Could Duke Preston be the opening day starter at Center?

[Kerr]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/team?statsId=2

The Bills like what they've seen so far from rookie C Duke Preston, their fourth-round draft pick. Preston has good size (6-5, 311), strength and toughness to compete with defensive tackles at the point of attack. He has the intelligence to make the line calls and is technically sound as a blocker who plays with leverage and works hard to finish blocks.


I must say that many people did not like this pick seeing as how he seemed like a reach for the club. Ironically, some scouting reports had him compared to Trey Teague coming out of school. It's way too early to judge, but so far it sounds like he's on the right track to becoming a future staple at the center position. I guess it also depends with what happens at the LT position. It's possible Teague could move out there anyway.

[Jan Reimers]

He'll only start at center this year if Teague is forced to play LT, which I hope doesn't happen. Teague is a good, veteran center. Preston, who has all the tools to play there in a year or two, still needs a little seasoning.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Good question!

I've been reading the same things about Preston and it makes me wonder if they are thinking that he could be ready to play this season rather than just backing up T.Teague to get some experience and then taking over for him next year.

After reading up a little bit about Preston, I'm beginning to think that the comparisons with T.Teague could be a little misleading for a lot of Bills fans because they don't take into account the biggest difference between the two, which happens address one of the biggest problems that Bills fans have with Teague--size. While this quote lists Preston at 311, most of the draft reports that I saw on him had him between 315-319: either way, he's a good 10-15 lbs more than Teague. Those reports also noted that Preston has a big butt and anchors well, but could use to improve his upper body strength--which would indicate that he could carry even more weight. For Bills fans who are rightly critical of the fact that T.Teague has had a tendency to get pushed around by some of the bigger DTs and NTs in the league, this, however, is a significant difference. T.Teague isn't a bad center, it's just that he really can't carry the weight that is necessary to deal with the kind of behemoths that some teams are able to put in front of him and he doesn't have the build to allow him to really get any bigger. Preston already is bigger and apparently has the kind of physique that will allow him to continue to get bigger and be better equipped to deal with the bigger NTs and DTs that he will have to face.

I didn't get to see Preston play much in college, but, with the physical advantages that he has over Teague, it wouldn't surprise me if the Bills tried to push his development as much as possible, especially with the question marks that they have at LT. I don't know if Preston will start the season as the starting center, but I could see him getting significant playing time there this season.

[mysticsoto]

It has also been mentioned that he is very intelligent and has played at a school where the style of play was similar to an NFL team style of play. So he may actually be more ready than we think to come in. Between the last mini-camp and now, he is no doubt trying to learn the playbook and calls that Mularkey would like to do. Hopefully he's working out also. :)

I was one of the people that was upset when we took him - as he seemed very slow compared to what I thought the Bills were going after. But Wilkerson wasn't even drafted (that injury of his must be more severe than what was let on). And the other top Centers like Spencer and Incognito were unfortunately already gone by our 2nd pick. Given those circumstances, they probably made the right choices to wait and choose this guy later - who not many people had in their radar screens.

Here's hoping that he turns out to be the diamond in the rough he seems to be...

[ShadowHawk7]

I just hope he turns out to be a better pick than Jason Brown, but yeah, so far, so good.

[BuffaloRanger]

Isn't TT a FA after this season? If so. I think they'd like to see Duke play some Center this season to help decide if they need to resign TT.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Isn't TT a FA after this season? If so. I think they'd like to see Duke play some Center this season to help decide if they need to resign TT.
TT is a FA after this season. And, that's why I'm pretty sure that they are going to try to push Preston's progress as much as they can to get him playing time this season. I just don't know if he will be ready quick enough to be the opening day starter at center--which is the question that J.Utah asked--or, if he isn't and T.Teague remains at center, whether the coaches would be willing to make him the starter over Teague later in the season.

Coach McNally seems to be very concerned about maintaining a certain degree of continuity in his starting line, so I don't know if he would start Preston over Teague once the season begins or if he would just try to give Preston more playing time in those games where Teague has a bad match-up. Benching a vet who has been the starter for awhile can sometimes have implications in the lockerroom that a coach's decision on how to handle a situation like this and I'm not sure at this point how McNally would deal with this situation. But, I definitely think that they are going to try to find out if Preston will be able to take over for Teague next season because not having to re-sign Teague would be a big help to the team's efforts to re-sign N.Clements.

[Earthquake Enyart]

It will all boil down to who looks better, Preston at C or Gandy at LT.

I like guys named Duke. :up:

[sb_bound]

Isn't 6'5" a little tall for a center. I hope that JP can see over him to throw a crossing route.

[OpIv37]

it seems a little early to be touting this guy's skills after one minicamp. I hope he's good enough to start because it will give us depth on the O-line and more options for LT, but I just think it's too soon to jump on the bandwagon.

[TedMock]

Isn't 6'5" a little tall for a center. I hope that JP can see over him to throw a crossing route.

Teague is also 6'5" so JP's going to just have to figure it out either way. Preston is 11 pounds heavier though.

[TedMock]

I just think it's too soon to jump on the bandwagon.

I completely agree.

[R. Rich]

I hope the Bills hit the mark w/ the drafting of Preston. There were at least 10 other centers I would've liked to have seen drafted besides him, but these guys are paid the big bucks because they know a lot more than I do about these draft prospects. I was hoping that if we were to look later in the draft for a center, we'd go after someone like Junius Coston of North Carolina A&T or Rob Hunt of North Dakota State.

[Earthquake Enyart]

but I just think it's too soon to jump on the bandwagon.

I don't. I'm on board. :up:

[ryven]

:lolcry:

[Earthquake Enyart]

I don't. I'm on board. :up:
Maybe one of the mods can help me out. :::

[R. Rich]

Maybe one of the mods can help me out. :::

Isn't is spelled "Dook"?