Every other week we will be doing a "Who Powered Through" post sponsored by Vick's. The post is going to center around players who overcame injury, players who are durable, players who played through pain/sickness, etc.
For our first installment, I wanted to recognize offensive guard Vince Manuwai. Manuwai struggled during organized team activities and training camp. He was still leaning on his reconstructed knee from an injury at the beginning of the 2008 season. The Jacksonville Jaguars even brought in Justin Smiley from the Miami Dolphins to compete for a starting position.
Manuwai was hobbled early in camp, but once the pads went on he seemed to look much better. Despite the fact that many who covered the team felt Vince Manuwai would be a salary casualty if he didn't win a starting job. I'm not going to re-hash the whole ordeal, but I think a lot of us agreed it was a dumb idea to cut him given the lack of depth and Smiley's injury history.
Ultimately, Justin Smiley won the starting job and started the first five games at left guard. Smiley suffered an ankle injury against the Buffalo Billsand was replaced by Vinny Manuwai. Since that game, Manuwai has held on to the starting role. Vince was able to take the medicine and be a ready and able back up until his chance was had. He got that chance again when Smiley was injured and hasn't relinquished the position.