I thank God for those who could post about themselves and loved ones surviving, thanks for sharing.
For Mr. Cannon, he's got a three phase challenge ahead of him:
-- Phase One is to endure the cancer treatment and get this licked up front. From all I've read he should be finished sometime mid-Summer with the treatments, which in a "normal" season would be the beginning of Training Camp, allowing him to be PUP'd or IR'd.
-- Phase Two is to regain his strength and get his conditioning back, this is were Italia's weight loss story gets interesting.
---- Cannon has struggled with his weight while at TCU, for all that he's very light on his feet for a 358 lb man. The problem on paper is he's too stiff for what NE has asked of it's offensive guards, for example: Light, Mankins, Vollmer, and now Solder are all players NE drafted with the expectation that they would be able to win a starter's job early in their careers. Each of them scored 4.5 second or better short shuttles and 7.5 second or better 3-cone drills. For men in excess of 300 lbs, there are a lot of linebackers who wish they could do as well. Cannon scored 4.97 and 8.09 respectively. To put his numbers in perspective, two other huge roadgraders NE drafted are comparable - Robinson-Randall (333 lbs) and O'Callaghan (344 lbs), while both started briefly for NE, neither lasted very long with the team. So part of the strength & conditioning question for Cannon is what playing weight is he going to be asked to maintain? The more weight he can shed (without losing strength) to get closer to the other NE O-linemen the better (Solder is the next heaviest at 319).
---- Unlike Robinson-Randall and O'Callaghan, Cannon has a distinct advantage - each of them scored a 26" vertical jump, showing pretty average leg drive - Cannon scored 30.5" putting him in company with where Scar likes to see his starters. Impressive at his greater weight. He's also quicker over 10 yards then either of the other two, putting him right at the lower limit of what NE starters run over that distance. So he's showing some ability to pick them up and put them down, he just has trouble checking his momentum to change direction. If Cannon can take off enough weight to shave a couple tenths of a second off his agility times, he gets down near Kaczur numbers, good enough to start for five seasons. An additional benefit to losing weight, he can get lower in his stance, helping him 'fire out' easier, and win in the leverage battle.
---- I don't know if 320 is a reasonable playing weight for him, but shedding 38 lbs would do wonders for his agility and wouldn't hurt his leg drive and 10-split speed one bit. It's a possible silver lining to the cancer if the treatment does anything to aid weight loss - as long as it doesn't cost him anymore in conditioning and health then absolutely necessary.
-- Phase Three is win a job on the NEP.
One of the observations I came away with from this draft is BB shopped for players who, in a lockout shortened off-season, are less likely to need as much development time. RBs, a CB familier with Al Groh's branch of the NE defense, a blocking TE, a couple Special Teams kids, and a clipboard holder QB - all quick turn around times in the NFL scheme of things. Solder at LT is the guy who has the longest learning curve (other then the QB, but another issue entirely).
With BB apparently planning to be handicapped in rookie development, taking a kid whom you know will just be starting to get his feet under him mid-Summer suggests a longer termed perspective to Cannon's readiness. My guess is Cannon is IR'd when the season starts, putting him in the hands of the Trainers and the S&C staff while allowing him in the meeting rooms for chalk talk and film study. This gives him nearly a full year to get his body healed up and get himself conditioned into his new playing weight and the diet & nutrition practices he'll need to maintain himself. The most optimistic time line puts him on PUP and eligible to begin practicing mid-season, perhaps in a "normal" season, but I don't see the advantage to trying to do that in the current environment.
God bless Mr. Cannon, he's already sent you to a pretty good team for starters.
