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does anyone know why the bears cut gandy?


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i wouldn't be shocked if they're waiting for green to cut l.j. shelton. we'll see ...

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Though this looks pretty doubtful that the Bills are interested in Shelton anymore, it is certainly one of my fervent wishes as a psychotic fan to see the Bills pick him up for no compensation as cap casualty after June 1st.

 

Though this would mean he missed the chemistry building opportunity of the most recent mini-camp, tnis would be no price to pay if the Bills braintrust thought he could be worked with.

 

Shelton has clear limitations as a player (the ankle injury, athleticism operating in space against DE speed rushers. However he also seems to have some real plusses also (great run blocker, great upper body strength so that if he locks up with you you are done as a passrusher, earned the nickname Last Man Standing in AZ they were hit with tons of injury and Shelton showed the toughness to play through the nicks that all players get (psrticularly OL players) in a season.

 

One assumes that there were numerous back channel conversations between AJ and his cousing Damon who is a Bill so if we want him we can get him. Shelton at LT would solve a number of our worries if he can perform even at the good/bad level (more good than bad likely since it earned him a big FA contract) he has performed at in the past.

 

Specifically it would make our line-up

 

LT- Shelton- great road grater for an O which is going to run alot on first plays and then run again. Limitations operating in space against speed rushing DEs, but if we are running a lot, he is strategic about taking penalties rather than letting the QB get blindsided and his voice allows him to yell ooops in an understandable way if he gets beat so RJ can demonstrate the same fleetness he showed running for his life at Tulane, i have no problem with us signing cap casualty Shelton for a prorated bonus which gives him more than the $3 million he would get in base pay from AZ, but gives him a cap hit less than $3 million cap hit the Bills would have had if we traded for him (even this contract would have been renegotiated to translate the base pay into proratable bonus to reduce his annual cao hit down to a Travis Henry like $1.25 million.

 

RG- Anderson- Even the weakest link on the Ravens OL is an upgrade over the uncertaonty we had at RG last year with Sullivan (cut last year), Pucillo (cut this year) Smith and ultimately Tucker as the RG choices. Even given some negative comments about Anderson there is the question for the Bills as to whether he is an upgrade. The answer is that given this spot was manned a significant part of the season by Smith who was assessed at a PS level on the Ravens even below this fellow some call the Ravens weakest OL link, this is a clear upgrade at RG.

 

C- Teague- Clearly and intelligent guy and a lockerroom leader. However, though I think he can make line calls, AND use his athleticism to handle shotfunning well, AND use his athleticism to handle the bigger LTs he is facng, he has shown difficulty doing all these things at the same time, However, he has improved by most judgments as his shotguns are less of an adventure (thank gosh for Bledsoe having good hands, but the need to watch the snap did slow down Bledsoe's ability to read the D and his ability to read and react to the D was too slow already) and he ended up on his butt less last season from bull-rushing DTs than he has in the past. After recovery from his injury he played the best ball he has played as a Bill C and I think he can take another step up there or actually prosper with a move to what should be an easier position for him at LT if it comes to that.

 

RG- Villarial- Even the one bad penalty he took last year (against Oak om a 3rd down in the redzone where Travis gained a first the play was nullified by a holding call on Villarial) seems to be an acknowledged ref mistake. He was able to play 15 last year which was good enough to allow the Bills to show no back-up RG on the depth chart. This year we should have the solid identified reserves and CV is a good find.

 

RT- Williams- Perhaps the greatest benefit of CV's stability is that finally MW had a teammate next to him that was stable and he could learn from rather than him actually being a better player than the young Sullivan at RG his first year, and him being both a better player and having more knowledge that Pucillo at RG MWs secid year. he exhibited his best play a a Bill during the winning streak and if (and I mean IF) he continues his development on the positive tone he set last year in the second half of the season he should be good enough to make the flop to LT next year giving us all sorts of flexibility.

 

At least 7 OL players will be active for each game (and probably 8 depending on the game situations with injuries on our roster nd the quality and depth of the opposing OL. I also see Gandy filling the role played by Marcus Price last year and giving us a quality backup who has played both LT and RT before and potentially could have been a starter if he were a little more consistent. In addition, given his good and productive fill-in job for Teague at C last year and him earning the starter job at LG, I am quite comfortable with Tucker as our first option for backing up the middle 3 OL positions and this allows us to comfortably go with 7 OL players active (though 9 or 10 on the roster) actuve each week if we want to acivate another player (like a Peters on OL or Fast Freedy as a punt returner and 6th WR.

 

The 8th OL player on the active roster (but perhaps inactive for the games) is interesting. I hope Preston commands this role by pushing Tucker as the back-up C (dare I say soon to be the starting C). If he shows the flexibiility to play some guard if necessary that would be great. Other candidates for the #8 OL choice will come down to a player competition between Smith (who made a big jump from the Ravens' PS to starter last year and is now depth charted at tackle and he even played a little LT when Jonas got one of his many late game nicks that forced him and made him not worth a big FA contract even though he was good IF he played), McFarland (who also played last year and was drafted by the Bills brcause of his potential) and Sobieski who needs to force his way onto the roster or I suspect he is gone because too much time has passed for this talented but oft-injured player to be on the PS again as a development project.

 

However, the other most likely 8th player is the recently drafted Geisinger since i don't see him surviving long as Bills PS player if we try to stick him there he will get an offer to be on another team's roster as a development project if he shows any of the skills which got the Bills to draft him. Maybe Geisinger sticks as a 9th OL player on the roster.

 

At any rate the 10th player is going to be a PS player and their are several candidates for this slot including:

 

Pruce: Hiw NFLE production last year earns him a look.

Espositio: His sticking as an inactive player on the Bills roster earns him a look though he is a likely goner.

Gudmunson: UDFA signing has PS written all over him if he makes the squad.

 

The other wrinkle (potentially big) in all of this is that JMac keps talking about Peters as a phenomenal athlete who will compete for tha starting LT job. OK. JMac has forgotten way more than O will ever learn about OL work.

 

However, it strikes me as strange why if Peters is such a phenomenal athlete, why on earth we would take the ball out of his hands by switching him from TE to LT. This is even more true with the injury to Everett which creates a gap at TE. If Peters is sch a phenomeal blocker now when it was his inability to block which made him a PS player last year despite his soft hands and phenomenal speed.

 

Peters will almost certainly be our our 2005 roster, however, we are filled with development players at T we just lack a proven starter at LT. I see Peters as beomg a far better candidate for the third TE role than the starting or back-up LT roles.

 

Bannan is still on the roster as a G, but public comments seem to return to DT production being the way he makes this team.

 

The prescence of Shelton makes things much easier (though it essentially gurantees we will cut two players who played for the Bills last year) and though it looks diubtful it is what I want for an early Xmas. Even without Shelton JMac will need to make something work with the experiements with Gandy, Teague, or Peters as our starting LT. I'd guess its Teague at LT but this sets off such a chair reaction in terms of other positions who knows.

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FF-S, I dunno who gave you the negative take on BAnderson. But if people see Anderson as the 'weakest link' on the Ravens line, then the other four guys there should be All-Pros. I tossed in the tape of last year's Ravens-Bills game a few days ago; while Anderson was more than holding his own singled up against Sam Adams all day long, Aaron Schobel had a great game against future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden.

 

Hey, I'm not saying Anderson is the second coming of Billy Shaw... but I see him as a DEFINITE upgrade over last year's LG situation.

 

But hey, that's just my opinion....

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FF-S, I dunno who gave you the negative take on BAnderson. But if people see Anderson as the 'weakest link' on the Ravens line, then the other four guys there should be All-Pros. I tossed in the tape of last year's Ravens-Bills game a few days ago; while Anderson was more than holding his own singled up against Sam Adams all day long, Aaron Schobel had a great game against future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden.

 

Hey, I'm not saying Anderson is the second coming of Billy Shaw... but I see him as a DEFINITE upgrade over last year's LG situation.

 

But hey, that's just my opinion....

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I think Bennie agrees with you. I saw a short interview clip of him on the Channel 4 sports roundup and he said something like, "I played pretty well against the Bills last year, so I should be able to do OK at the LG spot."

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their gm, jerry angelo, has had problems assembling a good team, but no one has ever said he doesn't have an eye for talent.

Angelo had maybe one good draft and FA signing period, and the rest has been crap. I'm amazed the idiot still has a job.

 

As for Gandy, some media members in Chicago said that Gandy was a decent LT who had injury problems. And I'd add the Bears have had crap coaching for years.

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..... his voice allows him to yell ooops in an understandable way if he gets beat so RJ can demonstrate the same fleetness he showed running for his life at Tulane...............

 

Freudian slip? <_<

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My brother-in-law, a Bears fan, basically told me that Gandy wasn't anything special. More suited to Guard than Tackle, and probably not good enough to be a starter at that. He had no love for the guy and was fairly happy to see him go.

 

Not much of a ringing endorsement, but you never know with JMac.

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Being in Chicago, that's pretty much the consensus around these parts. The only thing we've got to pin our hopes on is JMac, but as someone already alluded too, he can only do so much as was evidenced by Lawrence Smith last year. As a diehard fan, I am praying they have another plan for a starting LT. In my amateur view, LJ Shelton would be a better option at LT than Gandy. We'll see when he's released whether TD was blowing smoke or not. If Gandy lines up as our starter on opening day, I can't help but recall the Jerry Crafts disaster years ago when we were sold that he was a starter <_<

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FF-S, I dunno who gave you the negative take on BAnderson. But if people see Anderson as the 'weakest link' on the Ravens line, then the other four guys there should be All-Pros. I tossed in the tape of last year's Ravens-Bills game a few days ago; while Anderson was more than holding his own singled up against Sam Adams all day long, Aaron Schobel had a great game against future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden.

 

Hey, I'm not saying Anderson is the second coming of Billy Shaw... but I see him as a DEFINITE upgrade over last year's LG situation.

 

But hey, that's just my opinion....

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Though I feel uninformed because I have not seem a a lot of Anderson with my own eyes, certainly from what I have read about him and the fact that he was a starter on a team where the Bills found an LG starter who was ranked well below him, I aggree with you that regardless of an failings folks have about Anderson's play he is an upgrade over what we had at LG last year and under JMac should be part of a contributing unit.

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i wouldn't be shocked if they're waiting for green to cut l.j. shelton. we'll see ...

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You may have answered your own question. My hunch is that the opening day starter at LT isn't on the roster yet.

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Being in Chicago, that's pretty much the consensus around these parts.  The only thing we've got to pin our hopes on is JMac, but as someone already alluded too, he can only do so much as was evidenced by Lawrence Smith last year.  As a diehard fan, I am praying they have another plan for a starting LT.  In my amateur view, LJ Shelton would be a better option at LT than Gandy.  We'll see when he's released whether TD was blowing smoke or not.  If Gandy lines up as our starter on opening day, I can't help but recall the Jerry Crafts disaster years ago when we were sold that he was a starter <_<

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Obvioulsy the Mouse isn't a miracle worker, otherwise Buffalo would have won the SB last year.

It is clear that there isn't a guy on the roster that can dominate the Jason Taylors of the league on every single snap while on an island. Jonas had great games against the stars DE last year but he did receive a lot of help from the TEs and RBs.

I expect a lot of the same for whoever will be the LT.

McNally will get the most out of an average OL and make him a solid starter by teaching proper technique or being on their butts for them to watch film 24/7. As you guys said it can only go so far if the OL in question isn't the most talented player.

What I think will help the OL a lot this year, along McNally's coaching is the system.

If JP can at least be competent this year the system will be very OL friendly and will hide a lot of its deficiencies.

On paper, this year we'll have a QB that will open up the playbook. That adds unpredictability to the offense hence giving options for the OL and the offense to have the upper hand against defenses.

I don't want to make this a post against Bledsoe but it was evident that with him as the starting QB it added extra pressure to the OL to be almost perfect on evey snap for a play to be positive, I think/hope this won't be the case this year.

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You may have answered your own question.  My hunch is that the opening day starter at LT isn't on the roster yet.

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you know, i think you're right. who it'll be is the big question. any thoughts? i don't profess to have any answers ...

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you know, i think you're right. who it'll be is the big question. any thoughts? i don't profess to have any answers ...

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I don't think that it will be Shelton, because TD would have taken the trade offer, if they had wanted him. Maybe the braintrust is eyeing Kenyatta Walker. The only reason I bring him up is that he's a "name" guy.

 

I honestly think that McNally is going to use the same method that he employed in NYG & Carolina - use long in the tooth veterans who won't embarrass themselves. If he was able to have Lomas Brown, Glenn Parker & Dusty Ziegler form a solid line, I'm not too concerned about the veteran LT that will be here in June.

 

4/5th of the line is basically set, with improving depth.

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4/5th of the line is basically set, with improving depth.

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The OL depth is the biggest thing I'm excited about.

 

I like both draft choices (very smart, blue collar maulers) and agree with you that Gandy and Anderson are effective (if not accomplished) vets who should be upgrades from Lawrence Smith and Marcus Price. McFarland might also be a real nice surprise if he's got his weight/strength up.

 

Nevertheless, I think Shelton might still be a good insurance pickup, given that he'd come in at a much lower price tag. His $3 million per year salary, while low for a stating OLT, seems to have soured most teams--including the Bills--on his services.

 

For some reason, I get a nagging feeling the Peters experiment might hit a pothole, despite the many fans he's got here at TSW! <_<

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It is clear that there isn't a guy on the roster that can dominate the Jason Taylors of the league on every single snap while on an island. Jonas had great games against the stars DE last year but he did receive a lot of help from the TEs and RBs.

I expect a lot of the same for whoever will be the LT.

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In addition to not declaring JMac a miracle worker, I woulfn;y get all warm and fuzzy thinking to much of Jonas Jennings either. He did play well for the Bills when he was on the field, but inaddition to some good games he has against the games stars, he also could be used and abused from time to time as he was in the first Jets game when Abraham rung up two sacks on him.

 

SF simply overpaid for him big time both based on his level of performance and what the market seemed to dictate for DEs. Granted that traditionally the run on LT talent has driven their price through the roof, but I think an examination of the market place shows teams like NYG and others to have really spent a lot to lock up fairly moderate talents like Petitgout and Clifton.

 

There simply were not a ton of teams in the LT market since most teams have already made huge mutlt-year commitments to LTs. Jennings really lucked out in my view as there was still one of the few remaining teams with an LT opening also had the caproom to overspend and SF did.

 

In addition to failing to start all 16 games in his career, Jennings also failed to finish a couple of additional games at DE due to a concussion amd a shoulder injury. Jennings was simply not worth what the Bills would have had to pay to keep him.

 

I'm comfortable that Teague can handle the job if called upon to do it (though the disruption of having to move Tucker in at C makes this not a preferred move). Gandy has to prove to me he can handle the job before I believe in him, but JMac may be able to squeeze adequacy out of him. I can't see taking the ball out of Peters hands if he truly is as phenomenal athlete as advertised so I do not see him as the LT abswer either but I could be surprised.

 

Overall, i agree with the sentiment that our LT is not yet on the roster, but even with what we got, I think that 4 out of 5 of the OL slots are set and last year at minicamp with a need to replace Ruben, Teague as of yet to have his best season as a Bill at C, and MW at the beginning of a meltdown of epic proportions no more than 2 of the OL positions were set at this time last year. This crew struggled in the first 4-6 games but recovered to join with WM to block for a team which won 6 of their last 7.

 

The OL situation is better than it was at this time last year and will need a lot of work but we have a lot of horses and I am comfortable that we will get to a reasonable and probably very good outcome.

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In addition to not declaring JMac a miracle worker, I woulfn;y get all warm and fuzzy thinking to much of Jonas Jennings either. He did play well for the Bills when he was on the field, but inaddition to some good games he has against the games stars, he also could be used and abused from time to time as he was in the first Jets game when Abraham rung up two sacks on him.

 

SF simply overpaid for him big time both based on his level of performance and what the market seemed to dictate for DEs.  Granted that traditionally the run on LT talent has driven their price through the roof, but I think an examination of the market place shows teams like NYG and others to have really spent a lot to lock up fairly moderate talents like Petitgout and Clifton.

 

There simply were not a ton of teams in the LT market since most teams have already made huge mutlt-year commitments to LTs. Jennings really lucked out in my view as there was still one of the few remaining teams with an LT opening also had the caproom to overspend and SF did.

 

In addition to failing to start all 16 games in his career, Jennings also failed to finish a couple of additional games at DE due to a concussion amd a shoulder injury.  Jennings was simply not worth what the Bills would have had to pay to keep him.

 

I'm comfortable that Teague can handle the job if called upon to do it (though the disruption of having to move Tucker in at C makes this not a preferred move). Gandy has to prove to me he can handle the job before I believe in him, but JMac may be able to squeeze adequacy out of him.  I can't see taking the ball out of Peters hands if he truly is as phenomenal athlete as advertised so I do not see him as the LT abswer either but I could be surprised.

 

Overall, i agree with the sentiment that our LT is not yet on the roster, but even with what we got, I think that 4 out of 5 of the OL slots are set and last year at minicamp with a need to replace Ruben, Teague as of yet to have his best season as a Bill at C, and MW at the beginning of a meltdown of epic proportions no more than 2 of the OL positions were set at this time last year. This crew struggled in the first 4-6 games but recovered to join with WM to block for a team which won 6 of their last 7.

 

The OL situation is better than it was at this time last year and will need a lot of work but we have a lot of horses and I am comfortable that we will get to a reasonable and probably very good outcome.

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FFS, we're on the same page on Jonas. He was lucky enough to be the "name" of the offseason as far as LT is concerned.

With that post I was not pointing out that Jonas was a major talent, though I liked the guy a lot, even with the injuries but trying to point that though he had great games against Taylor (didn't appear in the stat sheet) and Abraham (2nd game, the first he should not have played) he often had help from a TE lining up beside him or a RB chiping the DE on his way to a passing route. I don't see that changing a bit if whoever lines up at LT.

We would be very lucky if Shelton is released, if that's the case I think we would pursuit him but the question is what kind of money would he be asking or better yet how much money TD is willing to give him considering the Bills see him as a back up OL (unless that is what they wanted Green to believe to increase Henry's value)

IMO the LT for this year is already on the roster.

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We would be very lucky if Shelton is released, if that's the case I think we would pursuit him but the question is what kind of money would he be asking or better yet how much money TD is willing to give him considering the Bills see him as a back up OL (unless that is what they wanted Green to believe to increase Henry's value)

IMO the LT for this year is already on the roster.

If they Bills DID pursue Shelton, they wouldn't be offering more than $1M a year. The coaches don't care for him and it wouldn't make sense to give him a lot of money if the coaches don't feel he's even starter material. But on the cheap, he'd be worth a look-see. It all depends on the market for him, and his market value was hurt by his contract and his being no better than average (but with the Cardinals and their coaching staff). I also think the Bills' starter at LT is on the roster, and I'm thinking that with JP's mobility, they'll compensate for a less-than-Jonas performance from the new starting LT, if that happens.

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..... his voice allows him to yell ooops in an understandable way if he gets beat so RJ can demonstrate the same fleetness he showed running for his life at Tulane...............

 

Freudian slip? :doh:

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I saw this immediately as well. FFS, why aren't you addressing this "slip"? 0:)

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Putting together what seem to be the most insightful posts on this thread, I think Gandy was released to make room for Columbo because the Bears had a glut at guard and saw Gandy as more of a guard than a tackle. I agree is something of Marcus Price type, but he's actually more versatile since Price only ever played guard. Gandy can potentially play any line spot. Realistically, I think the Bills realize he is a stopgap answer at LT until someone else demonstrates he is ready (Peters), but they hope with McNally's coaching he can go at LT as long as the Bills need him.

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I don't know why he was cut. Why did we get rid of Parker? Everyone here said he sucked, but then he went on to play pretty darn well as his career progressed.

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Parkew was run out of this town by the fickle fans and media. He was always a good player.

 

 

I love Buffalo and the Bills but I have to disagree with people who say we are the best fans in the league.

 

 

This board as an example we b*tch and complain about every move the bills make. They could have signed peyton manning and people would have found a reason to compare him to RJ and say TD is a dope for signing him

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