Draft position is relevant to me for a few reasons. A top ten pick is expected to be playmaker, a second round pick does not have the same expectation. A top ten pick gets a huge contract and a second round pick does not. These two differences alone make the comparison absurd. Then when you start taking into account your focus on their mental approaches to the game it just becomes idiotic to compare them in any way.
All signs point toward being Woody being gone but this big lug doesn't instill confidence. The images of him looking clueless on Hard Knocks are difficult to get out of my mind.
The one clip on Hard Knocks where he was talking to Rob Turner on the sidelines in a preseason game made him sound like a dumbass. That's the other reason.
A future position change for Vlad was discussed ad nauseam since the day he was drafted. This isn't a surprise.
That's not always a bad thing though. Colts LB Mike Curtis was initially a FB. However that didnt work and they moved him to LB where he became a star.
Huh? where do you get this from? Vlad was drafted to take over at RT from the beginning, if he won the LG spot he was only going to be playing there until they let Woody go and I stated that from the beginning so please don't make things up about me.
Historically on the Jets O-line alone you are quite wrong. - Kerry Jenkins moved from back-up Left tackle in 98 to starting guard in 1999. Was a solid player and ended up getting big FA money from Tampa. - Brandon Moore was a UDFA DT who made the switch to RG. How has he worked out? - Fabini moved from RT where he started from 98-00 to LT where he was a solid player - Supeli Malamala played all over the place on the Ol throughout the early to mid 90's. He was never great, but he was certainly serviceable Other O-line Examples? - Larry Allen in Big D played all over the place at a pro bowl level - Alan Faneca played mostly LG throughout his career but played some decent LT for Pittsburgh in the mid 00's due to injury. -Robert Gallery was a poor OT but since moving to guard has become a solid player - Tony mandarich was a collosal bust at OT for the packers. But once people realized despite not having any feet, that he did have overpowering strength and power, he ended his career as a solid guard for Indy. Other position examples? - Teddy Bruschi(as previously mentioned) - Brian Urlacher(S to OLB to MLB) - Brad Smith(QB to WR/KR) - Antwan Randle El( RB to QB to WR) - Hines Ward( QB to WR) - Antrelle Rolle( CB to FS) - Calvin pace( DE to OLB) - Bryant thomas(DE to OLB) - Aaron Kampman(DE to OLB)' I view Ducasse being moved to RT not as a panic move..but rather we just don't have any immediate holes at guard right now where he can see some playing time. Slauson has rounded out nicely and is still developing while Moore is one of the best in the game. Ducasse is physically versatile and given the fact that the biggest potential hole on the OL is at RT...and it only makes sense to give him a shot at the starting position.
When we drafted this guy I had had my doubts. I think I got flamed at the time, but to me he just didn't LOOK like an NFL offensive lineman. he looks like the gentle fat kid that's too out of shape to do anything else, so you just stick him on the OL and hope he'll get in somebody's way. He just looks very soft to me.
I think a lot of people are basing their opinions solely on footage seen on Hard Knocks, and that's not really a good idea.
Was Ducasse not a RT in college (at least his senior year)? I don't understand why people are acting like this is some brand new position for him. At the time he was drafted, many figured that his eventual position would be RT, regardless of where he started off. This was inevitable and I'm happy about it. If he can at least hold the fort on passing downs he'll be an asset because he already seems to be a plus run blocker.
As awesome as hard knocks was it did create some absurd opinions about a few guys. All based on 30 seconds of carefully edited footage.
Well it's not like Vlad didn't struggle mightily in the preseason.. he almost got Sanchez killed. I don't think Hard Knocks necessarily gave people the wrong impression about guys, they just took the general outlook on a guy and exaggerated it a few notches. Like they made McKnight look awful, but it's not as if he was doing well and they edited to change the opinion on him. He was on the verge of getting cut and then spent the majority of the season inactive.
He's 6'5 325... Big Wood is 6'3 327 If you're trying to say you don't think he'll be a good player because he looks nice, then that's one of the dumbest evaluations I've ever seen.
Here's a writeup about Vlad's performance from week 17 by the Jets blog. http://www.thejetsblog.com/2011/01/05/bga-bills-at-jets/
