Austin Corbett’s rookie season didn’t go as well as expected. Taken in the second round out of Nevada, Corbett struggled in his audition at left tackle and was quickly shuffled inside to back up Joel Bitonio and Kevin Zeitler in Cleveland.
Now Zeitler is gone, traded to the New York Giants. The door is wide open for Corbett to seize the right guard job in his second year. He talked about the situation in a good interview with the Bull and Fox show on 92.3 The Fan on Monday.
“I have a really great opportunity in front of me,” Corbett told the hosts. “Replacing a guy like Kevin Zeitler who is just a phenomenal player, great guy, was able to learn a lot from him last year. Now with this hole open, it’s up to me to go win that position.”
The presumptive starting right guard knows he can’t just coast in on his second-round draft status from a year ago, however.
“All the coaches and (GM John) Dorsey they’ve told me that by no means is this going to be given to me. And I don’t want that. I don’t want to be given anything in life. I have this opportunity to win a starting job in the NFL.”
The job is there for the taking, but it was last year at left tackle, too. Hopefully the year of experience and perspective helps Corbett seize the day.
