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The Jets signed right tackle J.B. Shugarts on Tuesday. Let’s take a look at what he brings to the table, and if he truly has a chance to hang round . . .
Shugarts clearly has an intriguing skillset, because this if the fourth team kicking the tires on him over the last year.
He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Ohio State after the 2012 draft by the Cleveland Browns. He had a good camp last summer with the Browns, and was signed to their practice squad.
Also, last season, he spent three weeks on the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad.
Dallas signed him in May, but released him last Wednesday due to some roster re-shuffling.
Look, I’m not going to overrate the guy, but when four teams sign him, it tells you he’s not just a guy, and there is some potential upside here.
He’s 6-6, 299 pounds, and the weight looks natural on him – he’s not fat. In fact, he has the frame to carry more.
He is one of those guys who was a high school tight end, but bulked up when he got to college and moved to tackle.
He also was a very good high school basketball player.
So when you hear tight end and basketball in an offensive tackle’s past, that usually means he has decent foot quickness.
But Shugarts has a lot of work to do.
One consistent rap on him is he plays too upright, a common problem for tall linemen. He needs to be more of a knee-bender, and less of a waist-bender (waist-bending is a no-no).
Aside from playing too upright, another reason he might have gone undrafted coming out of school was he was charged as a freshman with a misdemeanor for possession of drug paraphernalia. He and Mike Adams (Pittsburgh Steelers OT), were pulled over in Columbus for running a stop sign, and a pipe was found in the car.
But the charges were eventually dropped because the pipe didn’t have pot residue in it.
Some of Shugarts’ positive attributes include long arms and a nasty demeanor.
Obviously he’s a long shot to make it, but it’s not like Oday Aboushi is a lock for that backup tackle spot. So it’s not as if Shugart is battling a proven commodity for a roster spot.
If Shugarts has a good camp, he could at the very least grab a practice squad spot.
We are talking about a three-year starter at right tackle for Ohio State, a very good offensive line school that cranks out pros like crazy.
I love to write about these kind of players, but over the last few years, sometimes I felt like was wasting my time, because it seemed like 95 percent of roster decisions were made before camp started.
I didn’t find the Jets brass that open minded the last few years.
But new Jets GM John Idzik keeps saying, over and over again, that he’s all about competition.
And considering the Seattle Seahawks have been all about that under Pete Carroll the last three years, I do think Idzik truly is into it.
You hear new Jacksonville Jaguars coach Gus Bradley talk, and he can’t stop talking about how much he loves competition. He was Seattle’s defensive coordinator under Carroll.
That was clearly a mantra in the Seahawks building.
So expect it to carry over to the Jets.
July 23, 2013
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