Actually one of the reasons we drafted him was because he could play all 5 OL positions; I think he was also offensive captain of his team. Parcells told him however that he would be planning only center and OG positions. So I think Parcells saw Whitely as Gurode's backup cause Parcells believed if Gurode could get his head in the game he'd be our starting center and not Johnson, thus making Johnson expendable after 06 season.
Since Whitely got hurd first week in June, he should be fully recovered from his knee injury and able to fully participate in the team's offseason weight conditioning program. Since he missed all of last year, his lack of NFL experience will probably make it difficult for him to compete against the 2-3 players we signed off the PSs of 2 other teams. Hopefully he can at least show enough to be kept around for our own PS.