Call me crazy, but I went back in the forums and checked out what was said right after he was drafted and a lot of fans on these boards were saying that he's raw, he's a project, he has no experience against top players, etc. They also thought that he was a good pick. I hope that he is good enough to be a starter this year.
You are completely wrong. When he was drafted, everyone labeled him a developmental project. Also, he was never considered to start that year. Also, saying he was a late second pick so he was practically a third is ridiculous. He's a second round pick. Period. That was always too high to draft a project. Go back and read some old draft articles. Here's one from NFL.com.... http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/vlad-ducasse?id=497006 Pick Analysis: The Jets pick up a developmental prospect in Vladimir Ducasse. The Massachusetts star played offensive tackle as a collegian, but could move inside to guard for the Jets. With the team currently loaded along the line, Ducasse will have the opportunity to sit on the sideline and learn the craft before playing a bigger role in a few years.
I'll call you crazy I got torn apart in the forums when I predicted Slauson would win the starting OG job with people saying noway do you select a guard in the 2nd round and not have him start over a 6th or 7th round (I forget what round Slauson was taken in) Guard....That was one of the time I hit the nail on the head, of course I've missed a few times to...Gholston, cough cough, when he was first drafted....boy did I wiff on that one.
Speaking of predictions, and I'm not sure if I wiffed on this one or not, but I had argued that Kellen should start over Sanchez in 2009. Not because I thought Kellen had a better future but rather because with only 1 year of college ball under his belt I didn't think Sanchez was ready to start. Now the stats I'm about to post don't really mean anything in real sense, it's conjectural and somewhat out of context but both did play with essentially the same team in 2007 and 2009 and under the same OC. But I do find the results of this statistical conjecuture interesting. and in reflection I don't think the Jets 2009 season would have played out much different regardless of who the QB was, assuming the conjectural information held even. Again, this is not saying how things would have been, just an interesting statistical observation taken slightly out of context. 3 sets of numbers for each category, the first is Sanchez's rookie season, the second is Kellen's one year with more than 200 attempts and the third is Kellen's career stats. Remember take this all with a big grain of salt. Attempts Sanchez 364, Kellen 1 250, Kellen C 378. Comp % Sanchez 53.8, Kellen 1 52.0, Kellen C 51.9 AVG yards per attempt Sanchez 6.71, Kellen 1 6.12, Kellen C 6.01 INT Sanchez 20, Kellen 1 10, Kellen C 13 Fumble Sanchez 10, Kellen 1 4, Kellen C 10. What we see here is neither QB is very good, but Sanchez does have a slight advantage on completion %, though it's nothing to brag about here, and a substantial advantage on yards per attempt. But kellen protected the ball better....I doubt that Kellen would have done as well as Sanchez in the Playoffs, though overall Sanchez's playoff stats were nothing to write home about. But all things considered, you have to ask, would the Jets have been better off with Kellen starting the season and Sanchez working his way in to starting over the course of the season? Of course we'll never know the answer to that, unless someone invents a time machine so we can go back and see an alternate history. But really Sanchez, when push comes to shove, wasn't that all that much better than Kellen, in fact if you place a priorty on controlling the football and field postion, as the Jets focused on under Ryan, you might argue that Kellen would have been the better choice early on anyways. And this is not a Sanchez sucks statement, though Sanchez has never really gotten much better overall except for a spike in stats here and there, but one has to wonder if the Jets hadn't rushed Sanchez and let him get in as the game slowed down for him if things would have turned out different in the long run.
:rofl: I didn't say he wasn't a project. But to suggest he didn't compete for the starting position would be false. He definitely did despite Slauson having the upper edge. I said the Jets didn't think he was a 3-4 year project when they drafted him. Guess I was wrong about it coming mostly from fans, but not completely wrong. I figured that when the Jets drafted Ducasse, they figured 2 years or so. Whatever. You are still suffering, I get it. I'll get back at ya when Ducasse is mashing heads into the dirt.
NFL teams don't draft players that they envision taking 3-4 years to devolop. Sure they might expect that a player will take 3-4 years to peak, but that is different than developing into a serviceable player. If you draft a player then spend 3-4 years developing him, all you have done is invest a huge amount of time, money, and precious roster spots in the hopes that he might give your team an advantage or discount on his next contract, which is unlikely anyway.
He did not compete for the starting job as a rookie. All the rolling smiley faces you post won't change that. As usual, you are wrong. Provide proof where he did. Your quote: "If they knew he was a 3-4 year project, why would they even consider him competing to start?" They never did. When he was drafted, he was not going to start. He was a project. You said he competed his rookie year for the starting job. He didn't. Are you going to quote a cable TV show which needs to fabricate drama? Oh wait...I get it. Because you are stupid, when a coach says it's an open competition you think anyone can win the job. For example, the QB competition is open this year, so you think Simms has a shot? Just for you Buddy.....:lol:
i may be biased cause i sat next the the guy in nutrition 130 freshman year and talked to him about football the entire class (he used to have to run a lot in college, he always complained about it haha), but vlad played pretty damn well last season and i thought he clearly outplayed slauson. hell i think the front office thought the same thing, which is why they let the guy go. vlad is most likely penciled in as one of the starting guards and i wouldnt be surprised if he made the cut come opening day. one thing that i think makes me give vlad a little more slack, aside from the personal connection (although it comes from it), is that he didnt speak english that well. he didnt have a hard time interacting or anything, but it is definitely not his first language. this cannot be overlooked because really, it is probably the only reason he has had such a hard time adapting to the nfl. he is not a stupid guy at all, but there is a lot of nuance to the language of the game of football not to mention the nfl and different pro systems and whatnot... taking all that into consideration, its easy to see why it might take him a little longer to come along, but his progress has been there, and enough so that he is still on the team even after letting the guy he was sharing snaps with last season go... tanny wasnt canned cause he made terrible picks, he was canned cause he couldnt put together a decent enough roster. no depth, just big names and overpaid contracts. but his picks werent too bad.
