Until the lineup drops for Everton's next game against Manchester United after the international break, there's no way to know if Jake O'Brien being ousted from the right back position he's been playing more or less since David Moyes returned to the club is a permanent move.
It's possible that Moyes saw something in Fulham's attack that made him comfortable playing James Garner in the position. But there's also a decent chance that the Everton manager finally realized that running a 6'6" fullback out week after week was not in the best interest of either the player or the club.
Time will tell on that front, but right back remains an obvious need when the January transfer window opens. That means there are eight matches until the Blues can do anything to bolster the position, and likely longer, since these deals never seem to materialize overnight with Everton Football Club.
In the meantime, whether or not Garner remains the starting right back on a match-to-match basis until another solution is found, it feels safe to say that Saturday's win over Fulham won't be the last time he's asked to do a job outside of his favored midfield role.
But if that's the case, Jake O'Brien cannot be the sacrificial lamb, not when he's more likely to be a future central defender at Everton than either James Tarkowski or Michael Keane.
Some of that's age (O'Brien just turned 24 in May, while Tark will turn 33 next week and Keane is a few months behind him), some of it's what the contracts tell us (O'Brien's deal runs until 2028, as does Tark's, but Keane's contract is of the one-year variety); but ultimately, it feels like O'Brien and Jarrad Branthwaite are the pairing for the near future.
After this long run of matches playing at right back, O'Brien needs a chance to get back to his favored position and grow in it. He and Branthwaite present Everton with an opportunity to field a big, strong, athletic center back pairing, and having the Ireland international either out of position or languishing on the bench makes no sense for the future.
He's also likely to prop up whichever of Tarkowski or Keane he slots next to given his attributes, things that neither of the Englishmen have much of at this point in their careers. The eye test suggests that Keane would be the one to stay on next to O'Brien, but the overall comparison may be negligible in the end.
In the end, the argument mostly comes down to the same reasons we argued for Thierno Barry to get a run of starts, even if he's not scoring goals as of yet. Jake O'Brien can be both the present and future for Everton as a towering central defender. But if he doesn't get the chance to play if he's not a right back, then that may be a failed investment for the club.