve derision for anything, it's that I allegedly pride myself on being the kind of Redskins football fan who knows what is going on with my team, and yet even I had no idea that Prioleau had actually won the starting job from Archuleta until much later.

Bla bla bla aside, fast-forward to 2007 and we have an incredibly talented rookie with tempered expectations in that there's no precedent in this system for him to start from day one. We could be hearing nothing at all about him or, worse, much noise about his persistent struggles in this defense. I was gnawing fingernails during his holdout which stole him away from practice. Instead we get gushing praise about his performance as well as maybe-kind-of-sort-of substantive praise in that he's moved up the depth chart and is getting the starts in preseason (though wasn't Adam Archuleta as well?).

The bottom line is that we're either starting Prioleau or Landry which is at a minimum the same personnel we wanted to start this time last year but couldn't or, even better, an upgrade should Landry's effusive support remain.

In other news, Sean Taylor's alien origin remains a mystery. It's nice not to have to think about at least half of our starting safety unit. Should Landry develop into a fraction of the player Taylor is, this space will be giddy for years to come.

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