article on bannan and peters playing OL

[Tatonka]

http://www.buffalobills.com/news/news.jsp?news_id=3142

goes into some of the article.. but then refers you to bills digest.. anyone have it and care to post some info??

[gr8slayer]

Good find, you know your a desperate team when you are asking your DT to play OL.

[Romes]

On Bannan...

"I think wherever he could play is what counts," said McNally. "The bottom line is he's not a starter on our defensive line. So we'll give him an opportunity on the offensive line. He can go back to defense in a heartbeat. We're just trying to prove that the athleticism that he has should upgrade us on the offensive line if he can come along fast enough to contribute."

Mularkey confirmed that the move for Bannan is not necessarily permanent, but stressed that the experiment with him at guard would likely run through training camp.

"It's a see-how-it-goes situation," said Mularkey. "He knows what defensive linemen like to do. Plus he's got the tough mindset an offensive lineman needs to have."

On Peters...

On the other hand, the move for Peters appears more set in stone. The coaching staff has moved him to left tackle where he too will receive heavy one-on-one instruction from McNally leading up to the regular season. "He is about as athletic as you can getfrom a pure physical standpoint at the position," said Mularkey. "He just needs to bring his technique and awareness up to that level.""Everything will take time, but he cer-tainly has athletic ability and is a good raw prospect to work with," said McNally. "There is definitely upside."


"If the two of them pan out it wouldrepresent nice depth or perhaps something greater, I don't know," said Mularkey. "We'll see how far and how fast they can come along."

Looks like they are both being switched over to the OL for depth.

[Mr. Miyagi]

We've been hearing how "raw" Jason Peters is forever. I'll give him another season to be "raw", then I'll start casting him as another all-potential-and-no-results RJ type. :mad:

[Romes]

We've been hearing how "raw" Jason Peters is forever. I'll give him another season to be "raw", then I'll start casting him as another all-potential-and-no-results RJ type. :mad:

But unlike RJ he is not our starting QB nor is he taking up a lot of cap space. Every team needs those "potential" guys that can be diamonds in the rough.

Plus, how many LTs in the league have the athleticism to block a punt? Not many I'd guess. I look forward to see how this experiment works out.

[Mr. Miyagi]

True.

And thanks for posting the excerpts Romes. :posrep:

[TedMock]

We've been hearing how "raw" Jason Peters is forever. I'll give him another season to be "raw", then I'll start casting him as another all-potential-and-no-results RJ type. :mad:

He was an undrafted rookie last year who wasn't called to duty until November. Now he's moving to a new position. We have to give him more than one season before we declare him and RJ-esque bust. It usurally takes high-round, pure, O-lineman a good two seasons to come into their own. Hopefully McNally really is a miracle worker. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Buckets]

We've been hearing how "raw" Jason Peters is forever. I'll give him another season to be "raw", then I'll start casting him as another all-potential-and-no-results RJ type. :mad:

You didn't actually say forever did you? It usually takes 2 -3 years for someone drafted for the O line to produce. Now you want him to make the switch in the preseason.

[jamze132]

I really think that Peters can be a very good LT. The guy has speed. He will probably be the fastest lineman in the NFL. Historically speaking, most guys who are fast are very athletically inclined and can adapt to pretty much about anything, given their size.

[Tatonka]

He was an undrafted rookie last year who wasn't called to duty until November. Now he's moving to a new position. We have to give him more than one season before we declare him and RJ-esque bust. It usurally takes high-round, pure, O-lineman a good two seasons to come into their own. Hopefully McNally really is a miracle worker. Keep your fingers crossed.

:up:

[Tatonka]

Historically speaking, most guys who are fast are very athletically inclined and can adapt to pretty much about anything, given their size.

um.. what are you basing that statement on? anything tangible? just curious.

[jamze132]

um.. what are you basing that statement on? anything tangible? just curious.

Just from what I've seen with my eyes.

Can you tell me one "athlete" who has better than average speed and is athleticaly challenged? I tried to think of all of the major sports and I couldn't find one person. Baseball is a great example. Most guys who can steal the bases are naturally gifted athletically. Might not be the bets hitters but they are generally good athletes.

[Jan Reimers]

I think Bannan and Peters can give us some depth now, and could develop into good O linemen in the future.

We still desperately need a starting LT and an upgrade at LG NOW, however.

[RedEyE]

Peters at Left Tackle is a gamble. Let's hope his learning curve is as quick as his legs.

[colin]

i always liked him as a smash mouth tight end, but i think he doesn't have the tools to be a good TE, so we are trying to get something out of him.

bannan might just not be as good as the other DTs we have, so we are just using him for something. good idea to salvage draft picks.

[Mr. Cynical]

May as well try Lindell at LT at this point. :cynic:

We need a proven LT and the chances of that happening are slim to none.

[Spielmanrules54]

I remeber seeing Bannan play guard a few times last year and he absolutely blew his assignment off the ball... most of these guys have played both sides of the ball until college or pro anyway... Peters is just a freak of nature... if anyone can turn this guy into an LT it would be McNally... he could probably make my 5'9", 200lb ass into a decent backup center

[EDS]

Just from what I've seen with my eyes.

Can you tell me one "athlete" who has better than average speed and is athleticaly challenged? I tried to think of all of the major sports and I couldn't find one person. Baseball is a great example. Most guys who can steal the bases are naturally gifted athletically. Might not be the bets hitters but they are generally good athletes.

Being fast and having good balance, footwork and coordination are very different things. There are legions of extremely fast guys who could not get it done in the NFL - Remember former Bills first round pick J.D. Williams? How about former Bills second round pick Bucky Brooks and his 4.3 speed? And let us not forget speed merchants like Mike Mamula, Courtney Brown, James Trapp, John Capel, Ron Brown, James Jett, etc. (Brown, Trapp, Capel, and Jett were all olympic sprinters who did bubkus in the NFL).

[G. Host]

I really think that Peters can be a very good LT. The guy has speed. He will probably be the fastest lineman in the NFL. Historically speaking, most guys who are fast are very athletically inclined and can adapt to pretty much about anything, given their size.

I think it will allow him to get BIG tubs of takeout chicken FAST but he will need a list and a note around each of his fingers.

[G. Host]

I think Bannan and Peters can give us some depth now, and could develop into good O linemen in the future.

We still desperately need a starting LT and an upgrade at LG NOW, however.

Tucker improved greatly last year and will be starting next year either as guard or center. Bannan and all of the other OL will be depth candidates only. I do not understand the obsession with replacing him but I do not understand how people get so obessed with players faults they start to hate them.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

You didn't actually say forever did you? It usually takes 2 -3 years for someone drafted for the O line to produce. Now you want him to make the switch in the preseason.
Peters played OT and DT for a year in college at each position before being switched to TE. He volunteered to work with the offensive line last season while he was on the practice squad. So, he has already gotten in some work at the position already. Prior to last year's draft, M.Kiper and others, including a pre-draft report on CNN sports, mentioned the fact that NFL scouts were unsure about whether Peters best position would be TE or OT and that there were some who were of the opinion that, with time, he could develop into a pretty good LT because of his athleticism.


um.. what are you basing that statement on? anything tangible? just curious.
Those who have been long-time fans of the Bills will remember Paul Seymour, who originally was drafted by the Bills as a TE, who was switched to LT and was one of the original members of "The Electric Company". There have also been other TEs who have been switched to OT in the NFL and college over the years who have become pretty good, solid players. The switch from TE to OT is one of the less difficult position changes for a player because TEs do a lot of blocking and, playing next to the OT, have to know what the OT is doing on many of the plays. On a lot of teams, TEs spend a fair amount of practice time working with the O-lineman because of the blocking that they do in the running game. More often than not, for those TEs that teams have tried to switch to O-line, size has been one of the biggest problems because the TEs trying to make the switch have found it hard to put on and keep on enough weight to be effective on the O-line. This, however, should not be a problem for Peters, who is already bigger than many offensive linemen.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

On Bannan...
"I think wherever he could play is what counts," said McNally. "The bottom line is he's not a starter on our defensive line. So we'll give him an opportunity on the offensive line. He can go back to defense in a heartbeat. We're just trying to prove that the athleticism that he has should upgrade us on the offensive line if he can come along fast enough to contribute."

Mularkey confirmed that the move for Bannan is not necessarily permanent, but stressed that the experiment with him at guard would likely run through training camp.

"It's a see-how-it-goes situation," said Mularkey. "He knows what defensive linemen like to do. Plus he's got the tough mindset an offensive lineman needs to have."

On Peters...
On the other hand, the move for Peters appears more set in stone. The coaching staff has moved him to left tackle where he too will receive heavy one-on-one instruction from McNally leading up to the regular season. "He is about as athletic as you can getfrom a pure physical standpoint at the position," said Mularkey. "He just needs to bring his technique and awareness up to that level.""Everything will take time, but he certainly has athletic ability and is a good raw prospect to work with," said McNally. "There is definitely upside."

"If the two of them pan out it wouldrepresent nice depth or perhaps something greater, I don't know," said Mularkey. "We'll see how far and how fast they can come along."

Looks like they are both being switched over to the OL for depth.
It sounds to me like they are hoping Bannan can offer some depth, but really aren't expecting much more than that from him--it's a matter of knowing that he is nothing more than the #4 DT and hoping that maybe he can give the team more on the offensive line.

But, with Peters, it sounds like they think that, maybe, they can get a bit more out of him. It sounds like McNally thinks he has the physical tools, but that it is going to come down to whether he can learn what he needs to learn to play the position--which, of course, with Peters could be an issue because he "isn't the brightest bulb on the tree". But, still, it sounds like they think that he might be able to at least offer some depth and, perhaps, get even more out of him, if they can get him to learn the position fast enough.

Having seen Peters play some in college and having watched some film clips of him before last year's draft, I think he has the physical ability to be a pretty good OT--the question is whether he has the mental capacity to not only learn the position, but avoid repeatedly making the kind of mistakes that a starting offensive lineman simply cannot afford to make in the NFL. If he can, he could turn out to be more than just a depth player. But, I don't know if he can and it sounds like the Bills coaching staff isn't sure whether he can, either.

[jamze132]

Being fast and having good balance, footwork and coordination are very different things. There are legions of extremely fast guys who could not get it done in the NFL - Remember former Bills first round pick J.D. Williams? How about former Bills second round pick Bucky Brooks and his 4.3 speed? And let us not forget speed merchants like Mike Mamula, Courtney Brown, James Trapp, John Capel, Ron Brown, James Jett, etc. (Brown, Trapp, Capel, and Jett were all olympic sprinters who did bubkus in the NFL).
I agreee to an extent. I just think that Peters can do whatever is asked of him. I think he's a freak of nature.