I agree that his contract extension, in the midst of his worst season, was very surprising. But I just don’t see him ending up at guard. It’s really been the great debate through the early parts of his career – Does Cannon fit at guard?
He was never getting a better chance to do it than he was this year, when the door at RG was WIDE open, and he stunk. He even regressed a bit as a swing tackle, after what I thought was his best season filling in at RT for Vollmer in 2013.
My only explanation is that with Vollmer’s age and injury history they could see a future for him at that position and wanted to make sure they were protected after Solder also had a down year.
Some even think Cannon’s deal gives them some leverage over Solder heading into this contract year. I am not sure about that since I don’t think Cannon is a long-term solution to LT, though he could fill in there in a pinch.
The presence of Cameron Fleming adds a twist on it as well, since I see him as a similar player to Cannon.
It will be interesting to see who’s lining up where this summer.
