Saturday, August 30, 2008
it's 9:20 in the morning. time for beer and chimichangas.
so, the last preseason game was last night, and i was hoping it would clear some things up. i feel somewhat prophetic, although guilty, as ben obomanu went down with a broken clavicle. this pretty much guarantees he'll go on the ir. this is both good and bad. good, because we get to keep him for another year. bad, because he broke his collarbone. logan payne has really been making his mark on special teams the past few weeks, so he had pretty much secured the last spot in my mind. with his speed, he might be our gunner this year on the coverage units, despite his lack of size.
last game, charlie frye had a great game, and showed that he can be a backup. seneca had a GREAT game last night, proving that if we can hold on to him he could be our qb of the future. this was the best i've ever seen him play. he was right on the money with all of his throws, and was making good decisions. in the past, he's had the tendency to miss receivers, or throw into traffic which caused incompletions and turnovers, but not last night. he was great. my charlie frye stunt was really just a dirty trick to avoid cutting someone. i knew it wasn't going to work, but oh well. on to the decisions.
baraka atkins or jason babin?
baraka had a solid, if not spectacular game. i don't think it was enough to leapfrog back over babin, who has had a sack in three consecutive games. babin jumped above atkins with an inspired training camp, and i think he gets the nod. it breaks my heart.
cj wallace or jamar adams?
i was hoping jamar adams would take another leap forward in these last two games, but he didn't. he got flagged for a pass interference penalty that lost us the game against san diego, and really didn't stand out this week. cj wallace was doing his thing, managing to be right in the thick of things, if not making the play. i think wallace makes the team due to his special team contributions, and adams goes to the practice squad.
olindo mare or brandon coutu?
this thing is dead even. it has been all through camp. the only thing that really seperates them right now is mare's booming kickoffs. i think this is going to give mare the nod, especially after seeing how abysmal our kickoff coverage was last night. the more touchbacks we get, the less 55 yard returns we give up. can we stash coutu on the practice squad? does it really matter? we can always draft another kicker in the 7th round again in two years after mare's contract is done, or next year if mare bombs. or sign any of a million college kickers who are now free agents, because there are only 32 jobs total in the world.
one more shitty thing, tyler schmitt, the long snapper we drafted in the 6th round to cement that position is out for the season with a possibly career-ending chronic back condition. it didn't show up in the combine physicals, so it might be some flukeish thing that can be treated with rest and therapy, but i am not optimistic. so we are stuck with whatshisface robinson, the 38 year old that we pulled out of deep retirement midseason to be the third longsnapper to hurl wayward balls at poor ryan plackenmeier last season. luckily, fudge has turned into a great holder by necessity. you probably noticed him last night snatching ball after ball out from behind his head on field goals and extra points last night. it could be worse. the old guy is pretty big, and was the best out of the three losers we tried out last season. this year he gets an extra two weeks of practice. i think he started on like 3 days notice last season.
everything else is pretty set. i don't see too many surprises. which leads us to something more fun and speculative, the practice squad. this year we get 9 players on the practice squad, due to our international allowance player, Sam Gutekunst (yes, i had to go look that up). so that is kind of cool, it lets us stash an extra lineman. in case you are wondering, the practice squad rules are as follows:
each team is allowed 8 practice squad members (and new this year, 1 international allowance to replace the defunct nfl europe player allowances). practice squad members are only eligible a) after they clear waivers, b) if they have not served more than 2 years on any team's practice squad, and c) if they have not been active for more than 9 nfl games. any team can sign players off any team's practice squad, as long as they put them directly on the 53 man roster, and the player wants to go. some smart teams (like the seahawks) have started paying some of their bigger name practice squad members the full rookie minimum to stay with the team. a prime example is logan payne, who reportedly had several chances to sign with other teams last season and declined. good for us :) so here's the list. honestly, i haven't really been paying as much attention to the deep stringers on either line, because they didn't have a chance, but i'll throw some people down anyways.
wr- michael bumpus. in a different year, he would have made the team. he had a great camp, and a better preseason. we just have too many young receivers. there is a chance he makes the opening season roster due to the injuries to engram, branch, and now obomanu, and gets stashed on the practice squad later.
s- jamar adams. we've covered this guy, perhaps more than he deserves. it is possible he will be snatched up on the waiver wire.
k- brandon coutu. ditto
te- joe newton. this guy has potential, if he can learn how to run routes. great hands and big body, just seems lost in this offense, even after a full year on the practice squad.
ol- kyle williams. i would have put pat murray in this spot, but he racked up like 4 penalties last night, so i think he lost his spot.
dl- nu'u tafisi. big samoan de who spent last season on the practice squad. i put him on here because my ex-coworkers know him, not because i think he'll ever contribute :P lets get their family paid.
lb- dallas sartz. he makes the practice squad as the last man standing. we need bodies at linebacker in practice, and he is the only one who didn't hurt himself.
s- kelin johnson. should probably be mentioned in the jamar adams/cj wallace discussion, but not really because he isn't as good as either of them.
wr- trent shelton. more wr depth. i admit, i don't know much about this guy, beyond the fact that he was a rookie undrafted free agent this year, and he is still on the roster :P
ol- Sam Gutekunst. big german says NEIN!!! to getting cut.
alright, so, it is an imperfect thing. in an ideal world, i would know the name of another defensive tackle to put on the list, but i don't, so fuck it. johnson and shelton could be replaced by any number of roster-fodder types who probably will never see the active roster in the nfl, but provide us with bodies for the team to practice against.
today is the day, though. final cuts need to be made, so i expect we'll see reports start to trickle in this afternoon on the blogs, and a write up in the papers tomorrow morning if we are lucky. season starts next weekend woooo!!!
so, the last preseason game was last night, and i was hoping it would clear some things up. i feel somewhat prophetic, although guilty, as ben obomanu went down with a broken clavicle. this pretty much guarantees he'll go on the ir. this is both good and bad. good, because we get to keep him for another year. bad, because he broke his collarbone. logan payne has really been making his mark on special teams the past few weeks, so he had pretty much secured the last spot in my mind. with his speed, he might be our gunner this year on the coverage units, despite his lack of size.
last game, charlie frye had a great game, and showed that he can be a backup. seneca had a GREAT game last night, proving that if we can hold on to him he could be our qb of the future. this was the best i've ever seen him play. he was right on the money with all of his throws, and was making good decisions. in the past, he's had the tendency to miss receivers, or throw into traffic which caused incompletions and turnovers, but not last night. he was great. my charlie frye stunt was really just a dirty trick to avoid cutting someone. i knew it wasn't going to work, but oh well. on to the decisions.
baraka atkins or jason babin?
baraka had a solid, if not spectacular game. i don't think it was enough to leapfrog back over babin, who has had a sack in three consecutive games. babin jumped above atkins with an inspired training camp, and i think he gets the nod. it breaks my heart.
cj wallace or jamar adams?
i was hoping jamar adams would take another leap forward in these last two games, but he didn't. he got flagged for a pass interference penalty that lost us the game against san diego, and really didn't stand out this week. cj wallace was doing his thing, managing to be right in the thick of things, if not making the play. i think wallace makes the team due to his special team contributions, and adams goes to the practice squad.
olindo mare or brandon coutu?
this thing is dead even. it has been all through camp. the only thing that really seperates them right now is mare's booming kickoffs. i think this is going to give mare the nod, especially after seeing how abysmal our kickoff coverage was last night. the more touchbacks we get, the less 55 yard returns we give up. can we stash coutu on the practice squad? does it really matter? we can always draft another kicker in the 7th round again in two years after mare's contract is done, or next year if mare bombs. or sign any of a million college kickers who are now free agents, because there are only 32 jobs total in the world.
one more shitty thing, tyler schmitt, the long snapper we drafted in the 6th round to cement that position is out for the season with a possibly career-ending chronic back condition. it didn't show up in the combine physicals, so it might be some flukeish thing that can be treated with rest and therapy, but i am not optimistic. so we are stuck with whatshisface robinson, the 38 year old that we pulled out of deep retirement midseason to be the third longsnapper to hurl wayward balls at poor ryan plackenmeier last season. luckily, fudge has turned into a great holder by necessity. you probably noticed him last night snatching ball after ball out from behind his head on field goals and extra points last night. it could be worse. the old guy is pretty big, and was the best out of the three losers we tried out last season. this year he gets an extra two weeks of practice. i think he started on like 3 days notice last season.
everything else is pretty set. i don't see too many surprises. which leads us to something more fun and speculative, the practice squad. this year we get 9 players on the practice squad, due to our international allowance player, Sam Gutekunst (yes, i had to go look that up). so that is kind of cool, it lets us stash an extra lineman. in case you are wondering, the practice squad rules are as follows:
each team is allowed 8 practice squad members (and new this year, 1 international allowance to replace the defunct nfl europe player allowances). practice squad members are only eligible a) after they clear waivers, b) if they have not served more than 2 years on any team's practice squad, and c) if they have not been active for more than 9 nfl games. any team can sign players off any team's practice squad, as long as they put them directly on the 53 man roster, and the player wants to go. some smart teams (like the seahawks) have started paying some of their bigger name practice squad members the full rookie minimum to stay with the team. a prime example is logan payne, who reportedly had several chances to sign with other teams last season and declined. good for us :) so here's the list. honestly, i haven't really been paying as much attention to the deep stringers on either line, because they didn't have a chance, but i'll throw some people down anyways.
wr- michael bumpus. in a different year, he would have made the team. he had a great camp, and a better preseason. we just have too many young receivers. there is a chance he makes the opening season roster due to the injuries to engram, branch, and now obomanu, and gets stashed on the practice squad later.
s- jamar adams. we've covered this guy, perhaps more than he deserves. it is possible he will be snatched up on the waiver wire.
k- brandon coutu. ditto
te- joe newton. this guy has potential, if he can learn how to run routes. great hands and big body, just seems lost in this offense, even after a full year on the practice squad.
ol- kyle williams. i would have put pat murray in this spot, but he racked up like 4 penalties last night, so i think he lost his spot.
dl- nu'u tafisi. big samoan de who spent last season on the practice squad. i put him on here because my ex-coworkers know him, not because i think he'll ever contribute :P lets get their family paid.
lb- dallas sartz. he makes the practice squad as the last man standing. we need bodies at linebacker in practice, and he is the only one who didn't hurt himself.
s- kelin johnson. should probably be mentioned in the jamar adams/cj wallace discussion, but not really because he isn't as good as either of them.
wr- trent shelton. more wr depth. i admit, i don't know much about this guy, beyond the fact that he was a rookie undrafted free agent this year, and he is still on the roster :P
ol- Sam Gutekunst. big german says NEIN!!! to getting cut.
alright, so, it is an imperfect thing. in an ideal world, i would know the name of another defensive tackle to put on the list, but i don't, so fuck it. johnson and shelton could be replaced by any number of roster-fodder types who probably will never see the active roster in the nfl, but provide us with bodies for the team to practice against.
today is the day, though. final cuts need to be made, so i expect we'll see reports start to trickle in this afternoon on the blogs, and a write up in the papers tomorrow morning if we are lucky. season starts next weekend woooo!!!
