The Line Keeps Breaking, and Now Maye Is the Question Too

I already filed on this Thursday — the shoulder, the depth chart, DeVito sitting ahead of Maye, the timing. That piece hasn't aged well in the good direction. Maye is listed as active, which is something, but the offensive line he'd be stepping behind is a different unit than the one that helped him throw for 5,222 yards last season. Onwenu went to IR first. Then Van Roten followed him. Jake Kubas is the starting guard now, and Morgan Moses is on the injury report as questionable, which means the tackle situation is also unsettled heading into Week 4.

The depth chart at guard currently shows Ben Brown first and Kubas second. That's the room. A quarterback working through a shoulder issue needs clean pockets and quick decisions; what Maye is getting instead is a reshuffled front that has lost two starters in the last two weeks and is now potentially short another piece in Moses. A.J. Brown is already on injured reserve, so the offense is already operating without one of its offseason additions. Christian Gonzalez is out on the defensive side. The injury list has been running long enough that it stopped feeling like bad luck and started feeling like a pattern.

The part worth watching in the short term is simple: if Maye plays, how much does the shoulder limit his ability to extend plays and throw with any zip on the deep ball? Last year's version of him was dangerous because he could hurt you with his legs when the pocket collapsed — 628 rushing yards, five touchdowns. A compromised shoulder changes that calculus, and a compromised line makes it matter more.