Tell me about Derrick Dockery - new Buffalo Bill

Can anyone tell me about offensive guard Derrick Dockery that the Buffalo Bills just paid $49 million over seven years? In the Buffalo media they claim this guy is a stud, that Dockery was a large part of the Redskins rushing success last season. Is this guy really a stud? Is he overrated? Is he the superb run blocker that he is billed to be in the Buffalo press? Would you have preferred that he resigned with the Redskins?

Dock is a good player...I wanted the skins to keep him. But the Bills gave him Steve Hutchinson money and he is not even close to that good.

Not a stud, but a solid part of a stud line. Being the youngest on our old line he probably has his best to come. Would love to have kept him but not for the price the Bills paid!

great run blocker, decent pass blocker. prone to the mental mistake. very big and strong and hard to move. a good guard but not an elite guard for 49 million IMO.

Quest:

Since you asked...


Dockery is overpaid given the contract he just signed.

He was in the league for 3 years as a soft/fat guy in the middle of the offensive line. Last year he lost 50 lbs of fat and added 20 lbs of muscle and played very well. QUESTION: Did he do that because he finally "saw the light" or did he do that only because it was his contract year and he wanted to get paid? Sorry, I don't read minds... You can make that call after you see him play next season.


He is better at straight ahead blocking than pulling. He is better pulling to his side of the line instead of the other side of the line because he does not run all that fast.


He is durable; he has no history of injuries. He has no reputation as a malcontent or a problem in the locker room.


Summary: A good solid player who is young and might have a lot of improvement left in him - - assuming he does not come down with a case of "fat wallet syndrome". But I doubt he'll serve out this entire contract in Buffalo without several restructurings because he's not worth this kind of cap number.

He will single handedly lead you to the Promised Land. The Promised Land being a new restaurant near Orchard Park. Ha Ha. I amuse myself. He played overweight his whole time here except for last year when he was auditioning to leave. If they can keep his weight down and he doesn't just say "I'm rich, biatch" and laze it up, he could be average. In fairness, he is a bulldozer at straight ahead run blocking. As good as anyone else last year.

For more see the other Dockery post.

Now, these are my views and my views only but I am completely serious.

Dock was an all-american at Texas and a very shrewd (for us) third round pick.

At the end of last year, he was probably the 5th most talented lineman on the Redskins. He was the second best guard.

His career started a little shaky under Spurrier and even under Gibbs he had a tendency to get flagged for false starts. He really started to turn the corner in '05. It seemed that he started to play his size. In '06 he worked hard in the offseason and he blossomed even more.

If he continues to work hard, he definitely has the gifts to be a very good lineman for many years. He definitely has upside.

Where I would worry.... I can remember several occasions in goal line packages where they ran behind him and could not get in. It was very surprising because you would think at his size, a goal line play would be automatic.

However, when he is pulling, get out of the way.

That's what I was afraid of when I saw Steve Hutchinson money being thrown at this guy. The Bills just signed one of their own free agents, DE Chris Kelsay to a ridiculouosly generous contract. Kelsey will make $5.4 mil per season. He plays on the right side and shares snaps with another DE. Our Pro Bowler Aaron Schobel signed a contract last year paying him $3.8 mil and he carries these other guys. He had 15 sacks last year, Kelsay had 5.5.

I guess we'll find out if Dockery's worth it. The Bills line was horrible last year so anything should be an improvement.

he's got potential, but he's well overpaid and he was the worst starting lineman we had...

I never really liked him, but hes very big and strong... just alot of false starts and questionable technique...

I don't know who you guys had that he's replacing... he may be worth being excited about...

we just overpaid for london fletcher, too... I just hope he produces and helps our struggling run D and lets other people play their positions more...