Moats climbing up depth chart

[YardRat]

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/article-1/Moats-climbing-up-depth-chart/5b00c70c-b6d4-4456-b224-77875773d362

The Bills believe that plugging Moats into their strong outside linebacker spot, and keeping him there, has accelerated his progress.


“We finally settled him into one role as an outside backer for us,” Head Coach Chan Gailey says. “I think Arthur’s handled that very well. He’s gotten a lot better, in the OTAs and the minicamp-it made so much difference for him to have that. It’s unbelievable.”


This summer, it’s been one role- one position for Moats, and plenty of reps at that position.


“Mostly, it’s at strong side linebacker,” he says. “That’s the main thing I’m studying right now, just in case of injuries—anything can happen. The main focus right now is the ‘Sam’”
Arthur Moats started four games in his rookie season—none last year. He’s in position to become a starter this year, possibly moving ahead of eight year vet <nobr>Kirk Morrisonhttp://www.buffalobills.com/assets/nflimg/icon-article-link.gif (http://www.buffalobills.com/team/roster/kirk-morrison/c9b9be07-c6f4-4b4b-ba34-88ea222e0d97/)</nobr>, who arrived last year late in preseason, and never got a chance to find a starting role in the Bills defense.

[YardRat]

Battle for the Strong Side LBhttp://www.buffalobills.com/media-center/videos/Bills-Focus-Battle-for-the-Strong-Side-LB-Spot/8207918d-7606-4b68-af1d-14be438237a2

[EDS]

Shocking that allowing him to settle on one position is beneficial for his development.

[BertSquirtgum]

I hate George Edwards. Bunch of idiots. You can't keep moving guys into new positions and expect them to get better.

[Night Train]

Moats lacks height at 6 feet but is built and can flat out run. Behind this talented D line, he could excel at OLB.

[Meathead]

moats beating out morrison would be fantastic, not because i dont like morrison but because it would give us a huge boost to depth at lb. with moats at sslb we have two competent players there. we already know barnett can play mlb so if sheppard goes down he can move inside and morrison can move to wslb. i think i recall morrison also has some mlb experience but im not sure about that

seems like we would still be one experience lb short but still thats better than being two short when moats was struggling late last season and into the otas. having him start or at least be capable of starting gives them more flexibility on one of the sides. if two guys go down we are at the mercy of rookies, or forcing bryan scott to abandon his tight end killer specialty role and start, which we dont want. i suppose mckillup could be ready again and he isnt a rookie but until i see it i wont be confident he has reliably recovered from his horrific injury. so it still feels the lbs are a bit exposed at depth

[Beebe]

6'2 250

[jamze132]

I don't think Moats has a height/size issue at the SAM position.

I would love for him to win the starting position.

[Thief]

I think Moats is 6'2. Taller than Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis.OK, what position do they play?

[DraftBoy]

I think Moats is 6'2. Taller than Ray Lewis and Patrick Willis.

Moats is 6002, he's not 6'2 or even close really.

[DraftBoy]

Maybe thats true. But if it is, NFL.com, ESPN, Yahoo sports, and CBS Sports is wrong.

http://www.nfl.com/player/arthurmoats/496825/profile - 6'2, 250
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/13422/arthur-moats - 6'2, 250
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24154 - 6'2, 250
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/players/playerpage/1692077/arthur-moats -6'2, 250

Ive also stood next to him at camp, and he's definitely taller than me and I'm 6 foot. I'm not going to split hairs over 2 inches though.

He excels at the SAM.

All those sites use official team roster and official team rosters are always infalted. When he entered the NFL he entered at 6002, those are the official numbers from the NFL not the inflated one from the Bills.

[Thief]

What in the wholey hell does 6002 mean?

[Philagape]

Joe Buscaglia ‏@JoeB_WGR

#Bills DC Dave Wannstedt told WGR that Arthur Moats has surpassed Kirk Morrison on the depth chart as SLB. Likely to start Thursday.

[Night Train]

I didn't measure him (LOL) but Moats came to our office a couple months back to speak for the United Way. I had a Bills lanyard around my neck holding my site badge. He struck up a brief conversation after shaking my hand and my initial thoughts were..

A. He's a pretty sharp guy with a great personality
B. He's built like a brick *****thouse

I'm 6-4 and he wasn't significantly shorter than me. It's all relative but he's fast as hell on the field and completely ripped.

We know he can rush the QB and would seem to have more range than Morrison in coverage. He'll contribute.

[DraftBoy]

What in the wholey hell does 6002 mean?

6'0 and 1/4

[Oaf]

Wasn't Moats fairly marginal and occasionally overwhelmed when given extended playing time late last year? I mean, NO ONE really played that well on defense, but still.

Isn't Moats basically known for two plays? A late smack on Farve and a great hit on Vick?

[YardRat]

That wasn't a 'late smack' on Farve.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cvPgKyvsHzg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Goobylal]

What in the wholey hell does 6002 mean?
As DB said, it's 6'-1/4". The first number is height, the next 2 numbers are inches, and the 4th is eighths of an inch. So 6'-2/8" or 6'-1/4". A player who is 5'11-1/2" would be 5114.

[kingJofNYC]

Wasn't Moats fairly marginal and occasionally overwhelmed when given extended playing time late last year? I mean, NO ONE really played that well on defense, but still.

Isn't Moats basically known for two plays? A late smack on Farve and a great hit on Vick?

He also beat Joe Thomas clean for a strip sack that sealed a victory against the Browns. Not a big win by any means but he's flashed when given the opportunity. Last year he barely did a thing but he had no set position.