I was surprised to find his name in the unsigned portion of free agents. At 28, he comes with 6'2", 290 lbs physique, and I don't see why we shouldn't give him a look. My question is: 1. Was he 'cut'? or is he subject to the Final 8 rule? 2. Should we look at him? Faneca isn't getting younger. True, Lilja is about 15 pounds lighter - which is why Colts parted ways - but can he bulk up? I think he can. EDIT: He was RELEASED. Thus Jets are free to sign this kid.
He would be good depth, unless it was injury related or something more complicated. Edit: He is a midget for a starting guard though.
I believe you are correct. I don't know much about him, but FootballOutsiders considered him a pretty damn good guard for 2007. He missed the entire 2008 season and maybe he took a step back in 2009.
From what I have seen, I can tell you that it was not the performance that drove him out of Indy. I think Indy realized that they need to be able to run the ball effectively, and to do that, they are trying to get bigger up front. As a result, Lilja was the odd man out. (6'2" and 290, pretty light for a LG) If you watched AFCGG last year, he held on strong against our front 7 without much problem. I would tend to think that he'd be much better at pass protection than Faneca, even though he could be a liability at creating running lane. He would have to be pulled almost exclusively to be used effectively - or zone blocking scheme might suit him very well. I don't know if Callahan is utilizing zone blocking scheme (I don't think he does, if you ask me) but I would think he's worth a look - you don't get a starting guard quality player off the block every day.
Callahan did install a lot of zone blocking this year, actually. A bit in 2008 until Favre cried about the confusing playbook, a lot more this past season. But I'm not really interested in an undersized guard in any event. http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2009/12/new_zone_scheme_is_opening_doo.html http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2010/01/07/thursday-and-long-technicians-power-jets-run-game/
Indeed. If such is the case, then I am all for Lilja addition. In zone-blocking scheme, athletic ability takes the premium over size and brute strength. If he has as quick feet as Faneca, then Jets may do very well to add him to their roster. What's ironic is that, in zone blocking scheme, Lilja might find himself pushing the monster DL aside and create holes - the defense does not know where the chip block is coming, so they tend to get hesitant, which pretty much nullifies the need for the size or brute strength.
