Demetrius Bell draftguys profile..

[sauce]

Can he be the next Jason Peters?

From this tape it looks like he has excellent footwork and is very quick with good balance and lateral movement but he also looks like he plays too high...

Keep in mind this is before the draft I would like to see where he is at after a yr. of strength and conditioning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps02jh7IbZQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps02jh7IbZQ)

[THATHURMANATOR]

Well let him compete for RT in camp for sure.

[Mr. Miyagi]

I hope you're right. I am optimistic about his prospect though.

[TigerJ]

He's going to be a factor in the Bills tackle picture. He's still very much an unknown in terms of his readiness to start.

[mayotm]

Can he be the next Jason Peters?

From this tape it looks like he has excellent footwork and is very quick with good balance and lateral movement but he also looks like he plays too high...

Keep in mind this is before the draft I would like to see where he is at after a yr. of strength and conditioning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps02jh7IbZQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps02jh7IbZQ)Doubtful he will become the next Peters, however he could turn into a quality starter.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Very nice, quick feet. He also showed a bit of a mean-streak during the preseason last year in limited action.

After a year of going against NFL players in practice every day and building strength in a NFL conditioning program, he will be in the mix at OT for the Bills.

There are two questions about him: 1.) How far has he come in his development during this year with the Bills? and 2.) If he is ready to play in the NFL at this point, how do the Bills want to break him into their lineup--as a back-up first or as the starter at RT?

You can see that the size and the physical talent is there for him to play LT. It is just a matter of whether he can develop it fully and how far he has been able to develop during this past year.

Would you rather take your chances with someone who has this kind of quickness at LT or go with a draft pick who may come from a higher profile college but lack the quickness and feet to project as a NFL LT?

[ddaryl]

we'll know in August. All eyes will be on the OL for sure.

[Tatonka]

i am actually really excited about this kid. i think that there is a very good chance that he ends up starting over chambers. i also would nto rule it out that he is our new left tackle.

[SeatownBillsFan21]

Hope Bell pans out for the bills theirs no reason to think otherwise seeing how peters made the switch to OT from TE Bell is already 1 step ahead of him.Just curious did McNally help with the Peters project????

[LifetimeBillsFan]

....Just curious did McNally help with the Peters project????

Yes.

Mularkey placed Peters on the PS as a TE because Peters had difficulty getting off the line of scrimmage at that position and he was working with the TEs in practice. Because he wasn't getting much work or many reps at TE in practice, Peters was bored and, about midway through his rookie season, he approached McNally about working with the O-linemen as well as the TEs. McNally agreed to let him do so and to work with him individually.

Even though Peters was activated and played TE for the last couple of games of that season, he continued working with McNally, who was impressed by his quickness and physical ability. This continued on through the offseason when Peters was officially switched to the offensive tackle position.

If I am not mistaken, that was the offseason when Sean Kugler was hired as McNally's assistant (if it was not that offseason, then, it was the next). While McNally continued to tutor Peters himself during the offseason, Kugler was actually assigned to be in-charge of the offensive tackles and also worked with Peters as well.

Peters was not the starter at the beginning of the next season (2005), but took over as the starter at RT during the course of the season (from M.Williams?). He played well, starting at RT for the remainding ten games of the season and, I believe, that was when the Bills rewarded him by giving him a five year contract.

The following year, with McNally still the O-line coach and his mentor, Peters began the season as the starting RT. During the bye week break, which happened to be after eight games (same as this year, BTW), the offensive line was reshuffled and Peters was moved from RT to LT.

The next season, 2007, Peters began the season as the starting LT and had a terrific season. He legitimately made the Pro Bowl and was first or second team All Pro (it was widely acknowledged that he should have been a first team selection, even though some had W.Jones and O.Pace ahead of him on their reputations). I'm not sure if this was McNally's last season as the Bills offensive line coach or Kugler's first season replacing McNally.

As we all know, in 2008, Peters held out for a new contract and had a horrible season after returning just prior to the start of the season. He had only 13 starts, missing the first two and the last games of the season. McNally was definitely gone by that year.

The interesting thing is that, while McNally was Peters' mentor and teacher and is still his biggest supporter, Kugler has been the coach of the offensive tackles for at least the last three years: as McNally's assistant and as the offensive line coach. McNally primarily worked with the interior offensive linemen and Kugler's assistant offensive line coach took over that from McNally when McNally left. However, because Peters had approached McNally directly, Peters was, in a sense, McNally's personal project and McNally did spend considerable time, particularly in the offseasons, working with Peters.

Could McNally's departure have influenced Peters' approach to dealing with the Bills? Possibly. However, I think that money and injuries, more than anything, were the primary motivations. Peters was hurt and missed games during each of the last two seasons and played hurt at the end of the 2006 season. Having been injured and perhaps realizing that his career could be cut short by an injury may have at least underscored Peters' determination to get paid as much as possible as soon as possible. So, too, could the fact that he was an undrafted free agent who did not get the kind of big money and bonuses that a top draft pick commands.

Can Kugler develop a raw offensive line talent in the way that McNally developed Peters? Well, that remains to be seen. However, the fact that Kugler was in-charge of the offensive tackles during the time that Peters was developing into an elite player would seem to at least indicate that Kugler a hand in that development and is familiar with part, if not all, of the process. The question is whether he knows how to successfully execute the whole process of developing a raw talent into a high-quality, finished product. The development of D.Bell will be the first test of Kugler's ability in this regard. We'll see.....