Upgrade Talk Serves as Motivation for Odom

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by goTitans.com, May 14, 2007.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

    23,252
    3,351
    1,059
    It's a myth guys..

    If you still hold on to the belief that players in the nfl need time to develop and will get better forget it. Find a brick, whack yourself upside the head because these are the titans we are talking about the wasteland where promising players come to die. Blame it on bad drafts, bad coaching or players just too lazy to work hard but there has been a plethora or fine looking athletes who come here and never get better.

    Andre woolfolk, easy to just blow him off as a bust today but remember this guy was a solid starting nickel back on jim schwartz's most talented defense in 03. Had rolle or dyson gone down woolfolk was the first option off the bench. Now 4 years after drafting him after the benefit of 4 years of camps, nfl strength training and brilliant coaching woolfolk is about 3 rungs lower on the depth chart and barely on the team.
    Woolfolk is now 27 and has 4 seasons under his belt. Is he ready to rock the house?

    Randy starks, 4.5 sacks as a rookie looked like he was going to be a hell of a player. No improvement at all in 05 and 06 when he had more playing time. He has flattened out.

    Odom and laboy.

    Williams and roby. No noticeable improvement at all from rookie year to 2nd year.

    Lamont thompson only seemed to get worse in our system.

    Reynaldo, declined from rookie year to 2nd year.


    So you guys can forgive me if i'm skeptical about a player doing better as he gets more experience. I'm pulling for them and maybe this will be the year when all our underachieving d-lineman put it together. Maybe haynesworth-starks-odom-laboy as a group get it done.
     
  2. TitanJeff

    TitanJeff Kahuna Grande Staff

    30,461
    11,489
    1,769
    "I always felt dead tired," Odom said. "I'd go to the sideline, catch my breath and come back out. The first play, I'm dead tired again."

    http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/TEN/8784239

    It obviously impacted him his rookie year. And you know Kearse is the exception and not the norm for DEs entering the league.

    Odom flashed in '05 then fizzled. The Titans had defensive packages designed for him heading into '06 when he got hurt.

    He better be motivated entering this season as he becomes a free agent in '08 (I believe).
     
  3. TitanJeff

    TitanJeff Kahuna Grande Staff

    30,461
    11,489
    1,769
    Lump Long in there as well.

    The Titans DL has to improve or the Titans will never get off the defensive cellar.

    And I think it is time to start putting a little heat on Washburn to produce. Though he can't help it when many of these players have gone down to injury or committed stupid acts like stepping on the face of an opponent, he's not getting production from these guys when healthy. Even Robaire Smith appeared to take a step back last season.
     
  4. Soxcat

    Soxcat Pro Bowler

    9,131
    1,117
    679
    I'm beginning to wonder about Washburn as well. We se guys come in on the OL and become productive all the time. DL guys especially the last few years have regressed. The big exception however is KVB who apparently love Washburn and credits Wash for resurrecting his career. Hopefully Odom and LaBoy will start to produce like KVB has but it does make you wonder if there is a problem somewhere, somehow.
     
  5. rcarie

    rcarie Tac Head

    Yeah.. But, when you have guys like Hayneworth kicking people in the head and missing a lot of time it's hard to gain the cohesiveness that they need to get better as a group. Although you would think that Laboy, Odom, or Shcobal would have panned out!! As least one of them!

    I hope Fish doesn't screw around and let our D get him fired.
     
  6. Carpy

    Carpy Disgruntled foreign veteran

    3,520
    285
    399
    From the Keyshawn thread:

    Now I'm confused. What hope should we hold for Williams and Roby in the world of Rolltide?
     
  7. well in rolltides theory they have no chance to get any better, but i also dont see them being any better same with odom
     
  8. Soxcat

    Soxcat Pro Bowler

    9,131
    1,117
    679
    The difference between WRs and DLs is like night and day in the NFL.
    Even the best WRs often take a couple of years to really hit their stride and start producing. Defensive lineman are usually good from the start although they can still improve. Earlier Jeff made the comment about Kearse being an exception. Funny, Mark Anderson a 4th round pick from Alabama just like Odom was awesome as a rookie. Usually if a rookie DL player stinks his first year they usually end up stinking most of their career.
    I do think Odom has a chance because he did show something in flashes but for the position he and LaBoy play they certainly don't give me much confidence and Jacob Ford might have a higher upside right now IMO.
    Because Troupe plays TE, another position that sometimes take a year or two to develop and because Troupe was injured last year I have much higher confidence in him.
     
  9. RollTide

    RollTide All-Pro

    23,252
    3,351
    1,059
    Carpy..

    How is there a contradiction? I made a factual observation recently that williams and roby made no progress from year one to year 2. That is a fact we can't dispute that. In the previous post i'm holding out hope that one or both can be a good player. What we know is that both have been disappointments what we don't know is if that will change. If recent titans history is any quide it doesn't look good but what choice do we have.

    I also said in that quote that we have made the investment in guys like them and we need follow it through.

    The main point in my last post is that we can't just assume a player will get better with seasoning. That doesn't mean some won't but it isn't something we can count on.

    Carpy in that keyshawn debate i also mentioned other financial factors for why we need to hold out hope for williams and roby..
     
  10. TitanJeff

    TitanJeff Kahuna Grande Staff

    30,461
    11,489
    1,769
    There are number of top DL who didn't produce much their first three seasons.

    Michael Strahan only averaged 4.3 sacks per season his first three years. Jason Taylor averaged 5.5. Both played in a lot more games than Odom did.

    Travis LaBoy is averaging 4.5 as much as he's been sidelined the last three seasons.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  • Welcome to goTitans.com

    Established in 2000, goTitans.com is the place for Tennessee Titans fans to talk Titans. Our roots go back to the Tennessee Oilers Fan Page in 1997 and we currently have 4,000 diehard members with 1.5 million messages. To find out about advertising opportunities, contact TitanJeff.
  • The Tip Jar

    For those of you interested in helping the cause, we offer The Tip Jar. For $2 a month, you can become a subscriber and enjoy goTitans.com without ads.

    Hit the Tip Jar