King Dunlap was asked after practice on Friday whether it's weird that a king is going to be a guard?
"It is when he's 6-9," Dunlap replied.
Dunlap is slated to make his first career start inside at left guard on Sunday against Arizona. Evan Mathis, the typical starting left guard, was ruled out for Sunday's game due to a toe injury. Dunlap has made six career starts – including one in 2011 - but they have been divided between the two tackle positions.
"I'm a guard now. That's pretty much it, plain and simple. First time I'll ever be playing guard in a game," Dunlap said. "I think it will be fun. Nothing wrong with a new challenge in life."
The different between tackle and guard, Dunlap said, is that you have to focus your eyes quicker, stay lower and take shorter steps. What will help Dunlap on Sunday is that he'll face off against another player with rare height for his position - defensive end Calais Campbell, who is 6-8.
"It'll be nice to see somebody eye-to-eye inside," Dunlap said. "It's a good thing he's taller. I don't have to be as low as if there were shorter guys out there."
The one issue is that Campbell is well versed at his position as he leads the team with 5.0 sacks.
Dunlap felt good about how the reps went in practice this week. He has been taking scout team reps at guard for a few weeks now, so he wasn't just thrown into the mix. As Dunlap put it, now he "just has to convert to Sunday."
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