"Big Birdie" is Finding His Way Despite Positional Uncertainty Heading Into 2022
"Brady [Christensen] is having a tremendous camp," head coach Matt Rhule said Wednesday afternoon following the team's final scheduled OTA session for the week.
For over a year now, the coaching staff has been trying to figure out what to do with Christensen. When they drafted him out of BYU in 2021, he was a left tackle but once he arrived in Charlotte, Rhule said the plan was to start him out at right tackle. The thinking was that they could have Christensen learn under Taylor Moton and then eventually slide Moton over to left tackle. They fiddled with it for a little while but not much came of it. By the time training camp came around, Rhule made it clear that Moton would stay on the right side, where he is most comfortable.
Throughout his rookie season, Christensen bounced back and forth between tackle and guard from the right side of the line and then over to the left; it was a never-ending game of musical chairs. Finally, he settled in at left tackle in the final three games of the season and to no one's surprise, looked extremely comfortable and played fairly well against some tough competition.
One of the biggest reasons Christensen didn't get a chance to play left tackle earlier on was due to the concern that the staff had with his arm length. Some coaches are more particular about it than others. For new offensive line coach James Campen, he couldn't give a darn about measurables, it's about how well you perform.
“I kind of look at production," said Campen. "To me, the young man got to play the last three ball games of the season at left tackle and he improved with each outing. I know the Saints have good rushers, Tampa Bay has good rushers, and he improved with each outing. So for me, I do not think that it would be an issue from my standpoint. What I think what coach was saying because we’ve talked about that obviously, what he’s saying is like look, everybody would like to have this and that but not everybody has all that. Those are hard people to find and it’s hard to speculate that. But if a guy is blocking a guy, then hey, does he win? Is he productive? That’s what matters.
“The things you see with Brady is he is a very highly athletic guy. He’s quick off the ball, he has good footwork - he has those intangibles. He’s a hard worker. He doesn’t get disrupted when things are bad. He gets back up and makes the next play. He doesn’t have mental errors or things like that that are real noticeable. He’s a guy that will definitely be pressing just like everyone else for a spot."
During OTAs, Christensen is primarily focusing on the left side of the line, including a little bit of time at center. Left guard seems like the most ideal spot for him to line up for Week 1 of the regular season, but he's not completely out of the race for left tackle.
"Will he be a candidate at left tackle? He absolutely will, sure," Campen said. "But he’s a unique athlete. He can probably play all five if you really got right down to it. It’s too early to tell if he’s going to be in this position or that position.”
Somehow, during Wednesday's media availability, Taylor Moton thought I had called Brady "Birdie", thus giving birth to Brady's new nickname, "Big Birdie". My apologies, Brady.
Brady says he's been called a lot of different nicknames since becoming a Panther including "Brad", "Bradley", "B", and now, "Big Birdie."
When asked if he would prefer to be called starting left tackle, Big Birdie, I mean...Brady took a second to think about what he really wanted to say and reserved for a more conservative response.
"I prefer to get better and that's what I'm focused on right now. Learning the playbook, being a sponge because it's a lot. I'm really happy with how far we've come. It's a lot to take in. They threw a bunch on us and I feel like we've been grinding our butts off."
The fierce competitiveness inside Christensen is what fuels him to believe he could still be the starting left tackle despite the team drafting Ikem Ekwonu a couple of months ago. He was asked about what was communicated to him about the plan for not only himself but Ekwonu as well.
"A lot was communicated, but I'm just trying to get better every day," he said. "I love playing ball and it's kind of propelled me to having a lot of confidence going into OTAs. I'm not really just looking at what does the left guard do, what does the left tackle do and what does the center do, I'm trying to figure out the whole scheme of it."
Much of Christensen's improvement just comes with more time and reps. Although he's in a new offense under Ben McAdoo, he's in his second year in the NFL and has a good idea of what to expect and what the standard is.
"I think just my mental game has improved the most. My sets are a lot calmer. I'm not playing outside of myself. I'm feeling more confident with just everything - the get-off, the count. Knowing the why of the play instead of the left tackle is doing this, the left guard is doing this, just knowing the meat of the play helps you have more confidence in it. So, it's not necessarily bouncing around or not, it's really about understanding that play."
For someone that bounced around earlier in his career and even toyed with flipping sides last season, fellow tackle Taylor Moton knows how important it is to settle into one spot.
"I think that helps anybody. The more you can play just one position, I think it's very helpful. I remember when I was a rookie and I had to learn all five positions. I was the scout team center for a while. I've played left tackle, right tackle, left guard, right guard, all of it. Like I've been saying to all of the young guys coming in, just know all of the positions because you don't know where your opportunity may come and I think Brady has embraced that. I just feel like wherever he ends up, he's going to make the most of his opportunity and play to the best of his ability."
Ideally, the Panthers would probably like to have a starting five that reads from left to right, Ekwonu-Christensen-Bozeman-Corbett-Moton. This starting five will happen as long as Ickey continues to grow into that left tackle spot.
That said, it's a tough position to play at this level right away, and given that he's played guard as well, it might not be a bad idea to flip the two so that Christensen is at tackle. Folks may be disgruntled about the idea of putting Ekwonu at guard after they drafted him sixth overall, but does it really matter as long as the o-line is significantly improved? I wouldn't think so.
According to head coach Matt Rhule, there are no plans to give Ekwonu any significant reps at left guard as they want him to really settle in at tackle. However, that frame of mind could change over time as we all know.
You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us Twitter:
Facebook - @PanthersOnSI
Twitter - @SI_Panthers and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.
