Big Bubba Ventrone: I'm sold

[spacecrime]

What were you expecting from Slater? He was drafted for his special teams skills.

I didn't say I expected anything at all. I said he has done squat to earn a spot on the team, and I stand by that statement.

All he has done so far is be about as good a returner as several others on the team, and as good on STs as many other who have additional skills

Neither of us know why he was drafted - you assume it was for STs. I hope it wasn't for anything else.

If all he can do is be an average kick returner, I doubt he has a spot on the team.

We'll know in a week.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Well let's just hope Ventrone doesn't win the annual Bam Childress award. A player who works hard, has an impressive camp, gets lots of praise and then cut every time.

 

[bradmahn]

I personally don't care for the Aiken hype and I'd love to see a guy like Ventrone make the team for his versatility. But we need to look at numbers here.
QB- 3 Brady, Gutz, KOC
RB- 4/5 Maroney Morris Faulk Evans Jordan
WR- 5 Moss Gaffney Welker Jackson Washington
TE- 2 Watson Thomas
LT- 2 Light Britt
LG- 2 Mankins Hochstein
C- 1/2 Koppen Connolly
RG- 1/2 (3 when Neal returns) Flynn Yates Welbourn?
RT- 2 Kaczur O'Callahan

DL- 5/6 Seymour Warren Wilfork Wright Green (LK Smith?)
OLB- 4 Adalius Vrabel Woods Crable
ILB- 5 Bruschi Mayo Alexander Izzo Guyton
S- 5 Harrison Lynch Meriweather Spann Sanders
CB- 3 Hobbs Bryant Wheatley
plus K, P, LS
That's just a rough estimate but that comes to 51 guys. The limit is 53 and it doesn't include Aiken, or draft picks like Wilhite, Slater etc. It'll be very close, RV could easily be player #53, but on that top 51 list (give or take a Guyton/Alexander) I don't see anyone who would be cut in favor of Ray.
Like I said, I hope he makes it but it's really a number crunch at this point.

From what I've heard and seen, Connolly is more of a practice squad guy and doesn't look to be much more than a body for the sake of a body. What's he have that the other 3 centers don't? How about the other five guards? He seems redundant to me.

I think the roster will look something like this:

QB: 3; Brady, Cassel, O'Connell
RB/FB: 5
WR: 5; Moss, Welker, Gaffney, Jackson, Washington
TE: 2
OL: 9; Light, Mankins, Koppen, Kaczur, Hochstein, Welbourne, Flynn, Britt, O'Callaghan

DL: 6; Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Green, Wright, Smith
LB: 8; Thomas, Mayo, Bruschi, Vrabel, Woods, Crable, Guyton, Alexander
DB: 9; Bryant, Harrison, Meriweather, Hobbs, Wheatley, Sanders, J. <strike>Tank</strike>Lynch, Spann, Wilhite

Gost Hanson Paxton: 3

Jack of all-trades, do-anything-for-the-team, special teams mavens: 2; Slater, Ventrone.

And there's one more spot left for a winner of "show me what you got." Give it to whoever the hell you want.

I'm assuming the worst for Aikens and Neal at this point, IR and PUP, respectively, but either would be easy to add to the roster if they were to become available.

 

[Calciumee]

As UK coverage is awful, I haven't anything of Ventrone. But from all the reports on here and around the web, I really want to see him make the 53!

He seems like the type who will play ANYWHERE!!!! Ask him to play guard and he probably would!