ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 One could also look at it that the front office is setting him up to fail so they have a good excuse to cut his bloated contract next year. Asking a guy that has been in the NFL 8 years to elevate his game and step in at the toughest position on the OL after a rather pedestrian career to date is nothing short of a major gamble. There is a non-zero chance that Walker isn't cut out to be an elite LT, which will give the Bills a ready reason to go after someone else next off-season and toss Walker and his contract on the scrap heap. It's not like the writing isn't 10 foot high on the wall either after this past off-season. Wrong.
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 Insightful. Just like your post, to which I was replying.
zazie Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 One could also look at it that the front office is setting him up to fail so they have a good excuse to cut his bloated contract next year. Asking a guy that has been in the NFL 8 years to elevate his game and step in at the toughest position on the OL after a rather pedestrian career to date is nothing short of a major gamble. There is a non-zero chance that Walker isn't cut out to be an elite LT, which will give the Bills a ready reason to go after someone else next off-season and toss Walker and his contract on the scrap heap. It's not like the writing isn't 10 foot high on the wall either after this past off-season. I have to think the FO is pretty happy and satisfied with LW and his performance; he has been adequate which supercedes many other recent signees by a long shot. As a RT I think he does fine, let's see what happens with him at LT.
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 I have to think the FO is pretty happy and satisfied with LW and his performance; he has been adequate which supercedes many other recent signees by a long shot. As a RT I think he does fine, let's see what happens with him at LT. Thank you! The FO is and will be completely happy with LW even if he can't make it as a LT. They'll just move him back to RT. LW has 2 years left on his contract. I don't see them re-signing him after the 2010 season though, unless Butler can't make it at RT.
Sisyphean Bills Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 I have to think the FO is pretty happy and satisfied with LW and his performance; he has been adequate which supercedes many other recent signees by a long shot. As a RT I think he does fine, let's see what happens with him at LT. Walker has done OK here, but that's about as far as I'll go. He's been adequate in pass protection on the right side and below average in the running game. You are right that the recent list of FAs is pretty pathetic. We will definitely see if he can hack it at LT. To paraphrase Langston, there isn't any other choice.
spartacus Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 One could also look at it that the front office is setting him up to fail so they have a good excuse to cut his bloated contract next year. Asking a guy that has been in the NFL 8 years to elevate his game and step in at the toughest position on the OL after a rather pedestrian career to date is nothing short of a major gamble. There is a non-zero chance that Walker isn't cut out to be an elite LT, which will give the Bills a ready reason to go after someone else next off-season and toss Walker and his contract on the scrap heap. It's not like the writing isn't 10 foot high on the wall either after this past off-season. I would agree highly unlikely Walker will be a Bill next year Now that Marv is gone, the team is returning to its historical trend of stocking the OL with rookies and low budget free agent castoffs. at least the rookies they drafted this year were taken high enough to actually have some talent. Walker will prove he is not capable of playing LT and they can fill the RT slot much cheaper- so he will be toast. Walker is smart enough to keep his mouth shut to not give then any fodder to feed the fans, but Peters said nothing at all either and the front office stiff managed to trash him effectively it's good they finally signed some talented rookies, but too bad they have no coach qualified to mold them into an effective NFL OL>
Thurman#1 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Posted August 1, 2009 Jim Leanhard and Mario Haggan are a far cry from a pro bowl LT that we could have kept for 10 years. Absolutely. But Nate Clements wasn't. He was in very much the same category.
Thurman#1 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Posted August 1, 2009 They tried real hard; they offered him clearly less than he could get on the open market... Wow. You could not have summed up my point better. When Peters saw that, what do you think he thought? Here's a guy who put in his time, did everything the Bills could have wanted, showed up to every practice, didn't hold out, and was a very fine player. And the Bills made him finish up an outdated contract and then try to get him to sign another contract at a discount to market value and when he wouldn't do it, kissed him off. Yeah, great example. Thanks, Zazie. When Peters saw that, he had to have thought, "Hey, that could be me. Except for the fact that I'm far more underpaid than Greer." That's what happens, at least some of the time, when you work hard and show up every day. The Bills wanted Greer, thought he was a good players and weren't willing to pay market value. Which turned out to be exactly what happened in Peters's case.
Thurman#1 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Posted August 1, 2009 I re-read the article about Peters and I got it wrong the first time. He's actually got a problem with his quad. Which is worse, not passing the conditioning test because you're out of shape or injured? We'll see what he says the longer he's on the PUP and depending on how he performs. The money may be greener on the other side, but the grass isn't always. Yeah, he had a QUAD SPASM. This may turn out to be almost as serious as the injuries that Roscoe Parrish and John McCargo missed practices for. He and Asante Samuel, also on the PUP list for an extremely minor injury are undoubtedly torn up by this. And the Eagles fans, have you noticed the huge fan uprising about this? Talk about making mountains out of molehills. This just makes it obvious that you will say anything, absolutely anything, to denigrate Peters, reasonable or not.
Thurman#1 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Posted August 1, 2009 Thank you! The FO is and will be completely happy with LW even if he can't make it as a LT. They'll just move him back to RT. LW has 2 years left on his contract. I don't see them re-signing him after the 2010 season though, unless Butler can't make it at RT. If they move Walker back to RT, what do they do with Butler, move him to RG? Then what do they do with Wood? The fact is that right now, the Bills have about three guys who look like they might make very solid RTs. And there is a very good possibility that they have nobody who will make a very solid LT. Moving Walker back to RT just creates another problem.
Thurman#1 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Posted August 1, 2009 I'm as guilty of this as anyone here, but IMHO, these posts are missing the point. Walker isn't really happy to be the LT. That's big news. The probable reason for that would be a nagging feeling that he isn't a good fit. That's the story here, and it's a pretty big one.
Billistic Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 How long can Demetrius Bell be a long term project? At his contract hit, a loooong time. But the Bills in Buffalo are on a different timeline. The question is: Is Bell just Lief Larson (the strongest oaf in the Northern Hemisphere) by another name? Kugler should be giving Bell significant first team reps at both LT and RT. What the eff are they saving him for? Burial detail?
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 Yeah, he had a QUAD SPASM. This may turn out to be almost as serious as the injuries that Roscoe Parrish and John McCargo missed practices for. He and Asante Samuel, also on the PUP list for an extremely minor injury are undoubtedly torn up by this. And the Eagles fans, have you noticed the huge fan uprising about this? Talk about making mountains out of molehills. This just makes it obvious that you will say anything, absolutely anything, to denigrate Peters, reasonable or not. We've talked about this on the BBMB before, Thurm. And you'll say anything, absolutely anything, to defend Peters, reasonable or not. Both there AND here. When a guy comes out and admits that he didn't give his full effort because he was thinking about his contract and didn't think the "pittance" he was being paid merited a better effort, it's pretty indicative of his character. Perhaps you're right that the Bills did "lowball" him, to tell him what they thought of his effort/ability, i.e. a "a truly great LT wouldn't have done acted or performed like that" kind of statement. The lack of humility in failing to take responsibility for those, plus his "I can't believe they trade me!" only further reveal his character. Philly fans are still in the honeymoon phase with Peters. The longer he sits-out and misses "jelling-time" with his new teammates (Samuel has been there a year, BTW), the more behind the 8-ball the Eagles' O-line gets and the more frustrated they'll become. Especially since Shawn Andrews appears to be having a relapse of his back or (hopefully not) depression problems. And the the Eagles' O-line coach is attempting to change his technique. And have you ever heard of a "quad spasm," much less a reason to put a player on the PUP list?
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 How long can Demetrius Bell be a long term project? At his contract hit, a loooong time. But the Bills in Buffalo are on a different timeline. The question is: Is Bell just Lief Larson (the strongest oaf in the Northern Hemisphere) by another name? Kugler should be giving Bell significant first team reps at both LT and RT. What the eff are they saving him for? Burial detail? How long was Jason Peters a long term project? And the Bills' O-line was severely starved for talent back then. And the analogy to Larson was a poor one. Larson was strong as an ox but didn't have any talent. Bell has the talent but lacked strength last year.
Billistic Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 How long was Jason Peters a long term project? And the Bills' O-line was severely starved for talent back then. And the analogy to Larson was a poor one. Larson was strong as an ox but didn't have any talent. Bell has the talent but lacked strength last year. Larson never played, and nor has Bell. Jason Peters wrecked havoc on special teams since his day one. BTW, what did you mean when you said that the d-line was severely starved for talent "back then"?
thewildrabbit Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 I would agree highly unlikely Walker will be a Bill next year Now that Marv is gone, the team is returning to its historical trend of stocking the OL with rookies and low budget free agent castoffs. at least the rookies they drafted this year were taken high enough to actually have some talent. Walker will prove he is not capable of playing LT and they can fill the RT slot much cheaper- so he will be toast. Walker is smart enough to keep his mouth shut to not give then any fodder to feed the fans, but Peters said nothing at all either and the front office stiff managed to trash him effectively it's good they finally signed some talented rookies, but too bad they have no coach qualified to mold them into an effective NFL OL> Should the Bills fail at fielding a solid offensive unit, it won't be because of lack of talent at the skill positions. It will be because of the rebuilding-retooling-overhaul or whatever you want to call the entire remake of the O line.
nucci Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 How long can Demetrius Bell be a long term project? At his contract hit, a loooong time. But the Bills in Buffalo are on a different timeline. The question is: Is Bell just Lief Larson (the strongest oaf in the Northern Hemisphere) by another name? Kugler should be giving Bell significant first team reps at both LT and RT. What the eff are they saving him for? Burial detail? What do you think Bell is doing, just relaxing and enjoying the summer?
ThereIsNoDog Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 Larson never played, and nor has Bell. Jason Peters wrecked havoc on special teams since his day one. BTW, what did you mean when you said that the d-line was severely starved for talent "back then"? Wow, Bell, a 7th rounder, didn't play in his rookie year? The horror! Cut him now! Oh really, Peters "wrecked (sic) havoc on special teams since his day one?" Care to research that and get back to me? And I said "the O-line was severely starved..."
BillsVet Posted August 1, 2009 Posted August 1, 2009 One could also look at it that the front office is setting him up to fail so they have a good excuse to cut his bloated contract next year. Asking a guy that has been in the NFL 8 years to elevate his game and step in at the toughest position on the OL after a rather pedestrian career to date is nothing short of a major gamble. There is a non-zero chance that Walker isn't cut out to be an elite LT, which will give the Bills a ready reason to go after someone else next off-season and toss Walker and his contract on the scrap heap. It's not like the writing isn't 10 foot high on the wall either after this past off-season. This scenario is somewhat reminiscent of mid 2006 when Peters was moved from RT to LT. Now, the Bills are moving another former RT to LT and hoping it works. This time, the man forced to transition into the most difficult position on the OL doesn't have the strength or athleticism as his predecessor did.
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