The perennial Pro Bowl switched from right to left guard midway through this season because of a shoulder injury that limited his effectiveness on the right side, and he had no problem adjusting to a position he had never played in his 10 previous NFL seasons.
Yanda has been such a great fit next to rookie left tackle
“I’m definitely better at right guard than I am at left,” Yanda said.
To the average onlooker, Yanda’s transition to left guard has been seamless. He’s actually the NFL’s highest-graded guard by Pro Football Focus despite playing half of the season out of position.
But Yanda says he can tell the difference in how he plays at each spot.
“Most people aren’t going to notice the subtle things, but for sure there are subtle things that I definitely am just more comfortable at right guard,” he said.
Yanda, 32, has never been one to talk much about injuries or disclose the severity of them, but surgery could be on the horizon for him this offseason. If he is ultimately going to make the transition back to the right side, his injury needs to heal so that he’s able to retain the strength in his left arm.
“We’ll see what I do after the season and stuff like that, but either way it’s going towards getting it fixed to where it doesn’t happen again at right guard,” he said.
Yanda was selected to his sixth-straight Pro Bowl this season, but said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll be able to play in the game because of the injury.
