Andrew Gardner seizing top RG spot … but by default?

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As the hot, steamy dog days of Eagles training camp stretch into late August, we’re starting to get some answers to the questions that hovered around the team when camp opened Aug. 2.

Sam Bradford has essentially seized control of the starting quarterback job over Mark Sanchez. Walter Thurmond and Nolan Carroll are closer to locking down the open spots in the secondary.

At right guard, a leader in the clubhouse has also apparently surfaced. Surprisingly, it’s veteran Andrew Gardner.

Although coach Chip Kelly hasn’t yet stamped the journeyman as his Sept. 14 starter against Atlanta, Kelly gave his most effusive endorsement for the seventh-year pro Tuesday, with both words and actions.

Kelly said Gardner’s consistency has stood out during the evaluations, and he rewarded Gardner’s consistency with another run on the first team during a shortened, hour-long practice session as the Eagles took it easy before Wednesday’s start of joint practices against the Ravens.

“The one thing about Andrew is he's very consistent and you know what you're getting,” Kelly said. “He’s extremely intelligent, knows how to run angles and knows where he's going on every play. He does what you ask him to do.

“He's not a flashy guy that's going to go out there and you're going to see him drive some guy back 15 yards and put him on his back and pancake him, but he always seems to be in the right spot and I think he's worked really hard at it.”

Well, there you have it. Translation: Gardner isn’t the most dominant force, but so far he’s making fewer mistakes than his competition.

While this is good news for Gardner and good for his linemates given the importance of continuity, it’s not necessarily the rosiest outlook for the collective offense — an offense that’s expected to grind down opponents with heavy doses of the running game.

Gardner is a nice player whose versatility is welcomed here, but the Eagles signed him last year very late into the free-agent period after the Texans had opted against retaining him. Houston was Gardner’s fifth different team in three seasons.

The Eagles were looking for depth and figured that Gardner’s experience could come in handy. Meanwhile, they were hoping to see Matt Tobin make the jump in Year 2 after he impressed the coaches as a rookie free agent in 2013 and made the 53-man roster.

Jason Peters took a particular interest in the former Iowa walk-on and other veterans insisted that Tobin’s developmental rookie season would lay the foundation for an emergence in 2014.

So far, we’ve yet to see the Tobin we’ve heard so much about.

A high-ankle sprain spoiled his chance to make an immediate impact last year when left guard Evan Mathis and center Jason Kelce each went down with long-term injuries. When he finally played — perhaps still not fully recovered — Tobin missed too many assignments that resulted in Nick Foles' being planted flat on his back.

Which brings us to this camp. Gardner is separating right now because, as Kelly said, he’s been the most “consistent” right guard in camp. Tobin doesn’t appear to be reaching his potential.

Give credit to Gardner for finding his niche on his sixth team since 2009, but the idea that consistency alone — in training camp, no less — is the deciding factor doesn’t offer much promise about the position going into the season.

Even Gardner isn’t convinced that he’s proven anything.

“I don’t really feel like there’s ever much separation in this business at all,” he said. “Chip could come out here today and say, ‘Andrew Gardner is the starter,’ and two days from now be like, ‘Never mind.’ Nobody has ever got anything locked up in this league. So I’ll play right guard until they tell me I’m not doing that.”

Kelly can probably survive with an average right guard who’s surrounded by a Pro Bowl center and emerging right tackle in Lane Johnson.

But the coach’s reluctance to infuse his line with some young talent in the draft — for the second straight season — or free agency has left him in the unenviable position of choosing between a journeyman, a rookie free agent, a lineman who’s already undergone two back surgeries (Julian Vandervelde) and one who took almost two years off to get his life in order after grappling with drugs and alcohol (John Moffitt).

Tobin, who played left tackle on the second team in Sunday’s preseason opener, manned left tackle again Tuesday when the Eagles reconvened at the NovaCare Complex. He admitted to struggling some during the first two weeks of camp but said he’s played much better in the past week.

“Just didn’t play up to my abilities [early on],” Tobin said. “I got beat a couple of times. If I get beat a couple times, that’s obviously not as good as I can play. I feel like I can go out and not get beat the whole game.”

Vandervelde, who’s had two practices at first-team right guard, said Kelly probably wished he had “three Jason Kelces” manning his interior offensive line, which wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for himself or the other three candidates.

Vandervelde spoke about the right “piece of the puzzle” falling into place. For now, he added, Gardner has demonstrated that he’s the piece.

“You can’t force a piece in there that’s not going to work,” Vandervelde said.

Vandervelde’s athleticism would seemingly make him the perfect piece. He placed top-three among guards at the NFL Scouting Combine in 2011 in five different drills: 40-yard dash, vertical jump, broad jump, 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill.

Asked if he knew exactly what Kelly is looking for out of the right guard competition, Vandervelde paused for a few seconds and eventually shrugged.

"Nope ... not really," he said, but then seemed to give a thumbs-middle to the current clubhouse leader.

“It does look like it kind of fits,” Vandervelde said of Gardner, with an ambiguity that illustrated the lack of actual competition at the position. “Aside from that, I don’t really know. We might see Matt get some reps this week. I might get some more reps down the road.

“For right now you just see the production that Gardner is putting in and that’s the most impressive thing.”

For now, they’re touting consistency. When the games matter, will that be enough?

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