Then offseason workouts came, and Washington was so short on tackles that Flowers had to play tackle again. The results, at least in the practices open to the media, were not good. But the team remains committed to playing him at guard this season, and may even be expecting him to start.

“Oh, yeah, I think so,” assistant head coach Bill Callahan, who directs the offensive line, said during minicamp when asked whether he planned to open training camp with Flowers as the starting left guard.

Callahan was a proponent of the signing, which was something of a surprise given that the Giants gave up on him last fall, moving him from left to right tackle and eventually releasing him in October. It’s not always easy to find 6-foot-6 offensive linemen with the strength and quickness that Flowers has. Callahan imagined Flowers transitioning well to left guard — a position the Redskins have struggled to fill.

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“I see a lot of potential when we’ve moved tackles inside,” he said, mentioning former reserve lineman Ty Nsekhe’s occasional switches to guard as an example.

He said Flowers looked impressive the few times he was at guard in organized team activities.

“I think it gives us size, it gives us power. I think those are really good traits for the running attack and pass protection,” Callahan continued. “He’s long, he’s square, obviously he can play in the short area, so those are things we kind of identified during free agency that we liked, and we are trying to fit him into that mode. So it’s been a work in progress, we got a long ways to go yet, but he’s made a nice transition.”

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The challenge, he said, will be getting Flowers to adjust to the faster pace at which guards often play. Since they have a smaller area to protect, the rush comes at them faster than it does for tackles, who have more time to set their feet for a rush that usually starts on the outside of the defensive line. Callahan did add that Flowers has the ability to make the adjustment.

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The offensive line should be one of the Redskins’ positions of strength, but injuries and a lack of depth have made the position a significant concern. Right guard Brandon Scherff and center Chase Roullier are expected back for training camp after recovering from surgeries. Bigger questions are the availability of left tackle Trent Williams, who refused to attend minicamp given his frustration with the team’s medical staff, and his backup, Geron Christian, who is still recovering from surgery to repair the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

If Williams returns for camp, as some around the team have said they expect he will, Flowers will be able to move back to guard, and the team’s experiment with him there can continue.