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who would you rather have at LT?


Pete

who would you rather have at LT?  

38 members have voted

  1. 1. who would you rather have at LT?

    • Jonas Jennings
      9
    • LJ Shelton
      27
    • someone in the draft available at our #2 pick
      0
    • someone available in FA we can fit under the cap
      2


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A lot actually depends on what the doctors would say.

 

I know that JJ has no record of being able to start 16 games in his career and that in addition he has suffered concussions or other injuries which have made it impossible for him to finish games.

 

I also know that though LJ has not only been able to suit up and start a full season, that he developed a rep as a player which brought him the nickname "The Last Man Standing" when other AZ players went down to injury and he hung in there. However, in the last three games of last season the injury bug forced LJ out so the docs would need to tell me whether there is some physical issue that makes him someone you shouldn't depend upon, or whether the meltdown he had with Green and AZ turning off on him was a big factor in this injury issue.

 

My guess (and this is a simple guess without any medical info) is that JJ is a medically uncertain commodity at best and the LJ is probably OK.

 

Health aside it gets us down to assessment of them as players.

 

Questions arise on LJ because he clearly did not perform so well that he forced AZ to keep him as the answer at LT. It may not be his fault or a fault of his play but there is a question. However, given that he did get them to commit big bucks to him in a contract before, and given that we now have professional training and direction, if our braintrust is comfortable with him, there is no question in my mind that LJ is the better choice.

 

JJ has great potential, but even putting the injury issues aside (which the Bills should not so I'm happy they did not match the SF overpayment to him), there are still some issues of play that he needs to work on. Specifically:

 

1. He seemed to me to take too many bad penalties as a player andprobably got a holding call or some other miscue every other game or so as a player. This to me was an indicator he had gotten beat. Sometimes it is smarter to tackle an opposing rusher and take the penalty rather than risk your QB getting blindsided. However, if you have to do this too much this is a sign you can be beat too much and are not the player we want.

 

2. He clearly could be beaten badly by the better player as happened when Abraham undressed him 2 or 3 times against the Jets. Everyone gets beaten occaisionally, even the best and by lesser players (note Schobel beating Ogden for us once last season). However, when a player gets repeatedly beat by someone this is not good. JJ is good right now, but way below the best at the LT position.

 

My sense is that if the docs say he is good to go, there is little question to me that Shelton is the better option as a player and that when one goes beyond this to take the salary cap into consideration, there is simply no comparison between JJ at a 5+ million cap hit and Shelton at $3 million (which can be reduced to around $1.25 by converting his base pay into bonus and prorating it over the life of his contract).

 

You need a plan B at LT with both players (NFL player can be hurt, JJ has a history of not starting every game, LJ is coming off an injury), but it will be much easier to buy a good plan B with the cap room Shelton gives you than the overexpenditure JJ is getting from the market.

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VA...

 

You really think that Shelton and Jennings are equal at pass blocking?

 

I def agree with you in the run blocking department

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Yeah. From what I saw, and again, I never watched him at LT only RT, he never got beat by the power rushers that the right side tends to have. The knock on him is the speed rushers can get a step on him. Jennings I think moves a little better against the speed guys but has been manhandled repeatedly by the power rushers. So overall a push. Now the deal however is we have more of the speed rushers in the AFC East, guys like Abraham and Taylor (although he is moving to LB). Seymour imho is more of the power guy and Shelton will handle him better then Jennings did.

 

Now the smart thinking is, Abraham maybe gone, Miami signed Holiday, and may move Bowens or Holiday to the RE spot. While both are smaller DE's neither has shown much ability to get to the QB lately. So the DE in the AFC East may turn out to be more of the power guys thins yea and will play to Sheltons strength.

 

But too be honest who knows. Shelton maybe quicker then I think and may be able to handle the speed rushers. I sure would like to have a blocking TE help on the edge though, especially at the beginning of the year, just to make sure.

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Yeah.  From what I saw, and again, I never watched him at LT only RT, he never got beat by the power rushers that the right side tends to have.  The knock on him is the speed rushers can get a step on him.  Jennings I think moves a little better against the speed guys but has been manhandled repeatedly by the power rushers.  So overall a push.  Now the deal however is we have more of the speed rushers in the AFC East, guys like Abraham and Taylor (although he is moving to LB). Seymour imho is more of the power guy and Shelton will handle him better then Jennings did. 

 

Now the smart thinking is, Abraham maybe gone, Miami signed Holiday, and may move Bowens or Holiday to the RE spot.  While both are smaller DE's neither has shown much ability to get to the QB lately.  So the DE in the AFC East may turn out to be more of the power guys thins yea and will play to Sheltons strength. 

 

But too be honest who knows.  Shelton maybe quicker then I think and may be able to handle the speed rushers.  I sure would like to have a blocking TE help on the edge though, especially at the bigging of the year, just to make sure.

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I also think that is why we have not signed a Tight End yet...they are looking for one that his forte is blocking......

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