Free agent Duke Preston

[classicred71]

Just wondering if anyone on this board knows anything about free agent Duke Preston from the Bills? I was reading the article from the Journal Sentinel about the Packers expressing interest; with the uncertainty of the O-line in it's current state, perhaps Preston, 6'5" guard/center, could possibly help add depth and create holes for Grant and Jackson to run through. I only watched a handful of Bills games, as most of the east coast games aren't televised here on the west coast and the Bills looked like they had a decent O-line in the beginning of the season

 

[PackersRS]

It appears we just signed him
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/41948442.html
Don't really know about this guy. At least give us depth, and perhaps he can compete for the starting job. He can play all interior positions. I personally don't like Wells and Spitz, and I have a lot of concerns about Colledge's run blocking ability. Sitton appears to be in that mix as well...

 

[Jess]

A nice depth signing. I feel like he might play his way into the starting lineup by the end of the preseason, which wouldn't be all that difficult considering our O-Line isn't all that great.

 

[doughsellz]

This guy doesn't seem to fit the mould for the ZBS. Is MM still a proponent of zone-blocking? I haven't heard much about it lately. The most successful ZBS team's all have O-linemen around 300 lbs.

Falcons do well on the ground & 3 of the 5 starters are at 300 even, with a couple others breaking tradition at 330.

I'm not saying Preston isn't worth signing. He's got as much right to fight for a roster spot as anyone. I'm just wondering why him, why now?

Not much ZBS experience, a little on the heavy side & an underachiever. Head-scratcher for sure.

 

[Rodgersfan1985]

I cant weight to see that big ***** run block HAHA

 

[boisenjm]

Maybe we'll convert him to NT, he's got the size....

Kind of a joke but I wonder if anyone has ever done that before. Switch from an OL to NT in the NFL, kind of interesting.

 

[PackersRS]

Just read a comment about him in WalterFootball.com:
Duke Preston, Bills. Age: 27.
Signed with Packers

In addition to sucking royally, Duke Preston ruined Buffalo's chances of kicking a field goal in the last seconds of the first half of the season finale because he started a fight with some of the Patriots defenders.
http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2009C.php
Yeah... Like I said, I haven't seen him, but it appears we got crap again...

 

[Jess]

Just read a comment about him in WalterFootball.com:
Duke Preston, Bills. Age: 27.
Signed with Packers

In addition to sucking royally, Duke Preston ruined Buffalo's chances of kicking a field goal in the last seconds of the first half of the season finale because he started a fight with some of the Patriots defenders.
http://walterfootball.com/freeagents2009C.php
Yeah... Like I said, I haven't seen him, but it appears we got crap again...

I would imagine the "sucking royally" comment isn't much different than what was written about Favre while he was in Atlanta, so i'll wait and see how he performs here.

 

[Aa-rodg_is_cool]

Just TT addin depth to the Oline.. He'll probably be like a tony moll type player.. Which means no more tony moll

 

[RyanMegaphors]

I've spoken with a few Bills fans and they thought he simply wasn't that good...and all had an 'addition by subtraction' attitude about it. I dunno. He could be their Jarrett Bush.

 

[SSG_hop]

I haven't read a good thing about this guy. Every professional analysis I have seen says that he has no business starting. It is sad that these are the only types of moves that Thompson is looking at making what was a 6 win football team. THis team isn't any better than the team that struggled to win 6 games last season.

 

[Sunshine885500]

Preston is big & physical. What some of you might not realize is that Mike McCarthy is planning on scrapping the Zone Blocking Scheme. In Green Bay where the weather is bad a lot of the times they want to have more of a physical line sort of like when Sherman was Head Coach. McCarthy is an ex-Pittsburgh native and has been planning on taking GB in that direction from the beginning. The reason he didn't blow up the Defense when he first came here was because they did so well the year before. Also, back to Preston because so many teams are starting to shift to the 3-4 many nose tackles would present a problem for smallish lineman sort of like Minnesota's defensive line. Give it a little time I think you'll love the results. I am from Baltimore and watch the Ravens and Steelers all the time. I wrote TT mid-year and pleaded with them to build a defense like Baltimore & Pittsburgh that is more physical. With our Offense if we had any resemblance of a Defense last year we could have went extremely far.

 

[Jess]

What some of you might not realize is that Mike McCarthy is planning on scrapping the Zone Blocking Scheme.

If you have proof or something to back that up, i'd love to see it.

 

[Sunshine885500]

The writing is on the wall. Green Bay has been steadily moving in the direction of a power offense. Even McCarthy himself stated that they would move in that direction because of the weather in Wisconsin. They said they would use some of the Zone Blocking Scheme but it wouldn't be totally Zone Blocking. Also, again with the infusion of 3-4 defenses with overall bigger lineman playing head up over the Center it would only make sense to have a larger Center. I am not an expert, but the movement of this team has been pretty obvious from the beginning.

 

[PackersRS]

Actually, in the article that I've linked, it's stated that McCarthy denied a change of philosofy about Oline...

 

[Sunshine885500]

It will not be a total change, but I would have t believe that they will incorporate more of a power scheme for the Cold months. The don't totally have the personnel to go with the Barry package, but they will eventually try some of that in the cold months. This is the reason they want to put Josh Sitton at RG and slide Spitz over to Center because they are better Power Run Blockers, however this is the same thing that hurts Daryn Colledge because he isn't a Power Blocker.