Is Lonnie Harvey a viable 3-4 NT here?

[BillsWin]

This is being discussed on BBMB, but that board makes me nauseous just being on it for more than 5 minutes.

I figured I would take the question here, as I myself am interested in the answer.

Lonnie Harvey is a big boy. six-foot-three, 345 lbs.

He is only 23. Classified coming out of the draft as a pure NT project. His apparent strengths are the bull rush, run stuffing and point of attack, but his weaknesses are condition, biting on play action and misdirections, and possible lack of effort.

Well, he sure is big enough to be a space eater and seems like a strong kid. What do we do with this monster?

[Night Train]

Who knows. The Bills will probably draft/sign 2-3 more monster NT's before camp. As long as they can occupy 2 lineman ands take away the middle lanes. The names are secondary.

May the best slob win.

[realdealryan]

Who knows. The Bills will probably draft/sign 2-3 more monster NT's before camp. As long as they can occupy 2 lineman ands take away the middle lanes. The names are secondary.

May the best slob win.


If it was that easy we could just call up Tim Anderson and give him about $1000 in KFC gift cards.


As far as Lonnie, I'm not willing to believe our talent dept has ALREADY found a diamond in the rough via a guy that was signed to the PS in November. Or am I missing something?

[methos4ever]

Here's a hl reel he and his agent put up prior to the draft....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STi4DT1nE3M

[YardRat]

Regardless of whether Harvey has the ability to contribute, I'm kind of stoked that Nix obviously knows the team's needs and has been trying to address them already with what's been available...

QB Brian Brohm
DT Rashaad Duncan
DT Lonnie Harvey
LT Jason Watkins

If any of these guys make the final roster, that's a great job. If even just one cracks the starting line-up, it's awesome.

[TedMock]

but his weaknesses are condition, biting on play action and misdirections, and possible lack of effort.

You just described "fat, stupid and lazy." That's a bit frightening. I have not seen a ton of tape on this kid, nor am I pretending to be a scout. Here is what my un-trained eyes watched: The tape I did see was kind of hard to watch as it was a bit blurry and the camera wasn't always steady. That's the difference between watching a Morgan State tape and a big-time program tape, I guess. From the few minutes I did watch he certainly appears to have good quickness and he moves laterally down the line well. He did not look like he played with any leverage and had to rely on lateral quickness because of that. He stood straight up off the snap several times. That drives me crazy when DT's do that. He is a big boy and if he could play with more leverage, there is certainly some talent. I didn't see any work ethic issues as he seemed to hustle every play, but again, I only watched a few minutes. If the laziness label is accurate it's obviously a red flag. He could maybe used effectively in conjunction with our quicker, 1-gap tackles to mix things up. Jeff Wright was effective early in his career as a backup/rotational guy. He was a quicker DT and would come in, shoot the gap and cause problems after the interior lineman got used to blocking the stronger (though not any bigger) Smerlas. This kid may be the space eater in rotation to keep things mixed up a bit.

[WeAreArthurMoates]

He certainly will be an option and if he's not playing the nose, could end up at end. This kid will be atleast great depth for us.

[Yasgur's Farm]

Sorry WAM23... But that kid will NEVER line up at end... LMAO!!

[Griz78]

Maybe as a backup, not a starter.

[hydro]

He certainly will be an option and if he's not playing the nose, could end up at end. This kid will be atleast great depth for us.

A 345lb DT is NOT going to play DE. Period. With that kind of thinking we may be able to move Stroud to OLB!

[Dicknoze69]

Provided we run a two-gap system, he's got a legit shot at sticking on our roster as at least a filler NT for 6-8 plays a game. Our roster has zero real NT so his chances of making the roster skyrocketed the day we announced the 3-4. It's impossible to know anything more because we have little insight into his abilities.

[WeAreArthurMoates]

Sorry WAM23... But that kid will NEVER line up at end... LMAO!!

He has the quickness to just like Ngata lines up at end for the Ravens. NT is a better fit but I def see him playing some end in packages.

[WeAreArthurMoates]

A 345lb DT is NOT going to play DE. Period. With that kind of thinking we may be able to move Stroud to OLB!

Really cause that's exactly what Ngata does well the 315 Kelly Gregg plays NT.

[hydro]

Really cause that's exactly what Ngata does well the 315 Kelly Gregg plays NT.

Ngata is also a first round draft pick anomaly. One of a kind player.

[Dying_-2-_Live]

Harvey should be given a shot... but im not expecting much

[psubills62]

Provided we run a two-gap system, he's got a legit shot at sticking on our roster as at least a filler NT for 6-8 plays a game. Our roster has zero real NT so his chances of making the roster skyrocketed the day we announced the 3-4. It's impossible to know anything more because we have little insight into his abilities.

This is exactly it. Harvey will provide depth at the position and not much more. They'll probably pick up one or two guys in the draft.

Unfortunately, the only possibilities for trade are Sione Pouha (Jets) and Ahtyba Rubin (Browns). It looks as though Rubin will start at NT, though, and move Shaun Rogers over to DE, so he might not be available at all anyway. And trading within the division is not a good idea.

[TigerJ]

I would guess as a project he's not yet ready to step into a significant role. He may be a viable backup by the time the season rolls around, but the Bills need to find a starter, unless they think they can run a 3-4 without a true two gap nose tackle as someone suggested Dallas does.

[BILLSROCK1212]

all NTs seem to have conditioning/consistency issues....it's gunna be hard to find one in the draft

[Mr. Pink]

PS fodder

[DraftBoy]

Here's a hl reel he and his agent put up prior to the draft....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STi4DT1nE3M

The video shows us that he has the ability to dominate a blocker one on one with brute strength, but it was too far away to tell much about technique via footwork or hand placement. Against constant double teams Im not sure he has as much success as the video indicates. In the video the D he was in looked like a 4-3 for the most part.