The ESPN.com article said he's now the highest paid O-lineman in the LEAGUE. There's something wrong when a guy who hasn't stepped on the field has that distinction, and I'd guess the next CBA will address that to some degree.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
Still, Parcells can now say that he tried to stop the insanity of overpaying for unproven rookies, as Long's deal is less guaranteed money than Russell's last year (though for one less year). Probably a big reason that Long went #1 is because he was willing to play ball with the Dolphins since otherwise he wouldn't have been the #1 overall pick.
“How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I... pretend to be the person I’m portraying. You’re confused. Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says ‘I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard,’ and I said ‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard?’ and Peter Jackson said ‘I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show.’ So I said ‘Okay’ and then I said to myself ‘Mmm.. How do I do that?’ And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage. How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand." -- Sir Ian McKellen, Extras
They really need to start structuring draft picks' contracts to be heavier on the incentives and waaaay lighter on the guaranteed. No wonder teams are so keen to trade out of the top few spots (and can't find anyone willing to assist them).
Not that Jake Long might not go on to have a very good career, but it's worth bearing in mind that everything that's being said about him right now was being said about Gallery a couple years back....
Originally posted by dMrNot that Jake Long might not go on to have a very good career, but it's worth bearing in mind that everything that's being said about him right now was being said about Gallery a couple years back....
Top O-line prospects are either feast or famine. A surprising number of them (Pace, Joe Thomas, Ogden, Boselli) get plugged right in and become stalwarts for years. Others (Gallery, Tony Mandarich) totally flame out. I still think Gallery has some talent, though, and he's just being misused in crazytown Oakland.
“How is it that I am a good actor? What I do is I... pretend to be the person I’m portraying. You’re confused. Case in point: in Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson comes to me and says ‘I would like you to be Gandalf the Wizard,’ and I said ‘You are aware that I am not really a wizard?’ and Peter Jackson said ‘I would like you to use your acting skills to portray a wizard for the duration of the show.’ So I said ‘Okay’ and then I said to myself ‘Mmm.. How do I do that?’ And this is what I did: I imagined that I was a wizard, and then I pretended, and acted, in that way on the stage. How did I know what to say? The words were written down for me in a script. How did I know where to stand? People told me where to stand." -- Sir Ian McKellen, Extras
Building a strong O-Line can automatcially add 2 or 3 wins a season to a team's tally. I like the pick, but one guy does not make an offensive line either, but one great player on the line can make an average running back look a lot better especially in short yardage.
Originally posted by BigDaddyLocoBuilding a strong O-Line can automatcially add 2 or 3 wins a season to a team's tally. I like the pick, but one guy does not make an offensive line either, but one great player on the line can make an average running back look a lot better especially in short yardage.
The Dolphins have an above-average back in Ronnie Brown (as long as he comes back from injury OK) and using him for 30 carries a game has got to be the goal. By establishing that, their weakness at QB and WR will be less evident.
Last year they couldn't do anything on the ground, which put even more pressure on the losers they had at QB.
It's a start for this team. They need so much more that it most certainly will take Parcells a couple of years to get this turned around.
There's a World Container with your name on it, and a billion ways to go bezerk!!
Originally posted by Big BadTop O-line prospects are either feast or famine. A surprising number of them (Pace, Joe Thomas, Ogden, Boselli) get plugged right in and become stalwarts for years. Others (Gallery, Tony Mandarich) totally flame out. I still think Gallery has some talent, though, and he's just being misused in crazytown Oakland.
T'was me point really. I wasn't critcising the pick of Long (or Gallery particularly for that matter, I tend to agree that he isn't awful), just the money the top guys in the draft are guaranteed.
ESPN kindly came up with a bunch of stats on relative successes of draft picks (it's here (sports.espn.go.com) if you're similarly geeky enough to want to read) which suggested something like 30% of offensive lineman in the first-round turn out to be busts, and only around one in four go on to be pro-bowlers.
Even adjusting those figures significantly to account for Long being the very toppermost pick, history strongly suggests there's at least a decent chance he'll be out of the league in 3 or 4 years, and probably only a 50-50 shot at best that he'll be a consistent pro-bowler. And yet he's being paid like he's the best tackle to ever play the game.
Other than Bethel Johnson, have the Eagles signed ANYONE this offseason? They just lost Roderick Hood the other day, who made a capable backup for Sheppard and Brown, and now this - not that I expected Stallworth back.