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Steelers host OT Demetrius Bell

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by SteelByDesign, Mar 30, 2012.

  1. SteelByDesign

    SteelByDesign Well-Known Member

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  2. SteelByDesign

    SteelByDesign Well-Known Member

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    Steadily improved since becoming a starter, and played with Kugler for 2 years.
     
  3. TarheelFlyer

    TarheelFlyer Well-Known Member

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    If they signed Bell to a reasonable contract, they could cut J. Scott.
     
  4. HugeSnack

    HugeSnack Well-Known Member

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    The real burning question... is Greg Warren's time up??? The article says they also hosted Stanford's long snapper of the last three years. Also Brandon Brooks, which could be telling.

    Warren's not that old (I'm guessing 30ish?) and had that awful injury. But he did rebound and hasn't been hurt since. I don't remember any bad snaps from him in his entire career.
     
  5. SteelByDesign

    SteelByDesign Well-Known Member

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    I hope this was sarcasm.
     
  6. TheSteelHurtin2188

    TheSteelHurtin2188 Well-Known Member

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    The question is do they not think colon is the answer at tackle and they want him to move to guard.
     
  7. steelersrock151

    steelersrock151 Well-Known Member

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    I'm just happy that they're bringing in some o-linemen. Bell would lessen our need for a first round o-lineman, and maybe even a second round o-lineman. And fyi, Philly just lost Jason Peters to a torn Achilles, so they'll probably be looking for that first round tackle now. One less for us. But one less team that would take Poe.
     
  8. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    i think this is exactly what they want to do. i think it's the right move too. if not bell , we do grab a tackle in the draft or free agency. i really do think colon could be a beast as a guard and really help shore up this line. since he's already here and paid, why not use his talent at a weak spot. if he gets hurt again we do have some available guys to step in. this way we are not depending on a rookie right away. if colon could swing to LT it would be different. he's the only guy right now with only one position. :cool:
     
  9. Thigpen82

    Thigpen82 Bitter optimist

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    Slightly off topic I guess, but am I the only one who thinks long snapper is a something of a waste of a roster spot? It's an aspect of the modern roster that I've never got my head around. I know we had issues when we didn't have a specialist, and Harrison did it, and bad things happened... but can one of the o-line seriously not spend time every week honing their ability to pass the ball back between their legs for further than a shotgun snap? Do they need to be spending all of their practice time finding new ways to get Ben sacked?
     
  10. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    i know it's not a ton of money snack, but warren counts 925,000 against the cap and his salary is 825,000 this year. he is 30. he's a guy nobody thinks about and has been perfect for us. maybe they are looking for a backup to have on file or maybe they think this is just to much money for this position. his salary has been steadily going up over the years. they could save , i'd say at least .5 mil.. half a mil here and half a mil there will make a big difference this year for them. my main concern is ,why is will allen still here sucking up as much money as he does for doing basicly nothing? :cool:
     
  11. CANTON STEEL

    CANTON STEEL Well-Known Member

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    I've said for years now that Colon would be much better suited at guard and thought they've always used him out of position. I guess a lack of quality OT's put Colon there.
     
  12. HugeSnack

    HugeSnack Well-Known Member

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    I'm fine with that. Most Steeler fans have been wanting to put Colon at guard for years now. It seems natural for him. He's not great in space, but is powerful and fierce in tight areas. However, there are two reasons I see it as unlikely: he finally became very comfortable in the RT role and played well there the last time he started, and they've had many chances to move him in the past and have not (In '08 the established Max Starks was on the bench and making $500,000 per game, and Darnell Stapleton was getting destroyed at RG. Putting Colon inside would have solved both problems, but they refused). So it seems unlikely that they'd do it now.

    Let's not forget, our other OT Marcus Gilbert can also squeeze inside to guard. If we were to get someone who can play LT effectively, Gilbert could be our new LG. He probably pulls better than Colon anyway.
     
  13. freakfontana

    freakfontana

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    it's the same people that put jonathan scott at starting left tackle after release starks ,same people that cut urbik and hills and kept kemo and essex i don't trust their judgement all the time
     
  14. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    i think colon should go to the RG spot even though foster has played ok there. colon would be a better run blocker and pass protector on the rightside. he's used to it. foster would have to fight it out or be the backup swing guard. we bring in a guard in the draft to fight it out in the mid to late rounds. i wouldn't mind a C/G type guy drafted either. :cool:
     
  15. SteelByDesign

    SteelByDesign Well-Known Member

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    I actually like Foster, and think he could develop into a solid guard. I'd put Willie on the left side, and leave Foster alone at his spot.
     
  16. diehardsteel

    diehardsteel Well-Known Member

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    Warren's not that old (I'm guessing 30ish?) and had that awful injury. But he did rebound and hasn't been hurt since. I don't remember any bad snaps from him in his entire career.[/quote]

    Slightly off topic I guess, but am I the only one who thinks long snapper is a something of a waste of a roster spot? It's an aspect of the modern roster that I've never got my head around. I know we had issues when we didn't have a specialist, and Harrison did it, and bad things happened... but can one of the o-line seriously not spend time every week honing their ability to pass the ball back between their legs for further than a shotgun snap? Do they need to be spending all of their practice time finding new ways to get Ben sacked?[/quote]

    No, you're not alone. It's a snap for heaven's sake! Why can't Legs come in and do it? Long snappers don't even get hit by rule so what's the problem? On punts just pretend it's a shotgun snap but chuck it back there a little harder. On a PAT or FG aim a little lower. No big deal. It's saves a roster spot and just under $1M in cap room. I should be a GM!
     
  17. mort159

    mort159 Well-Known Member

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    Signing this guy could be real big for us!

    I like foster at RG also. I think he has been solid and is growing as a player and in the system. He is also still very young.

    I also believe Colon is best fitted at Guard. When he was a free agent last year it was reported the Bears offered him a pretty big contract (more than us) to play guard and the talk was the Bears and his agent believed he would be an all pro guard.

    So all in all, i doubt we would have brought him in if we didn't believe Colon or Bell could play guard. They didn't bring him in as a back up at tackle. Hope we sign him. It will get rid of some of my anxiety of this offseason. Still think we should sign Hawthorne at ILB too and thn everything would be great.
     
  18. defva

    defva Well-Known Member

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    Yep, I think krugler actually put this little bug in their ear.
     
  19. SteelByDesign

    SteelByDesign Well-Known Member

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    He's visited, and left, a lot of cities. I'm hearing he's putting himself out of teams' price range.
     
  20. troybellringer55

    troybellringer55 Well-Known Member

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    Slightly off topic I guess, but am I the only one who thinks long snapper is a something of a waste of a roster spot? It's an aspect of the modern roster that I've never got my head around. I know we had issues when we didn't have a specialist, and Harrison did it, and bad things happened... but can one of the o-line seriously not spend time every week honing their ability to pass the ball back between their legs for further than a shotgun snap? Do they need to be spending all of their practice time finding new ways to get Ben sacked?[/quote]

    No, you're not alone. It's a snap for heaven's sake! Why can't Legs come in and do it? Long snappers don't even get hit by rule so what's the problem? On punts just pretend it's a shotgun snap but chuck it back there a little harder. On a PAT or FG aim a little lower. No big deal. It's saves a roster spot and just under $1M in cap room. I should be a GM![/quote]

    It is kinda of crazy that 32 teams have one roster spot for a long snapper. But, it's an important spot. I remember when Harrison did it in the Gaints game a few years back, Went right over Mitch Berger's head. Like I tell a lot of football players, learn to long snap, it will be your best chance to ever make an NFL team if you get really good at it.
     
  21. diehardsteel

    diehardsteel Well-Known Member

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    No, you're not alone. It's a snap for heaven's sake! Why can't Legs come in and do it? Long snappers don't even get hit by rule so what's the problem? On punts just pretend it's a shotgun snap but chuck it back there a little harder. On a PAT or FG aim a little lower. No big deal. It's saves a roster spot and just under $1M in cap room. I should be a GM![/quote]

    It is kinda of crazy that 32 teams have one roster spot for a long snapper. But, it's an important spot. I remember when Harrison did it in the Gaints game a few years back, Went right over Mitch Berger's head. Like I tell a lot of football players, learn to long snap, it will be your best chance to ever make an NFL team if you get really good at it.[/quote]

    Yeah, I remember that game too. I seem to remember they had Harrison practice snapping a few times during the week leading up to that game, but he just couldn't do it. If you take somebody like Legs who knows how to snap like a center and he works on long snapping during training camp plus all the OTA's, I can't believe he wouldn't be able to handle it.
     
  22. HugeSnack

    HugeSnack Well-Known Member

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    Are you kidding? Legursky couldn't handle snapping it 4 yards to Ben. He was all over the place in our last game against the Broncos, including one so bad it cost us a chance to score before halftime. And if not for an alert recovery effort by Ben and Miller, it probably would have resulted in points for Denver.

    I'm not saying it'd be impossible to have a guy play a regular position and long snap too, but the fact is that if he is not PERFECT, or as close to perfect as one can get, it's a poor decision. Everyone agrees that the one bad snap we had in the last 10 years or whatever cost us a game! If you just throw Legursky or another lineman back there, give him some practice days and hope for the best, I think you'll have at least a handful of bad snaps per season, and possibly much more. That could be disastrous. It could cost us the chance at playoffs.

    Don't forget the differences between snapping to a quarterback and snapping to a holder/punter. It's a totally different thing. It's not like a minor tweak, it's a different skill set. You use two hands. You're basically throwing the ball like a quarterback, trying to hit a bullseye every time. In a shotgun snap, you just flip it and get the hang of it.

    This is a specialty. They have to do hundreds or thousands of these snaps and never make a single mistake. We have roster spots for kickers and punters, and those guys make mistakes all the time. Couldn't we forget about our punter and let Suisham or whoever our kicker is do the job? Surely he could get some decent distance. Might cost us a few yards per punt, but would save a roster spot... Now imagine instead of costing a few yards at the end of the kick, the penalty is a safety or touchdown for the other team. Give it a shot if you want, but I can absolutely, positively believe that someone just getting into it would make a couple mistakes given a couple hundred chances to do so, even with all of OTAs and training camp to practice.
     
  23. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    legs can long snap and heath did in college, i'm still not sure why harrison did in that game. there never used to be specialty long snappers though. usually a lb or wr or te did it. warren is quite expensive though for a long snapper. it is a spot that you have to practice alot, but HS kids can do it, so there's no doubt pro teams could teach guys to do it to a high level. there is a knack to it. we used to line our guys up and have them snap it at tape marks on the base of the goalposts til they could hit them on a consistant basis. :cool:
     
  24. Coastal Steeler

    Coastal Steeler

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    Slightly off topic I guess, but am I the only one who thinks long snapper is a something of a waste of a roster spot? It's an aspect of the modern roster that I've never got my head around. I know we had issues when we didn't have a specialist, and Harrison did it, and bad things happened... but can one of the o-line seriously not spend time every week honing their ability to pass the ball back between their legs for further than a shotgun snap? Do they need to be spending all of their practice time finding new ways to get Ben sacked?[/quote]

    No, you're not alone. It's a snap for heaven's sake! Why can't Legs come in and do it? Long snappers don't even get hit by rule so what's the problem? On punts just pretend it's a shotgun snap but chuck it back there a little harder. On a PAT or FG aim a little lower. No big deal. It's saves a roster spot and just under $1M in cap room. I should be a GM![/quote]


    See James Harrison's punt snap against the "we had the giants beat game"
     
  25. truckin9999

    truckin9999 Well-Known Member

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    [attachment=0:2yxdlkz9]Bell.jpg[/attachment:2yxdlkz9]
     

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