I can't remember a time when there have been so many open competitions in TC . If we can get a veteran Safety and maybe a TE I think that there's a legitimate competition at just about every position except for Center ( and maybe left tackle, cause I don't consider Vlad competition till he shows he learned something ) Guys are going to be playing for their jobs I think Idzik has made that totally clear. I'm excited to see how steps up and who folds under the pressure. Just a couple that immediately come to mind as competitions i'm looking forward to ( In order of level of excitement, Who I'd like to start listed first ): RB - Ivory, Powell, McKnight, Goodson, Griffin DT - Ellis, Richardson, D Harrison. OLB - Coples, Sapp, Barnes, Pace, Mauga, McIntyre, Bellore QB - Sanchez, Smith, Garrard, McElroy TE - Pantale, H. Smith, Cumberland, Rueland ILB - Harris, Davis - ( I know this is a gimme for Harris but I hear Davis has really been pushing him in the weight room, and vice versa with learning the position ) Anyone else wish it was September?
Whats the competition here- for the 4-3 or 3-4? I expect harris to Mike and davis to Ted. Then again im a big Harris fan.
Harris and Davis aren't competing with each other. In our 3-4 sets, they'll both play. In our 4-3 sets, Harris will play ILB (even though he isn't really best fit for a 4-3 ILB, but I digress) and Davis will play 4-3 OLB.
I wonder if anyone is going to beat out Austin for the RT position. I think just Nick & Brick are the only 2 penciled in as starters.
I was thinking this may end up depending on how much Davis progresses in his second year. You're probably right but I could definitely see him pushing to come in on obvious passing downs to help in coverage. Specially if we're going to have Coples as an OLB rusher in one of those roles. He's significantly faster then Harris is. I'm a big fan of Davis though, So, It might be stretching to hope that he can progress that quickly.
Not really even a debate at LT. D-Brick is a lock not sure why Vlad would even be thought as competition.
Guard should be interesting between Winters, Colon, and Peterman. Oline backup positions will heat up too. OLB, who will step up? Coples, Barnes, Pace, Macintire, Sapp NT rotation, Garay, Harrison, and Ellis (although i expect Garay will win). at TE and FS we have virtually no one, so hopefully someone proves adequate. WR slots not assured to anyone either. Can't wait to get a look at some of these players in action. A lot of potential, but also a lot of question marks.
I brought it up because this might very well be his last chance to compete. And Brick won't be here forever. If Vlad can step up and perform well as a backup here it will be advantageous to the team. People for some reason seem to write off how big of a project Vlad was supposed to be before he had the lockout take away most of his rookie camp. This being his 3rd year pretty much, It would be awesome to see him continue the progress he began to make towards the end of last season ( a serviceable backup )
Vlad will be competing at guard, not at tackle. I think it's a given that Brick & Howard will be our starting tackles. I'm really interest in the Guard competition. It will be Ducasse plus a bunch of draft picks. It should be interesting. Ducasse has been decent in run blocking but struggles in pass protection. If I were a betting man, I'd bet that Ducasse wins one of the 2 guard spots.
I figured with the recent pickups on the OL that we have the G position filled and this will give Ducasse one last opportunity to play in the position we drafted him to fill while not NEEDING him to succeed since we still have Brick playing well in that position. I would rather dump him then keep him on as "maybe" someone who can fill in at guard when we have other prospects that can take that roster spot and be able to move around the line a bit better.
Add safety to this list even without another veteran presence. Landry at one spot Bush/Allen/Jarret battling for the other. TC is gonna be mighty fun w/ all this competition.
I think theres a damn good chance there will be some additional veteran names thrown in the mix at Safety and TE when it's all said and done before Training Camp.. Especially safety. They will be scanning the market when folks get cut this summer.
Hoping Oday Aboushi gets a shot to compete over @ RT. Howard was a nice upgrade but he's not good enough for Jets to just blindly hand him the starting job. If Howard in the best RT in training camp, then let's roll with it. I'm hoping Center & LT the only two starting spots guaranteed.
I was just about to post about Jarret. The kid was a former second round pick, so the talent is there. Maybe Rex and Thurman can bring out that second round value out of him. On tape he looked good for Temple, I don't know what happend in Philly though. I hope Bush wins the FS spot, since he's more of the coverage guy, and then Allen and Jarret push Landry for the SS role. If rather have a slightly less talented Allen or Jaiqwuan at SS than an aging Landry, simply because they can get better while Landry is all downhill.
I'm really not a fan of Coples moving to OLB. I believe we're set on the defensive line for many of years to come with Coples, Richardson and Wilkerson along with Ellis as added depth. At 6'6/290 pounds I just feel that Coples is way too heavy for the role of an OLB. Look at players such as Ware (254), Aldon Smith (258), Matthews (255) etc. Not trying to act as if I know more than our coaching staff such as Ryan but as a fan, I just felt we were set especially at DE for many of years to come with Coples and Wilkerson. As only a rookie Coples put up 30 tackles along with 5 1/2 sacks but now as a second year player he'll be asked to learn a new position and I'm sorry but being 6/6/290 pounds doesn't sound like a natural pass rushing OLB. Do we need an improved pass rush, without question, but I'm not sure Quinton Coples of all players is our answer. Have an odd/bad feeling we're setting this kid up for failure...
Coples is not the first 280 pound OLB to play the position. Mario Williams played it around that weight in Houston and Buffalo...
Not saying that he'd be the first but at the same time, it's also foolish to compare Coples to a Mario Williams type. At the end of the night, I just don't believe/feel Coples is a natural pass rushing OLB but hope to be proven wrong. On a side note I really hope a 6'4/346 pound Kenrick Ellis who's only 25 years of age can come into his own and beat out Antonio Garay as our starting 3-4 NT. at 6'4/320 pounds and 33 years old I truthfully want nothing to do with Antonio Garay as our (starting) NT. If we're to have a 3-4 defensive line consisting of Wilkerson, Ellis and Richardson along with Coples coming off the edge, I can picture our run defense becoming stout. That's if Ellis is able to come into his own.
footballfortress.com/index.php/en/component/k2/item/180-2013-nfl-qb-competitions I thought this pretty much said it perfectly for the QB comp. The rest....well, time will tell
