NFL Rumors: Is Trent Williams a Top 5 NFL Offensive Tackle?
The best battle in Washington Redskins’ training camp is hands down – Brain Orakpo vs Trent Williams. It’s better than any positional battle and it’s a story line that could lead into great things during Washington’s 2012 campaign.
Orakpo and Williams are making each other better players and are on track to seizing the “Elite Crossroad” label I gave them both earlier this off-season.
“It’s a great battle that we have and I think I haven’t worked as much with Trent in a long time because it’s always usually one versus two or two versus one,” Orakpo said Monday. “Coaches really kept it one and one and ones on ones and we’ve really been helping each other excel at what we need to do to get this team right.”
Trent Williams has been a brick wall so far during training camp, and it’s forced Orakpo to use different techniques. Even when Orakpo gets inside Trent, he’s so athletic that he can recover quickly. Brain Orakpo spoke on how Trent has progressed - “Just his footwork and his ability. He is very athletic and he is very strong. If you’re thinking about running around the edge on him, it is impossible. You have to work something else with Trent because he is very athletic and very strong.”
It’s not uncommon for teammates to speak highly of each other, but Brain Orakpo went out of his way to make this next statement - “He looks a lot better to me. He is really leading that offensive line. He is playing at a very elite level. I told him personally that he is top three for sure in the league right now. There are only two people probably better but he is top three for sure.”
Orakpo is a seasoned player, he’s faced some great tackles, so this statement holds a ton of weight. I believe him too.
Trent Williams is just totally on another level mentally and physically. The Washington Redskins lack “elite” players outside of London Fletcher. Trent Williams and Brain Orakpo has a great chance to seize that title in 2012, which would be monumental for the team.
Emmanual Benton is a featured Washington Redskins columnist for www.Rantsports.com. If you enjoy talking Redskins and all things NFL, follow Emmanual on Twitter: Follow @Roccoskins
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