Bye bye Eslinger

[hilife]

Browns signed C Greg Eslinger off the Broncos' practice squad.
The athletic Eslinger was viewed as a decent prospect for zone blocking coming out of Minnesota in 2006, but wound up in NFL Europa this spring. He'll be low on the depth chart behind Hank Fraley and Lennie Friedman.


http://rotoworld.com/content/playerp...rt=NFL&id=3750

[Dream]

Best of luck to Greg in the future.

[Javalon]

Well, unless he finds that he likes Cleveland a lot I would expect him back next training camp.

[Cugel]

He had a great amount of talent in college and won the Rimminton Award or something for the best C in college(?)

But he was never quick and strong enough to deal with huge NFL DTs and that was that. He never made the transition to the pros. Some college players don't. He was a 6th round draft pick, so it's not a big loss.
I hope he can succeed, but he's looking a lot like many of the scrub players Denver has brought in over the years and for some reason the fans latch onto them and there are endless threads asking "what happened to that TE prospect who never played football in college?"

And then you have to spend more time explaining "not everybody turns out like Antonio Gates."

Then a month goes by and it's the same question all over again. Same thing with Eslinger. He never panned out. That's what happened to him. Now he's going to the incredible perennial Super-bowl champion Browns!

Well, they are, aren't they?

NO? Well, I'm sure he'll fit right in? (Not sure how, since they seemed to be beefing up their O-line with the addition of #1 pick Joe Thomas, 6'6" 315 lbs. That's more like the traditional NFL OL, not undersized wimpy Eslinger.

[Nick]

wait wait wait, how did they sign him off "our" practice squad? Do we get a draft pick then? I mean he is still was on "our" team right?

[broncolee]

wait wait wait, how did they sign him off "our" practice squad? Do we get a draft pick then? I mean he is still was on "our" team right?

That's not how it works. Any team can sign a player off another team's practice squad as long as they sign the player to their 53 man roster. Larry Birdine, the DE that the Broncos just signed, was on the Titan's practice squad.

[Gurada]

I hoped Eslinger would work out, but over the last couple years he hasn't been able to put on the weight and size that would be needed to take on the bigger DTs. Well, not necessarily weight and size, but strength. He was great in NFL Europa, but still got pushed around too much by the bigger of the DTs

[hilife]

I'm not suprised that his size caused enough of a handcap to let him go although most of the o-line are smaller and have a little trouble with the bigger DT. I thought I heard somewhere that he put on like 10 pounds and was playing better. Looks like I heard wrong. Looks like we will be drafting a center in the upcoming draft since we have no backup to Myers (except Hamilton) and Nalen will probably not play next year.

[Wigglesworth]

I hoped Eslinger would work out, but over the last couple years he hasn't been able to put on the weight and size that would be needed to take on the bigger DTs. Well, not necessarily weight and size, but strength. He was great in NFL Europa, but still got pushed around too much by the bigger of the DTs

If we want another center, and we're smart, we should draft the kid from Bowling Green. The team is pretty bad this year but I've seen them play several times and he's really good. Cory Lichtenstieger, 6'3" 300lbs (nearly the same body type as Nalen). He's quick and strong. I've seen him pancake nosetackles, and I've seen him pull to lead block for running plays. He's got good hands and quick feet, he gets off of blocks well so he's frequently in the secondary to throw blocks on screens and runs. He pass protects well, though they run the shotgun spread. What's more he is very consistant snapping to shotgun and he appears to have a high stance when the QB is under center, which Jay seems to prefer. I know that good lineman don't typically come from the MAC but this guy would be a good investment. Anyway, I think this kid is better now than Eslinger was when he was at Minnesota.

[Thrasher]

Nothing that really bothers me. If he gets some playing time which I doubt I won't except him to make plays. I saw him play with the Centurions and his play was pretty decent, for NFLE level. Hence, nothing special