It appears the Ravens might be releasing Leach, if so he will be well within our salary cap. What do you think? http://sports.yahoo.com/news/baltimore-ravens-releasing-vonta-leach-move-223200638.html According to Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore Ravens are preparing to release veteran fullback Vonta Leach. The move could happen as soon as Tuesday, as the Ravens will first try to trade Leach before releasing him. Leach is due a base salary of $3 million in 2013, with a salary-cap figure of $4.33 million. For a team that could use some breathing room financially as training camp looms and talented players could hit the open market, getting rid of Leach's cap figure is a huge relief. But, releasing the best fullback in the NFL can't get dismissed as just a money-saving decision that won't hurt the team. Even though Baltimore Offensive Coordinator Jim Caldwell doesn't incorporate a fullback heavily into his play-calling repertoire, Leach's incomparable ability to pave the way for trailing running backs helped open up the entire offense during his two-year tenure in Baltimore.
Hmm, interesting. I'd hate to give up on Lane, plus Javorski is suck a cool name. and he's a helluva lot cheaper.
Cam Cameron loved fullbacks, Caldwell not so much. While on that subject, no one brings to light that firing Cam saved the team and won them the SB.
I think you could get away with having Charles Clay fill that role even if you bring in Leach. After all, Green Bay often kept two fullbacks on their roster when Philbin was there with a mix between Quinn Johnson, John Kuhn, and John Hall. Charles Clay's enough of a hybrid player that you could roster a strictly blocking FB like Leach in my opinion. And, it's not like Miami was force-feeding Lane passes. He caught 11 on the year. http://www.nfl.com/player/jorvorskielane/2536532/careerstats For comparison's sake, Leach caught 21 last year, and 15 the year before. He's also tallied two other season's with at least 20 receptions, including a career-high of 25 in 2007 for the Texans. http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/6301/vonta-leach
I'd be surprised if Ireland shelled out $3m on a fullback. Even the best fullback. That said, if we get him, immediately add 300 yards and 3 rushing TDs to Millers projected stats.
With the OL probably needing several games to Gel, I'd say it would be Leach would be a good signing. Our 4th down conversion rate last year wasn't a fluke. Lane had a decline last year.
Sherman's Packers had all-pro William Henderson, Najeh Davenport, and Vonta Leach. When Sherman resurfaced as the Texans's OC, the unheralded Vonta Leach followed him to Houston, where he soon became the best FB in football. At this time, the team does not have a FB or TE that it can count on, which may limit it's play-calling to pick up a critical 1st down.
I would not at all be surprised if they took a whiff of Vonta Leach. I think the team showed their feelings a little bit when they signed up those two extra fullbacks as undrafted free agents. One of them is a converted offensive lineman. I suppose it's easy to just overlook them as nothing signings but I don't think you bring three pure fullbacks (in addition to Charles Clay, who has experience there) to training camp as some nothing decision made out of pure whim. If this passing game with the new puzzle pieces and still young and unproven quarterback is taking time to mature they're going to need to rely on the ground game. Anything they can do to help ensure that's there as a safety net should help.
Definitely wouldn't mind us taking a look at Leach especially with his past connection to Sherman, people can overlook the fullbacks role but Mack Strong got Shaun Alexander to a Madden cover and a good one can make a big difference to a running game. I'm not sold at all on Lane; he's basically a fat running back that we've tried to convert and i'm not convinced, he offers a bit more than most fullbacks in terms of carries and catches out of the backfield but i'd rather take someone who is good at the primary job which is lead blocking.
On the day that the Dolphins have former Rutgers linebacker Ryan D'Imperio trying out to potentially replace former offensive lineman Rupert Bryan as the third pure fullback on the roster for training camp, I have to think the sudden availability of one of the league's best pure fullbacks, a guy who happens to have played for your offensive coordinator before, would look pretty serendipitous to this front office.
I think Lane is at worst pretty solid, and I think he's got some upside but even with that he's probably not Vonta Leach. Continuing in the vein ck mentioned, they're trying out another fullback today. That's what, five at training camp today(Including Clay), plus pretty much every tight end is going to have some level of H-Back on their plate. This might be a bit less spread-oriented team than people are anticipating.