FOXBORO, Mass. — Patriots offensive lineman Nick Kaczur has played in 68 games over five NFL seasons, and he's never taken a snap anywhere other than tackle.
Now, due to Logan Mankins' holdout, Kaczur is the early favorite to earn the starting job at left guard. The 2005 third-round draft pick has practiced at guard before, but he's never played a down at the position.
"They've had me playing a bunch of different spots," Kaczur said. "I'm kind of used to it. It's another challenge for me, another opportunity to show what I can do and be versatile. That’s what I'm looking forward to doing."
Kaczur has mostly played right tackle during his career in New England, but second-year lineman Sebastian Vollmer has taken that spot. With the hole at left guard, Kaczur and Dan Connolly will go head to head for the job, and Rich Ohrnberger and Ted Larsen are longshots to take Mankins' spot.
Kaczur, though, earned the vast majority of reps Thursday during the Patriots' initial practice of training camp. To this point, he said it's still tricky trying to learn the plays because the fundamentals are different between right tackle and left guard.
"You've got people all around you [at left guard]," Kaczur said. "I'm used to a lot of open space. Now, the space is a lot more [condensed]. You've got to get used to that so you don’t trip on the guys beside you all the time."
On the outside, Kaczur was dealing with faster players — mostly defensive ends and outside linebackers — but he's got to block stronger, heftier defensive tackles and middle linebackers now that he's on the inside of the line. Because of that, the 6-foot-4, 315-pounder is working to shorten up his stance to give him more leverage against powerful interior linemen.
Kaczur has welcomed the challenge, and if he conquers the task, his versatility will only further his NFL career.
"The more you can do, the better it is for me," Kaczur said. "It's an opportunity to play another position for awhile and show what I can do at different spots."
