NICK OF TIME: Two days after saying he didn't expect his switch to fullback to be permanent, LB Nick Bellore showed up for practice wearing No. 48 in the white (offense) jersey. Uh, it might be temporarily permanent. This came form Cimini's practice report.
Why is the team so down on him? Didn't Rex make a damning comment about him earlier in training camp?
trying a guy as a project position doesnt mean they are down on him...theyll move bellore to the PS and let him transition into the new position.
Listen...I know that....I guess you didn't catch the rumblings that Rex has not been happy with Connor.....
I've watched about every PC so far and I can't recall him making any major negative comments about Conner...At least not major. The only guy who he out and out was negative on was Kerley.
Shortly after the tebow trade a reporter asked if Conner was still his FB and he said "for now" or something harmless but non-commital and people ran with it like rex was about to cut Conner. It was nothing really. Rex wants g&p, he's not getting rid of a very good blocking fb on a cheap rookie deal.
the only players he wouldn't say that about on the team are Sanchez, Revis, Cro, and Holmes. Other than that he'd of given the same answer.
I'm not so sure... There's been a lot of smoke this offseason about Conner's job not being guaranteed. Josh Baker is a solid H-Back type who can do some things out of the backfield that Conner can't do. The thing with Conner: when he makes the block, he's good at clearing his guy out of the play. But too often, he doesn't make the block he's supposed to, or he takes a poor angle. He's no Tony Richardson, that's for sure. He's still young, so it's hard to give up on him. But, he's also a fullback, so it's not like he's indispensable. When I looked at the roster this offseason, I figured the writing might be on the wall for either Mauga or Bellore. Most 53-man roster projections I've seen have left Bellore off. Bellore was one of our best special teamers last year. This, to me, screams of a Tannenbaum move of using 1 roster spots to fill a few positions. If Bellore can be a decent lead blocker, he can get a couple snaps in the backfield, more if he's better than expected. If we get hit with injuries at LB, he can maybe step in. But mostly, he can be the last guy on the roster every week and play special teams. I'm not saying Conner is definitely gone. But I wouldn't be shocked if he wasn't on the opening day roster.. I'd say it's 75-25 Conner makes the team because I can't imagine Bellore being good enough yet where they would be willing to let him play FB in an actual regular season game.
Yes.... Bellore would be taking his roster spot in this scenario, not his jersey number. Unless he really wanted the number 38, then it would be available.
Post a link to these 'rumblings' or... uh... ... shut the fuck up? A linebacker playing situational FB means absolutely squat. Conner was crushing defensive linemen on Saturday.
Mack... I have respect for your opinion, but have you been watching Baker? The guy has gotten embarrassed when he isn't on the LOS. His leverage isn't nearly what a running team needs as a lead blocker, and Sparano uses the fullback position far more than Schotty did. We need more than an h-back at that position.