Biggest NFL Depth Chart Surprises This Offseason

A few words before you kill the next 10 minutes, then find a way to get mad at me: The idea of what is and isn't a surprise is completely subjective. 

Is it a surprise that a player retired? Is it a surprise that a player got released? Is it a surprise that (Veteran X) is running ahead of (Rookie Y)? Those are a couple of questions that weighed heavily on me in the creation of this slideshow.

What I ultimately ended up with was the idea that the surprising thing had to be the moves themselves. It's not surprising that Evan Mathis got released, because that's been rumored to happen for months, if not years. It's been talked about so long that it seemed more inevitable than surprising. 

But it is a surprise that Chip Kelly opted to move on from a player who had performed at such a high level for him before training camp. It is a surprise that...well, let me save it for later.

These are surprises. But they are also not surprises to anyone who has tuned in and listened to the rumblings this offseason. They are surprises in the sense that talent does not always win out over contract, motivation and common sense. 

Eddie Royal Is Running Ahead of Kevin White

Matt Marton/Associated Press

Buried in one of Mike Sando's columns over at ESPN.com is a note that the Chicago Bears staff is actually very high on Eddie Royal. 

It is surprising that a player of Royal's talent could potentially run ahead of first-round pick Kevin White, especially since White was regarded as a plug-and-play talent by draftniks. 

It is also not surprising that this has happened under the watch of new head coach John Fox, who has a bit of a reputation for relegating rookies to the bottom of the depth chart and ignoring them. 

Of course, the more likely scenario is that both receivers have a role to play, and White is too good for Fox to ignore. But Fox's reluctance to play rookies has been a problem in the past. Will this be the player who bucks that trend? 

Cyrus Kouandjio Is Running Ahead of Seantrel Henderson

Bill Wippert/Associated Press

Nobody would have told you that Cyrus Kouandjio wasn't a more well-regarded prospect coming out of college than Seantrel Henderson. Kouandjio was a second-round pick for a reason, and Henderson went undrafted.

Yet that's not how it played out in their rookie seasons, when Henderson assumed a starting role at right tackle and put up 1,086 snaps compared to the donut next to Kouandjio's line. 

But now that news has come out that Kouandjio is taking most of the first-team reps at OTAs, it is worth considering that things may change. But the interesting thing is that Kouandjio is not head coach Rex Ryan's draft pick. Ryan has a history of letting raw linemen pick up a ton of snaps—ask a Jets fan or google "Vladimir Ducasse." 

Of course, Henderson's rookie season was pretty brutal, so it's no surprise that the Bills have opened up this competition. But has that much changed in six months? There's a reason to be skeptical. 

The Rams' Center Battle Has No Leader

Seth Perlman/Associated Press

St. Louis' offensive line has been a gruesome situation for a few years now. This April, it reached a point where the Rams burned what felt like all their non-Todd Gurley picks on the position. Now the question is: Who is going to take over the starting spots?

With Scott Wells gone, the Rams have to replace him at center. (Hopefully, with the idea that they can do better.) So the surprising thing wasn't that there would be a competition, but that the competition has no leader, according to a statement from coach Jeff Fisher in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

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We’re not going to make a decision real early. We’ll let them all play. We’re rotating them. They’re all getting opportunities to work with (new quarterback Nick Foles), so he’s familiar, not only with the exchanges, but also the communication. We’ll make that decision when somebody shows us he’s earned the job.

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Barrett Jones, who the team picked in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, isn't leading on seniority. That alone tells you that the Rams aren't necessarily sold that he should be the starter. Whether he wins the competition is another matter, but it's surprising just how little faith the Rams have in him. You may even see him released—there are a lot of picks on this line that need roster spots. 

Philadelphia's Starting Guard Quagmire

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As mentioned in the opener, it's not a surprise that the Eagles parted ways with guard Evan Mathis. Mathis is an older player, he was hurt last season and Chip Kelly has always preferred to part with players a year too early rather than a year too late. 

What is surprising is that by also letting guard Todd Herremans walk, the Eagles have invited themselves to a camp competition of unknowns and never-weres. Per Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer:

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Allen Barbre replaces Mathis at left guard, and Matt Tobin, Andrew Gardner, and Dennis Kelly will slug it out for the right guard spot that Barbre was initially penciled in to fill after Todd Herremans was released in February.

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Tobin played about 500 snaps last year, putting in subpar work. Gardner played about 600 snaps last year and showed some promise as a run-blocker, but we're talking about a guy drafted in 2009 with almost no experience prior to 2014. Dennis Kelly didn't play at all in his rookie season, though he got a few hundred snaps last season.

Chip Kelly's system has produced some surprising results from the perspective of an outside analyst, so it's not a surprise that Mathis is gone. It is a surprise that he was willing to pull the trigger on the move with no real guarantee of performance from the rest of this group, though.

Humphries and Thomas Have Disappointed in Arizona

Matt York/Associated Press

Arizona Cardinals first-round tackle D.J. Humphries was thought by some draftniks to have the most complete skill set of all the first-round tackles. Bruce Arians has yet to be impressed. Humphries up-and-down play has led ESPN's Josh Weinfuss to wonder if the tackle will wind up being a "major project." 

While Bobby Massie is a solid enough tackle, it's still surprising to see a first-rounder possibly heading to the bench. But that's the scenario that could unfold in Arizona. 

Meanwhile, quarterback Logan Thomas has put himself in so much hot water that he may not even be the third-string quarterback for the Cardinals this year. 

It said a lot that the Cardinals flatly refused to play him over the incredibly overmatched Ryan Lindley last season. His poor play in OTAs wasn't a surprise, but it would be rather surprising if the Cardinals moved on from him after just one season. And that seems to be the direction things are going in Arizona. 

The Jets Are Sticking with Geno Smith

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Twenty-nine starts into his career, the Jets still aren't done talking up Geno Smith. CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora talked about them with an eye toward training camp, and it's clear that Smith has been outplayed by Ryan Fitzpatrick thus far. 

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Obviously, anything Smith does, even in a spring practice, will be magnified with so much riding on his development. From everything I heard and gleaned, there have been no shortage of bumps along the way as he tries to get a handle on new coordinator Chan Gailey's offense.

You expect the defense to be ahead of the offense, but it's been rough. No one is worrying or panicking, and I can assure you Smith will be given ample time to show what he can do with the new weapons around him this season (Ryan Fitzpatrick has impressed as he knows this system cold, but look for Smith to get at least half a season at the helm). It might never really click for him, and he might not be an NFL starting quarterback, but he'll be given opportunity to prove it before or until this organization moves on.

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As Chase Stuart of Football Perspective has noted in the past, a quarterback with roughly two years of starts and no progress toward franchise-quarterback status is unlikely to ever attain it. Frankly, since 2000, the only quarterbacks who have had a terrible rookie season and developed into franchise-ish guys are Eli Manning and Matthew Stafford. 

It is calming that the Jets want to give Smith a real chance and a fair shake. But it's surprising that they'd consider giving him eight more games to prove himself a bust. There might be two or three losses in those eight games, and that could be the difference between wild-card contention and a 6-10 record. 

Fitzpatrick is far from a long-term answer, but there's little doubt that he's the quarterback on the Jets roster who can lead the team the furthest.

Manziel Has Made No Progress Against McCown

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Johnny Manziel's return from rehab to the Browns has elicited a lot of reaction. Honestly, it's hard to be surprised by anything that happens to Manziel after his rookie season, but it is still surprising to see how far behind he appears to be against Josh McCown. 

Browns quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell has continued to sound the beat that Cleveland's quarterback job is still up for grabs, despite all available evidence (via Cleveland.com):

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My thoughts on Johnny have not changed. I thought very highly of him when I got a chance to work with him before the draft. We spent a lot of time in the classroom obviously talking about the NFL game from a defensive perspective as well getting ready to play the hardest position there is really and how he would transition to that.

We're still talking about a guy that's in his second year now. Having been through it, obviously, getting some starts last year will help him. But I can tell you from the first time I met Johnny until now, I still see the same competitive guy that comes into work every day to get better and that's all we can really ask of him right now and he's really responded to what we have asked of him.

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The surprise here is not that Manziel is behind, the surprise is that he's behind McCown. The Browns practically custom-made Manziel the lowest bar possible, selecting one of the worst quarterbacks to get extensive playing time in modern NFL history. Per Football Outsiders, McCown was the worst quarterback on a volume basis (DYAR) not named Blake Bortles last season.

If the bar to entry is so low that all Manziel has to do is outplay McCown, and Manziel can't pass that test, it's a damning indictment of where he is as a quarterback prospect a year into his career. 

Latavius Murray Is Holding off Challengers for RB Job

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Latavius Murray finished the season with 413 yards over his last six games, after the Raiders stopped screwing around with the washed up Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren McFadden. However, with those guys gone, there was a little bit of trepidation about whether Murray would get the job, and new head coach Jack Del Rio would only call him a "candidate" for the job in February. 

However, all early indications are that Roy Helu and Trent Richardson will be sitting and watching Murray work his magic in 2015. Murray was the first-team back at OTAs, and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave has gone as far as to say he's tailoring parts of the offense to Murray. 

In this case, it's surprising news not only because Helu probably has the best overall skill set in the Oakland backfield, but because the hype has gotten so intense after the Raiders practically forgot Murray existed the last two seasons. 

Helu should probably stick as the passing-down back, but perhaps Murray will continue to bloom now that he's actually in the spotlight. 

The End of Gosder Cherilus?

David Richard/Associated Press

Colts right tackle Gosder Cherilus is, at this point, probably not even favored to keep his job. 

Cherilus had surgery on a knee that he'd already had microfracture surgery on this offseason after missing the last few games of Indianapolis' season with a variety of injuries and hitting injured reserve. OTAs came and 2014 second-round pick Jack Mewhort shifted from guard to tackle. In fact, it's the only position Mewhort has been playing. 

Cherilus isn't expected back until training camp—and if he does come back, it's far from certain he'll be able to play at Mewhort's level. 

While some will rush to label him another free-agent bust for Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, Cherilus gave the team replacement-level tackle play that it desperately needed. It's surprising that Cherilus' career could be over so quickly. 

The Wake of Anthony Davis

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

With the surprising retirement of Anthony Davis now firmly on the backburner, the 49ers now turn to the question of how to field an offensive line without him. Combine that with guard Mike Iupati heading for Arizona and tackle Jonathan Martin joining Carolina, and this unit looks a little shakier than it did this time last season. 

The Sacramento Bee's Matt Barrows projected the line with guard Alex Boone moving to tackle. 

As an outsider, it's hard to know much about the way coaches think about their offensive linemen. (In fact, most of these slides have been about offensive lines! Go check!) But it's surprising to me that the 49ers would consider moving Boone to tackle when lineman Brandon Thomas, who is coming off a torn ACL in predraft workouts last season, has tackle experience. 

Both of them are likely in the top four linemen this unit can boast, so it's not really a huge difference who plays where unless one of them is really uncomfortable at a position. But it was a mild surprise to me.