As I See It: "Will" James be the starter?

by Neil Masters

If Will James has been able to put his back injuries behind him to the extent that he can return to the form that he showed when he was with the NY Giants, he will have an excellent shot at winning a starting CB role. His health, however, is going to be a big "IF", though.

After the season that he had last year, it is hard for me to see James supplanting Terrance McGee in the Bills' starting lineup on defense. But, if McGee struggles as he did in 2006, I could see James and Greer starting, with McGee as the nickle CB for a few games. But, I don't think that is the most likely scenario.

As well as Greer played last season, IMHO, Will James has a better chance of beating out Greer for a starting CB spot, if he is able to return to the form of his NY Giant days, than he does of beating out McGee--or to put it another way, if James plays well enough to claim a starting CB job, McGee is likely to be seen as being better than Greer by the coaching staff. James has something that the Bills need at CB that Greer simply does not: size. With all of the big WRs that the Bills will face, if all things otherwise are equal between Greer and James, this gives James an advantage over Greer that the coaching staff will undoubtedly take into consideration.

But, it will be up to James to show that he can play at least as well as Greer to nail down a starting job. And, there is no guarantee that he will be able to do that. For all we know now, Ashton Youboty might take a big step up and challenge for a starting job....

Whether James or Greer starts opposite McGee, there is a good chance that James (or perhaps Youboty) will play on the outside, with McGee moving inside against the slot receiver, when the Bills go to their nickle defense.

With his size and injury issues, specifically being his back, James is more suited to playing on the outside, matching up with bigger WRs. This is one of the reasons that he lost the nickle back job with Philly at the end of last season after Lito Sheppard returned.

On the other hand, with his speed and quickness, McGee matches up better against smaller, but quicker slot receivers than he does against bigger WRs. The same holds true, to a lesser extent, for Greer as well (although Greer doesn't have quite the quickness that McGee has and is a bit stronger running in a straight line).

Additionally, moving McGee inside against the slot receivers is something that the Bills have had some success with doing in the past. During the 2006 season, the Bills began to use Kiwaukee Thomas on the outside, with McGee matched up in the slot, in their nickle defense and had some good results. If James doesn't beat out Greer for the starting CB job opposite McGee, it is very likely that the Bills will try to use W.James in much the same way as they used K.Thomas.

The wild-card in all of this, in my opinion, is going to be Ashton Youboty.

As I see it, Youboty's rookie season was totally lost--as if he had been lost to injury early on and had simply missed the entire season--and last season could be viewed a being his first season with the team. Viewed in this way, one can look at Youboty as being very much like a player going from his rookie season into his second season in the league--essentially being in that time period when a player can be expected to make his biggest step up from one season to the next.

While we can't know at this point what kind of progress, if any, Youboty will make this offseason, one encouraging sign that he may be ready to show more than he has thus far for the Bills has been the fact that, according to Chris Brown's reports on BB.com, Youboty has been working out regularly on his own at OBD with some of the other players, like Poz and Kelsay, etc. Youboty has some size, but needed to get stronger and refine his techniques in order to achieve his potential on the NFL level. Working out regularly with workout fantatics like Poz and Kelsay, etc. should at least result in Youboty coming into the OTAs and training camp stronger, if not better all around.

If he is going to be anything more than a fringe player in the NFL, Youboty is going to have to step it up this season. It is possible that he will do that and it is just as possible that he won't.

If he does, it could make for an interesting battle for the starting CB jobs in training camp--particularly if W.James is able to return to his pre-injury form. With both Youboty and James possessing more size than McGee and Greer, the Bills could be in a position of being able to mix-and-match their CBs depending upon their opponents if those four CBs can stay healthy all season, with both of the starting CB spots basically up for grabs.

If Youboty doesn't step up to the point of being able to challenge for a starting job, however, he still could have a shot at playing on the outside in the nickle package if W.James struggles or has injury problems. Or, his career with the Bills could be in serious jeopardy of ending soon.

Because of his experience and the quality of his play before his back injuries, James looks to the the guy who is likely to have the best chance of breaking into the starting lineup at this point. If he returns to the form he was showing with the NY Giants just prior to getting hurt, he could, as has been said, turn out to be the second best addition of the offseason for the Bills. But regardless, because of what he brings to the table with his size, IMHO it is safe to say that he will play an important role in the Bills' secondary this season, if he can stay healthy, be it as a starter, nickle or dime back.

And, at this point, I would not compare him to Jason Webster. At his best, before he was injured, W.James was a lot better playing for the Giants than J.Webster ever was playing for Atlanta. While it is impossible to judge whether James will be able to regain that form before seeing him in a Bills uniform this season, even if he doesn't, James will give the Bills size that Webster lacked and, in doing that, will still be able to help the team.

(It should be noted that I wasn't really big on Jason Webster as more than a stop-gap or nickle back prospect when the Bills acquired him, while, on the other hand, I watched William James (Peterson) develop to the point where he was having a very nice, breakout season for the Giants when he first hurt his back and have high hopes for him if he can return to that level of play again. So, I must admit a certain bias in my assessment of the two players here.)

Still, as much as I like James, I'm not ready to count Youboty out just yet, either. In the best case scenario, both of these players could challenge and perhaps even win starting jobs with the Bills this season. It's more likely, though, that only one of them will (with the other possibly playing a key secondary role). But, which one will it be? Right now I think that James has a much better chance of winning a starting CB job--probably supplanting Greer. But, I wouldn't be shocked to see Youboty doing that either--or being right there with him. McGee and Greer did well last season, but not well enough that one or both could not be beaten out for their spots in the starting lineup this year.