ESPN: Gabe Carimi Could Replace Struggling Lamar Holmes

It seems only a few months back when most (myself included) thought former Bears bust Gabe Carimi would not even make the roster. Instead, he has played in both 2014 games and has really looked pretty good. On the other hand, new Lamar Holmes looked like Lamar Holmes of old after being mauled by Carlos Dunlap early and often.

With the Mike Tice favorite playing well and Matthews hopefully back by Thursday, if not the following week, ESPN's plugged-in beat writer Vaughn McClure floated an interesting and sensible idea.

If Matthews returns, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Gabe Carimi on the right side ahead of Holmes, who admitted to taking a significant step back against the Bengals.

It did not take long to see Holmes revert back to his old style of play. He may eventually develop into a quality tackle, but that time doesn't appear to have arrived, and may not any time soon. As Vaughn points out, the Falcons never intended to have Holmes starting on the offensive line and yet again he appears to be the weak link of the offense.

Carimi has not been the prospect the Bears expected him to be in 2011 but he has done a very nice job filling in at left tackle. While his skill set is a better fit for the right tackle spot, he came off the bench against the Saints and played the blind side after taking zero practice snaps on the left side during training camp.

This season we have seen the stark difference with the offense between good protection and bad protection. Maybe replacing Holmes with Carimi can keep the offense moving like it did against the Saints.

Anyone else think giving Carimi the start at right tackle would help the offensive line?