Kili Lefotu

[NicknacK89]

'Unfinished Business' For Lefotu
I had completely forgotten about him. Good to see he's back on track.

[SmootSmack]

I'm glad he seems to have made a full recovery. I don't know he'll make the team though

[EARTHQUAKE2689]

HAHAHAHAHA I forgot all about that scrub.

[PWNED]

glad thats how you feel about our draft picks.

[724Skinsfan]

Originally Posted by PWNED

glad thats how you feel about our draft picks.

Hopefully, EARTHQ forgot about Kili's medical problems.

[JoeRedskin]

He is a big guy who played on a decent college team. Offensive line is one of those positions where a little patience can pay off big. While often high picks form cornerstones of good lines, it is the third and fourth year player who has had some time to ride the pine that fills in the gaps.

I think our current line is a bit of an exception in that it is made up of 1st - 3rd rounders.

Jansen - 2nd Round
Thomas - 2nd Round
Rahbach - 3nd Round
(Wade?) - 2nd Round
Samuels - 1st Round

While I haven't gone through even the NFC East's lines, I would imagine that there are a number of 4-7 round draft picks and even a few OFA's starting on lines throughout the league (Hey, Joe Jacoby - OFA). When you get into back-ups, I bet the vast majority of quality back-ups (the kind that can step in with only a slight drop-off in line's overall perfomance) are guys who are low round picks or OFA's.

It seems to me that lineman are one of those positions takes some time to develop. In light of that, I am thinking (hoping?) Kili may be one of those guys who, if we give him some time, he can develop into either a starter or a starter quality back-up.

While age on the line is not YET a concern (in fact, these guys are pretty much in there prime), it will be in a couple of years along the ENTIRE line:

Jansen - Entering 9th year (Starter from day 1)
Thomas - Entering 9th year (Starter from day 1 (for the Jets))
Rahbach - Entering 7th year (Starter from day 1 with us (Split time first four years with Baltimore (may have been starter in 4th year)))
(Wade?) - Entering 8th year (Bounced around, injury questions, only signed for one year (I think) and likely gone if plays well).
Samuels - Entering 8th year (Starter from day 1)

This is good solid line and should be fine this year and next. But then - Samuels, Thomas, Jansen and Wade (if he is still here) will on be on the back-end of their careers. While it may be reasonable to expect one or two of them to make it to 12 years, I don't think we can count on them much past 2008 given that each has been a long time starter and had injury problems.

Now is the time to be looking for and grooming the replacements for these guys. For any team to be successful, it MUST have a quality line. Campbell may be the next great QB, but he will be hitting his prime just as this line is getting cut or retiring.

Right now our OLine depth is

Fabini - 10 years: Injury concerns, at best a stop gap back-up.

S. Heyer - Rookie: Big kid out of UMd. (6' 6", 330 lbs., Rookie).

Kili

Pucillo - 5th year: Has been a starter on other teams, somewhat versatile (Didn't he come last year as 3rd Tight end?) Versatile plug-in player, probably, at best, starter quality back-up. Played in Buffalo and Cleveland his first 3 years.

Tucker - 5th year: Bounced around the league. Was an OFA with us in 2001, played for Dallas, Buffalo (where he replaced Pucillo after Pucillo got injured), New England, and Cleveland. Was out of the league in 2006. Seems like a career journeyman. Had a few starts here and there but nobody seems to like him enough to keep him around.

Whitley - 4th year: Drafted in the third round by Miami, they cut him in 2005, picked up by but did not play for, Denver. Was signed by us in mid-season last year and was inactive for 9 games.

Whittaker - 3rd year: Drafted and Started for GBay but cut at the end of the year. Picked up and cut by Miami the following year. He had a good rookie season (made all rookie team) but seemed to fall off and out of favor. The Green Bay boards likened him to a big fat guy who couldn't block you unless he fell down in front of you (Sound like another guard we know whose initials are DD) (BTW - I checked into this guy when we first picked him cause I wanted to see why anyone would let a big, promising young guard leave (especially GBAy who, at the time, had a horrible line).

Of this group and as potential long term starters - I think it is a bunch of journeyman and the 3 young guys: Kili, Heyer and Whittaker. I am pulling for all three to develop into quality starters. Hopefully, we won't need to replace the current line in its entirety (or even a majority) in one year BUT that is not beyond the realm of possibility.

I liked Kili coming out and hope he pans out for us. Who knows, maybe in a couple years we are screaming about extending his contract.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

He is a big guy who played on a decent college team. Offensive line is one of those positions where a little patience can pay off big. While often high picks form cornerstones of good lines, it is the third and fourth year player who has had some time to ride the pine that fills in the gaps.

I think our current line is a bit of an exception in that it is made up of 1st - 3rd rounders.

Jansen - 2nd Round
Thomas - 2nd Round
Rahbach - 3nd Round
(Wade?) - 2nd Round
Samuels - 1st Round

While I haven't gone through even the NFC East's lines, I would imagine that there are a number of 4-7 round draft picks and even a few OFA's starting on lines throughout the league (Hey, Joe Jacoby - OFA). When you get into back-ups, I bet the vast majority of quality back-ups (the kind that can step in with only a slight drop-off in line's overall perfomance) are guys who are low round picks or OFA's.

It seems to me that lineman are one of those positions takes some time to develop. In light of that, I am thinking (hoping?) Kili may be one of those guys who, if we give him some time, he can develop into either a starter or a starter quality back-up.

While age on the line is not YET a concern (in fact, these guys are pretty much in there prime), it will be in a couple of years along the ENTIRE line:

Jansen - Entering 9th year (Starter from day 1)
Thomas - Entering 9th year (Starter from day 1 (for the Jets))
Rahbach - Entering 7th year (Starter from day 1 with us (Split time first four years with Baltimore (may have been starter in 4th year)))
(Wade?) - Entering 8th year (Bounced around, injury questions, only signed for one year (I think) and likely gone if plays well).
Samuels - Entering 8th year (Starter from day 1)

This is good solid line and should be fine this year and next. But then - Samuels, Thomas, Jansen and Wade (if he is still here) will on be on the back-end of their careers. While it may be reasonable to expect one or two of them to make it to 12 years, I don't think we can count on them much past 2008 given that each has been a long time starter and had injury problems.

Now is the time to be looking for and grooming the replacements for these guys. For any team to be successful, it MUST have a quality line. Campbell may be the next great QB, but he will be hitting his prime just as this line is getting cut or retiring.

Right now our OLine depth is

Fabini - 10 years: Injury concerns, at best a stop gap back-up.

S. Heyer - Rookie: Big kid out of UMd. (6' 6", 330 lbs., Rookie).

Kili

Pucillo - 5th year: Has been a starter on other teams, somewhat versatile (Didn't he come last year as 3rd Tight end?) Versatile plug-in player, probably, at best, starter quality back-up. Played in Buffalo and Cleveland his first 3 years.

Tucker - 5th year: Bounced around the league. Was an OFA with us in 2001, played for Dallas, Buffalo (where he replaced Pucillo after Pucillo got injured), New England, and Cleveland. Was out of the league in 2006. Seems like a career journeyman. Had a few starts here and there but nobody seems to like him enough to keep him around.

Whitley - 4th year: Drafted in the third round by Miami, they cut him in 2005, picked up by but did not play for, Denver. Was signed by us in mid-season last year and was inactive for 9 games.

Whittaker - 3rd year: Drafted and Started for GBay but cut at the end of the year. Picked up and cut by Miami the following year. He had a good rookie season (made all rookie team) but seemed to fall off and out of favor. The Green Bay boards likened him to a big fat guy who couldn't block you unless he fell down in front of you (Sound like another guard we know whose initials are DD) (BTW - I checked into this guy when we first picked him cause I wanted to see why anyone would let a big, promising young guard leave (especially GBAy who, at the time, had a horrible line).

Of this group and as potential long term starters - I think it is a bunch of journeyman and the 3 young guys: Kili, Heyer and Whittaker. I am pulling for all three to develop into quality starters. Hopefully, we won't need to replace the current line in its entirety (or even a majority) in one year BUT that is not beyond the realm of possibility.

I liked Kili coming out and hope he pans out for us. Who knows, maybe in a couple years we are screaming about extending his contract.

Nice work. JoeRedskin, I think in an alternate universe you'd actually be Earthquake

[davy]

Great post, JoeRedskin.

A nice counterpoint to EARTHQUAKE's carefully considered and intelligent reply.

[MTK]

He's a nice story to watch this training camp.

[Riggo44]

Great post JR!! One of the best post I have read in a while. It's hard to believe this will be Jansen 9th yr! It's getting scary how fast time fly’s.