Realistic OT options

No matter how much of a sunshine pumper you may be, everyone has to admit that Penning has underwhelmed thus far and does not look to be promising starter at RT for the season up to this point.

Free Agents:
-Donovan Smith played for Chiefs on 1yr/$3M deal last season at LT. Smith has been very durable throughout his career. I would have signed him prior to training camp even if it was for more than that salary and even if it meant drafting Fuaga to battle & cross train between LT & RT and between Smith & Penning.
-Charles Leno Jr was cut by Washington, would be a plug and play guy that would be an upgrade over Penning

Trade potential:
-Bengals have 3 potential starters at T; Trent Brown at RT is only real option in final year of contract. Orlando Brown is at LT, and they drafted Amarius Mims in 1st rd.
-Steelers have potential starters at T; Dan Moore Jr could be an option since they drafted Broderick Jones 1st rd in 2023 & Troy Fautanu 1st rd this year
-Jets have 3 potential starters at T; Morgan Moses is only real option in final year of contract, but still unlikely since they just traded for him this offseason. Tyron Smith is too much $$$. Olu Fashuna drafted 1st rd/#11 this year.

Penning Optimism:
-Minimal playing time/growth opportunity--Even though he's entering his 3rd season he's still only got 5 games of playing time due to injury early in his rookie season that restricted him to only being able to play in 2 games in 2022 and only played 3 games in 2023, though 2023 was in large part due to his own play.
-In game progression--Even though 2023 was subpar he did seem to show slight progress in each game. 2024 preseason game 1 was the same as his 2023 season, subpar but got better with each of the 3 possessions.
-New position--Learning new position from LT to RT, should stand to reason he should get better with each game. By all accounts he seems to have a good work ethic and no attitude or laziness issues. Camp reports have been mixed on him, some bad days but also some good days. Granderson, Jordan, Young, Turner may not be all-pros but they are all talented enough to beat most OTs on any given play.
-Kubiak--A good scheme/plan of attack and good timing of & situational playcalling can mask some inefficiencies at any position. He doesn't have to win every rep, but needs to be able to occupy defender long enough at least.

Penning Pessimism:
-Subpar play--Clearly not enough good film, and several bad plays displaying small school level technique. Even if he showed a 50% win/snap rate that would be a sigh of relief.
-Starts too slow--Glad he showed some progression with each possession last week, but starting that slow cannot be standard operating procedure for any starter.

I would not have gone into 2024 season with Penning being my best option on paper at starting RT with no real backup on the roster! He should have been given an opportunity to compete for the spot but not handed it like this.

Oli Udoh #74 has had his name pop up several times for good reports during camp. I noticed this mainly by Underhill, and I wondered at the time if Nick was setting that up if/when Penning underperformed that he could say "I've been saying all along Udoh is right there and had a decent camp". Watching Udoh the other night I did not see anything to suggest he was a better option from that game alone. Udoh played four seasons for Vikings, but he only started during the 2021 season and that was at RG and he had 16 penalties that year. I have not seen any snaps of him aside from last week's game. Will be interested to see his play in the remaining preseason games.

Underhill absolutely dogged Lucas Patrick's play against the Cardinals last week, and I just don't get it. I don't see how anybody could not have viewed him as at least "serviceable" at the worst. Did have a few bad plays and looked like a missed assignment or communication on a run play, but that's to be expected somewhat in first preseason game of year, let alone when 3/5 of the line is new, and he didn't get all of the camp snaps because Saldaveri was starter before injury.

Maybe when Saldaveri gets back he could be placed at RT and Patrick/Udoh battle it at LG, but I don't think that'll happen since Saldaveri got 0 reps at RT in camp

TL;DR if Penning has a less than favorable game this week, RT HAS to be addressed, what do you do? My 1st option would be sign Donovan Smith as a FA 1yr rental and not give up draft capitol or players needed for any trades.