Sherrod, Richardson, and the Rest of the PUPpies

[CaptainKickass]

Almost completely irrelevant....

[denverYooper]

Almost completely irrelevant....

Great song.

[red]

We have to remember he is still technically a rookie as far as reps go.

true, but he's a rookie who has almost taken the last 3 years off. no working out no practicing, no learning how to be better.

i can't imagine he's anywhere near being in pro football shape

i've written him off already in my mind, anything we get from him will be an unexpected bonus IMO

[bobblehead]

true, but he's a rookie who has almost taken the last 3 years off. no working out no practicing, no learning how to be better.

i can't imagine he's anywhere near being in pro football shape

i've written him off already in my mind, anything we get from him will be an unexpected bonus IMO

I am the biggest (tied with pbmax) sherrod supporter/believer here and this is my sentiment. It would be very hard for him to contribute this year. Not impossible, but difficult.

I also think he is our starting LT next year. He has every tool you want. Playing guard isn't the same as tackle and he never should have been shuffled around. Barclay, imo, is a guard. He doesn't move well in space but is a high effort grunt. Sherrod is the opposite, graceful, long arms, good feet. He is a tackle all the way.

[Joemailman]

I am the biggest (tied with pbmax) sherrod supporter/believer here and this is my sentiment. It would be very hard for him to contribute this year. Not impossible, but difficult.

I also think he is our starting LT next year. He has every tool you want. Playing guard isn't the same as tackle and he never should have been shuffled around. Barclay, imo, is a guard. He doesn't move well in space but is a high effort grunt. Sherrod is the opposite, graceful, long arms, good feet. He is a tackle all the way.

Precisely the way I see it. When I watched college film of him, I saw Clifton. Same strengths and weaknesses. Pretty sure they never tried Clifton at Guard.

[pbmax]

Agree with above and Patler had it right earlier. Whatever advantages PUP offers, they might not be enough to get him into game shape because there is simply not enough reps, padded or not for him to knock all the rust off.

However, given that they activated him the first week he was eligible and that McCarthy said he expects him to play, I do expect to see him on the roster unless he is making zero progress.

Lane Taylor can survive waivers and get the PS again for Guard depth. This is not a slam dunk, given the position depth that Taylor represents (McGinn's point) and given that we know very little about how he has looked. But so far I think the news points to him getting activated and riding the pine. He can play RT, but it will be the mirror of Barclay, better pass blocking and worse run blocking.

Did anyone see the Steelers lose their RT to Chadler Jones being sent flying around Big Ben into the back of Marcus Gilbert. Looked like play Sherrod got rolled on. Gilbert hurt his ankle though, judging by trainers on field looking at his leg.

[Patler]

Precisely the way I see it. When I watched college film of him, I saw Clifton. Same strengths and weaknesses. Pretty sure they never tried Clifton at Guard.

Clifton? Clifton was known for a stunning punch that stopped guys in their tracks. Sherrod, not so much.

Sherrod seems to be more like a bigger, quicker Newhouse. Hopefully, a more intense Newhouse.

[pbmax]

Clifton? Clifton was known for a stunning punch that stopped guys in their tracks.

I don't quite remember that punch. He caught a lot of guys and absorbed the rush.

Might be a matter of late career technique change. Most tackles, left and right don't even try to get inside position much anymore. They are seeking to latch onto shoulder pad caps that are loose useful for hand holds.

[Patler]

I don't quite remember that punch. He caught a lot of guys and absorbed the rush.

Might be a matter of late career technique change. Most tackles, left and right don't even try to get inside position much anymore. They are seeking to latch onto shoulder pad caps that are loose useful for hand holds.

D-linemen mentioned it time and time again through out his career. Can't remember who, but one said that every year on the first pass play against the Packers it would always shock him because it was so intense. Clifton was often rated among the best LTs in pass pro, but fairly poor in the run game, and more often that not his punch was mentioned. I remember one that said he didn't have to be as quick, because he could literally make rushers start over because his punch would stop their momentum.

Clifton was plenty nimble enough, but for most of his career, he didn't look like he had to move as much as the guys we have watched at his spot since, even against the best pass rushers. He slowed them early with a couple of solid sets and punches, and always seemed to be in control from there on. Not hanging on by his fingernails as Newhouse often did, and as Bakhtiari does as well, but not as often and with more intensity and determination than Newhouse showed.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Sherrod showed solid potential when he played in regular season games his rookie year. Remember that offseason work got wiped out that year and the Packers cross-trained him at OG--which made his transition even more difficult. If he can get and stay healthy, I think he could develop into a solid starter.

[Patler]

The Packers cross-train most of the O-linemen, especially their tackles. Bulaga played guard, Newhouse played guard, Datko played guard. There was talk after the draft of giving Bakhtiari reps at guard. Tauscher played guard in league games when Rivera was gimpy and limited one year. The fact that they tried Sherrod there for a couple weeks was no big deal, and not at all unusual.

We fall into two camps here. Some like Harvey think Sherrod showed solid potential in his limited exposure at tackle during the regular season as a rookie. I never felt that he did. I hope I am wrong.

[Guiness]

D-linemen mentioned it time and time again through out his career. Can't remember who, but one said that every year on the first pass play against the Packers it would always shock him because it was so intense. Clifton was often rated among the best LTs in pass pro, but fairly poor in the run game, and more often that not his punch was mentioned. I remember one that said he didn't have to be as quick, because he could literally make rushers start over because his punch would stop their momentum.

Clifton was plenty nimble enough, but for most of his career, he didn't look like he had to move as much as the guys we have watched at his spot since, even against the best pass rushers. He slowed them early with a couple of solid sets and punches, and always seemed to be in control from there on. Not hanging on by his fingernails as Newhouse often did, and as Bakhtiari does as well, but not as often and with more intensity and determination than Newhouse showed.

Clifton did do it seemingly without moving. He always seemed to have control of his man as he dropped back and used him to help build the pocket. I heard the punch mentioned as well, but that's hard to pick up on tv.

The Packers had a weird rotation on the OL for a while. An injury at tackle would have Winters move outside (a center moving to tackle???), one of the guards playing center and someone coming in at guard iirc. Also interesting about that is that Whale was not the first choice to be moved to tackle.

[pbmax]

Cross training makes sense if the player can man the position. It didn't make sense for either Clifton or Sherrod. Clifton was a backup in his rookie camp (to Wahle) and while my memory cannot be trusted on the matter, I do not recall him ever being mentioned as having snaps at Guard, much less the majority of his rookie year camp time.

But I think Sherrod, more than anyone else the Packers have rolled out for the O line, looked like Clifton in pass pro. He wasn't as reliable or accomplished, but he got back in his set just as nimbly and then found the guy with his hands fast. Once he locked on, the guy never shook loose. And that is what Clifton looked like in pass pro. When Sherrod first entered his games (esp. the first when Bulaga got banged up) he could lose his guy by lunging and missing, especially inside. But that ended after two or three snaps. Still unsure what he will look like run blocking. I recall his staying with his guy, but like McGinn's practice report, not getting much movement.

Bulaga can give up a pass rush on speed to the outside or a counter, Newhouse just never seems in control of the situation and gives up the moment he loses. Lang couldn't move that way (though I think he is a more natural RT than guard). Bach looks like Newhouse except he doesn't let go. But both Bach and Barclay recover like Tauscher. Tauscher often lost the first contact with his guy, but always won the next as he recovered to hit them again. Both the new guys do that. They don't give up.

[Patler]

I think some are making too much of the Sherrod at guard experiment. It lasted only a couple weeks, and he didn't play exclusively at guard. He also played left tackle even during preseason games. I never thought it was a permanent thought, just a look-see to find out if he might be one of the 5 best before a permanent move to tackle later. Colledge had left, and LG was wide open. Clifton was still around, you had a first round draft pick coming in. Why not see if maybe he could handle it for a year or so?

If he is such a natural tackle as many suggest, a few practices at guard certainly didn't corrupt his entire rookie season, especially since he was still getting practice and game snaps at LT even while they looked at him at guard.

[Pugger]

We have to remember the players were locked out right after Sherrod was drafted so he never had the offseason training (rookie camp, mini camps and OTAs) that summer like other rookies had before and since. Yes, he's been playing since he was a kid but the step up from college to the pros is huge from what I hear and missing all of those reps and schooling didn't help Derek at all and then his horrible injury.