Steelers Film Room: Can You Hear The “Whimper” Of Big Ben?
By Nick Kelly
Nov 27, 2011; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars tackle Guy Whimper (68) blocks Houston Texans outside linebacker Brooks Reed (58) during the first quarter at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
With the re-signing of Ramon Foster this past offseason, the Steelers offensive line finally looked like it had its starting five that wasn’t just a patchwork group. This group had pro-bowl potential. With 1st-rounders in Maurkice Pouncey, and David DeCastro, as well as two 2nd-rounders in Marcus Gilbert and Mike Adams, the future was starting to look bright for the front five. This all came to a hault when on June 1st, early Saturday morning, Mike Adams was stabbed in the stomach. Luckily, Mike made it out extremely luckily, and as he puts it, “I had an angel looking out for me.” He is expected to make a full recovery, most likely by training camp.
This brought forth an interesting question: what happens if one of the Steelers starters goes down? The old reliable Max Starks is not here to save the day anymore, since he signed with San Diego earlier this offseason. My colleague Craig Gottschalk addressed the offensive line depth earlier this week, but I decided to look a little deeper into one of the potential backups in Guy Whimper. With Kelvin Beachum basically a roster lock, that leaves one, maybe two roster spots open since Coach Tomlin never carries more than eight offensive lineman on the roster at once. Player like Mike Golic Jr., and Nick Embernate still have practice squad eligibility, but Guy Whimper is past this point.
Right now, due to his experience, Guy Whimper is slated to be the backup to Mike Adams at right tackle. This obviously could change, but right now, because of his experience, there’s a good chance Whimper is one of the 53 men on the roster come the start of the season. The question is, should we be concerned if in fact Guy Whimper has to step in at some point during the season? I have decided to turn to the film, because the eye in the sky will never lie.