Steelers Kevin Dotson should be winning the LG battle, but is he?

One of the more crucial position battles for the Pittsburgh Steelers this preseason is the battle at left guard. Here’s why Kevin Dotson should be winning.

Kevin Dotson and Kendrick Green are entrenched in a battle for the Steelers starting left guard position. It almost feels wrong to say this, but Kevin Dotson seems to actually be losing the position battle. Fans and media alike have watched Dotson flash incredible amounts of potential since he has gotten into the league. Yet, Dotson has had a major flaw.

Dotson has missed portions of the preseason and training camp in this season and last season and it seems to be stalling his development. It isn’t necessarily Dotson’s fault as injuries are largely unavoidable.

However, this has given young guard Kendrick Green more time to build chemistry with the starters on the offensive line. Green has also gotten the chance to put in more work and improve more than Dotson. This seems to be paying dividends for Green as he looks to win the starting job at left guard.

The Steelers gave an indicator as to where Kevin Dotson sits in the position battle

The Steelers showed where the two guards stand when both Kevin Dotson and LT Dan Moore were kept in the game while the rest of the starters were taken out. While Dan Moore has little to do with the guard position battle, he has also struggled in both preseason games.

The fact that Dotson has yet to start a game in the preseason paired with being kept in the game along with the lineman who has arguably struggled the most in the preseason games is an indicator that neither has received enough snaps to make the coaches comfortable.

The bottom line is that while Kevin Dotson appears to be the more talented of the two he hasn’t won the job nor should fans be clamoring for Dotson to be thrust into the starting role. Dotson was not an established starter entering this season and he hasn’t been able to improve or build on his potential to this point in his career.

Kendrick Green however has shown improvement from last season and seemed to look more secure in pass protection this week vs. last week. While Dotson may be the more talented of the two it is looking as though Green has shown more of an ability to improve than Dotson has. More importantly Green has been able to build chemistry with the first-team offensive line throughout most of the preseason whereas Dotson has lost time to injury.

If the regular season were to start tomorrow, Kendrick Green would be the starting left guard for the Steelers, and rightfully so. While Dotson appears to have more talent, he has yet to do anything that says he should win this position battle.