The guy's already reached his ceiling. He's 30 years old. Hunter's a very, very good run blocker that definitely has a better grasp on our system than Vladimir Ducasse. He's got great feet, which leads me to believe he'll be solid in pass pro. Ducasse will hopefully take Hunter's spot as a blocking tight end in short yardage situations.
That's disappointing to hear, Vlad was drafted to take over for Woody and to not be ready to even compete in year 2 is disappointing.
It's disappointing that a PROJECT O-Lineman, and that's what he is regardless of where he was drafted, is not ready to start especially since there was no OTA's, mini camps, etc where he could be COACHED... Just wow
lock out man. they arent going to screw around in this limited amount of time. better to just throw the job at the proven guy, since they have a month to get ready.
In his defense losing this past offseason really hurt his progress. While it may be a bad sign now that's not to say that by mid season he won't be ready. Hopefully he can pick up a lot in TC and play well in preaseason. That being said between the Jets signing Cromartie and by declaring Hunter before TC is 2 days old it appears that Rex and the staff are not showing much confidence in last years top two picks.
My biggest concern going into the year...the potential drop off going from Woody to Hunter. I know Hunter did fairly well in the playoffs but he makes me nervous. Hope you guys are right.
My issue is not with Wayne Hunter winning the job. My issue is with declaring that there's already no competition. That's demoralizing for a young player that really struggled last year and declared last week that he was ready to earn his money. I just don't see the point of declaring there's no competition this early in training camp. Kellen Clemens was under the illusion of being in an open competition for longer than this for Christ's sake.
The guard experiment may have hurt him some in his development. I think it was a poor situation for him, with no OTAs or minicamps to see how he's developed. In this shortened offseason, the team is obviously going to go with the guy who proved his ability late last season.
that's ridiculous, junc. Why throw Ducasse into a starting role when he's not ready? Hunter is an excellent stopgap in the meantime. I trust Callahan's judgement.
I don't think that's what junc meant, I think he was saying that it's a disappointing that there isn't even a competition. Obviously the kid was raw but to not even give him a shot in training camp is frustrating and has to crush any confidence he had to begin with.
It's disappointing that he isn't even COMPETING for the job, he was drafted to take over THIS YEAR by the way and it is a disappointment that he isn't even competing for the job.
Where in my post did I say to start him? I wrote that it is disappointing that he is not competing for the job.
Ducasse was not drafted to replace Damien Woody. He was actually drafted to play guard. Matt Slauson just came out of nowhere and won that spot.
Apparently you missed the lock out, the shortened practice schedule of camp from 36 to 24 and the fact that they tried to move him to guard last year and are now moving him back to tackle. Never mind the fact he struggled (understatement) with the speed of the game last year in TC / Pre-Season and was inactive for almost every game the ENTIRE YEAR. Given those factors, REALITY should tell you there is no way on gods green earth this guy is starting coming out of TC - so again I say WOW... So whats the competition if they already know he's not ready to start?????
I think Ducasse will take that spot too. Its a great learning curve position, the 6th OL/blocking TE position on the line. It will allow Ducasse's game to slow down. That's what that kid needs right now. He's still so raw, and we saw it last year. The game was too fast for him last year.
then i stand corrected. But anyway, the CS feels he's not ready to compete for the starting position. The lack of OTAs and minicamps obviously hurt Ducasse more than we thought. Is it the end of the world? no.
He was drafted to repalce Woody, they started him at guard to push Slauson but he was drafted to be a RT. Apparently you are struggling to read, nowhere did I say I expected him or wanted him to start. It's a disapointment he isn't COMPETING. Do you understand the difference? Thank you.
^This... ...is different from this^. I agree I would have liked to see him compete, which you said in the second one. However, the fact that the competition is closed off immediately tells me that they had every intention of signing Hunter to start based on last season. It can't be based on non-existent OTAs or minicamps. The coaching staff at this point has NO idea where Ducasse is at. The decision is obviously based on Hunter, not on Vlad.
