Duke Preston Signed

[Waldo]

The Green Bay Packers have made a big addition to their offensive line, agreeing to terms on a free agent contract with 6-5, 326-pound guard / center Duke Preston, according to agent Craig Domann.

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/packers.html

That's pretty cool. He's got good raw ability and is a 4 position lineman (no LT), at worst the first guy off the bench interior guy, at best our starting RT.

Wells is good as gone.

[Lurker64]

Sweet, our first free true free agent signing. (I believe the Smith was a cut).

[3irty1]

From his Wikipedia page:

Duke is widely believed to be the best golfer in the NFL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Preston

[Waldo]

From his Wikipedia page:

Duke is widely believed to be the best golfer in the NFL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Preston

Too bad Longwell wasn't still around. That guy played a mean game too.

[red]

good news

sounds like a nice pickup

is he a road grader type at that size, or is he a zone blocking guy?

could this be a sign that we're starting to ditch the zbs?

[mission]

Good, this is a nice signing.

I don't see any golf reference on his Wiki, but it looks like Waldo is in there editing the page as we speak.

I always wondered what kind of people actually contributed to Wikipedias... I think I have my answer now.

[oregonpackfan]

His flexibility and athleticism sound impressive.

With a lineman signing like this, I guess that means the Packers won't be drafting Max Unger from the Oregon Ducks next month. Among Unger's assets, NFL scouts claimed Unger was capable of playing all 5 OL positions at the NFL level.

[Waldo]

good news

sounds like a nice pickup

is he a road grader type at that size, or is he a zone blocking guy?

could this be a sign that we're starting to ditch the zbs?

Both, he's a Sitton type, he's really big, but has the athleticism to be a ZBS guy.

[Waldo]

His flexibility and athleticism sound impressive.

With a lineman signing like this, I guess that means the Packers won't be drafting Max Unger from the Oregon Ducks next month. Among Unger's assets, NFL scouts claimed Unger was capable of playing all 5 OL positions at the NFL level.

Unger > Preston

I doubt this would stop us from taking Max. If Colledge is going to end up at LT eventually, Max is the best replacement in the draft for him at LG.

I think that Duke will compete to start at RT (he has starting experience there), if not he competes with Spitz and Wells at C. If Wells does not win the C spot, he's a goner, both Spitz and Duke have far more bench value, they can back up the entire interior as the primary backup.

[Waldo]

Just about every lineman TT has drafted or otherwise acquired since we started running the ZBS had a SS<4.6 and a 3C<7.6, aside from Spitz, who was close, his cone was a little slow. Duke is no exception. Those numbers are exceptionally good for a lineman, you can count on one hand the number of guys that meet that criteria in this draft per combine #'s (not sure about the pro days and guys not invited to the combine).

And yes, Unger is one of those few (Eric Wood is another).

[GoPackGo]

You have to like this signing. Duke is a far cry from Adrian Klemm and it sounds as if C Scott Wells might be demoted soon

[Joemailman]

Bad news for Tony Moll.

[Fritz]

I hope that in practice when he gets walked back Campen yells "Use the force, Duke!"

[sharpe1027]

You have to like this signing. Duke is a far cry from Adrian Klemm and it sounds as if C Scott Wells might be demoted soon

Yeah, I was already thinking Wells was in danger with the guys we had. You have to think he's going to have to show something extra this year to survive.

[Fritz]

There seems to be room to draft one early-round (rounds 1 - 3) and one late round (6 and 7) offensive linemen yet. Moll is replaceable, and this is Barbre's make-or-break year, I think.

Plus Breno Giacominiminimenomi is hobbling, and Clifton's had his annual surgical clean-up.