2021, Jackson at LG was roughly equivalent to Eich at LT, by grades. That is true. Less than a point difference. But since neither position is the best one for either player, it seemed to me like that year they were both set up to fail. In 2022, Eich moved inside to LG, and was struggling again until just before he was injured. His best games by far were Week 6 vs Minn and Week 8 at Detroit.
Being different players and sets of DNA they won't necessarily progress at the same pace. The best three-game stretch of Eich's career was his three consecutive OG starts last season, Weeks 11-13. That was encouraging. IMO. In his late-season Center starts he was physically beaten up and hobbling and playing at much less than 100%. Yet he didn't throw in the towel. Early in the season, after the first Connor injury he was still green as a Center and learning as he went along. He never complained about being the C, but admitted his best position and where he feels most comfortable is RG.
But back to 2021, I wonder what possessed them to move Jackson inside and not just plug in Eich there while leaving Jackson where he played as a rookie. He showed glimpses of solid play at LT as a rookie before he got hurt in the Week 11 Denver game. He kept on playing after that but seemed to decline. Did correlation equal causation in that case? IMO it did.
