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DeGuglielmo: Wayne Hunter is Starting RT.


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Jets offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo says no doubt Wayne Hunter is starting right tackle

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 6:23 PM Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 6:25 PM

3492.png By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger

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11031766-large.jpgAndrew Mills/The Star-LedgerWayne Hunter was heavily praised by his new offensive line coach.

Dave DeGuglielmo, the Jets' new offensive line coach, did not hold back in his praise of right tackle Wayne Hunter, going so far as to liken his physique to that of a god and a Roman warrior.

Despite Hunter's inconsistent play in 2011, his first season as a starter, DeGuglielmo said in no uncertain terms that Hunter's starting job is not in jeopardy. He believes "this is his year."

"This guy is the starting right tackle," DeGugliemo said. "Until they tell me otherwise, until they ship him out of this building or until they shoot me dead in my office, that sonofagun is going to be the starting right tackle. And he's going to play well."

DeGuglielmo indicated that there may have been questions about Hunter elsewhere in the Jets organization, and the guaranteed $2.45 million salary he's due. Tannenbaum said after the draft that Hunter is "competing for a position here."

DeGuglielmo clearly disagrees, and he said GM Mike Tannenbaum smiled at his opinion of Hunter, telling him he's glad he has such strong opinions of his players.

"I speak my piece to people in power," said DeGuglielmo, who took over for respected line coach Bill Callahan. "I don’t make those decisions, but I'm telling you, this guy has skills. If you find one out there better than that playing that position, bring him to me."

Hunter was the target of frequent public criticism in 2011, his first year as a starter. According to football statistics website ProFootballFocus.com, Hunter gave up 11 sacks last year, third most in the league. DeGuglielmo said he can't speak to what happened last year, adding "You'd have to ask

Bill Callahan. I think he's in the directory in Dallas."

In DeGuglielmo's opinion, Hunter had some good plays and some bad ones, like any other tackle in the league. He thinks the negative perception of Hunter "snowballed."

"I see many, many more great things, and I see the upside, I see the movement skills, the explosiveness. Those are the things I see on film," DeGugliemo said. "How it all worked out? I don't know, but I know this much: the guy I have in that room right now, the guy that communicates with me is nothing like the guy -- I did a little research before I took this job -- nothing like the guy people explained that I would have. He is not introverted, he is not any of the things people say he is. He has a great personality, great energy, great desire and great skills. It looks like the makings of something great."

DeGugliemo said one of the things that was most appealing to him about this job was working with Hunter. He said when Hunter was a free agent last summer, he and Tony Sparano, then the Dolphins head coach, hoped to bring him to Miami.

"I wanted Wayne Hunter, so the last thing I would ever want to see happen is not have Wayne Hunter as the starting right tackle," DeGugliemo said. "He’s big, he's athletic, he’s aggressive, he's a smart guy, he practices at top speed, he practices physical, he pays attention to detail. Everything you give him to do on the field, he does it and he does it naturally."

DeGugliemo's bold statements did not stop with Hunter. He deemed center Nick Mangold smart enough to fly the space shuttle, and said that former second-round pick Vlad Ducasse "is not a bust."

He says he expects the five starters in place from last year to carry over, and he believes that unit has the "makings of the best line in football." And he's not concerned about living up to Callahan, who was well-respected and liked by his players.

"The difference between me and Bill: I have a Super Bowl ring, and he doesn't," said DeGugliemo, who won a Super Bowl XLII ring as the Giants' assistant offensive line coach. "I'm not worried about the ghost of Bill Callahan."

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I think this article is proof that Bill Belichick is at his dirty tricks again. It's clear LSD has been induced into the drinking water at the Jets complex.

How else could some one who has seen Hunter play last year say something like: "one of the things that was most appealing to him about this job was working with Hunter"

I demand an investigation

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He takes a not so veiled swipe at Callahan. Sort of insinuating that Callahan had something in his blocking scheme that made Hunter suck.

IDK

But then again Hunter played fairly well at the end of 2010. We'll see, but if the OL coach has anything to say about it there won't even be competition in camp for the spot.

I hate when coaches announce starters in May

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I think this article is proof that Bill Belichick is at his dirty tricks again. It's clear LSD has been induced into the drinking water at the Jets complex.

How else could some one who has seen Hunter play last year say something like: "one of the things that was most appealing to him about this job was working with Hunter"

I demand an investigation

I do agree that last year pretty much outweighs the other 8 years of Hunter's otherwise solid NFL career. I mean if you can't block for Mark Sanchez, who can you block for?

Why doesn't Hunter get the "yeah well Schotty did it" card that everyone else on the offense (except Holmes) gets?

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This is what makes Hunter such a mystery. He did play very well when Woody was out, and Callahan did call him "the most physically gifted O-linemen on the team." Now, another O-line coach is talking about him like he's Orlando Pace. The Jets really need him to come around and if he can get back to playing the way he did a couple of years ago, the O-line will be fine. Obviously hoping last year was an abberation.

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This is what makes Hunter such a mystery. He did play very well when Woody was out, and Callahan did call him "the most physically gifted O-linemen on the team." Now, another O-line coach is talking about him like he's Orlando Pace. The Jets really need him to come around and if he can get back to playing the way he did a couple of years ago, the O-line will be fine. Obviously hoping last year was an abberation.

Well the CS certainly seem convinced he can do it, The Jets have made NO attempt to replace him. Now they are saying there won't even be a competition.

I guess we'll have to trust them, they see him every day. Maybe Callahan did screw the OL up last year. Sure hoe they are right. i still have nightmares about Adrian Clarke

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Well the CS certainly seem convinced he can do it, The Jets have made NO attempt to replace him. Now they are saying there won't even be a competition.

I guess we'll have to trust them, they see him every day. Maybe Callahan did screw the OL up last year. Sure hoe they are right. i still have nightmares about Adrian Clarke

Then again FG-this all comes from the same team that keeps telling us how great Vlad DuCasse is going to be and all the great strides he has taken...someone needs to post a picture of a grain of salt for me

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"This guy is the starting right tackle," DeGugliemo said. "Until they tell me otherwise, until they ship him out of this building or until they shoot me dead in my office, that sonofagun is going to be the starting right tackle. And he's going to play well."

This guy should play Mafia with us.

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Then again FG-this all comes from the same team that keeps telling us how great Vlad DuCasse is going to be and all the great strides he has taken...someone needs to post a picture of a grain of salt for me

I hear ya SFJ. That's what worries me. They keep talking Vlad up, Tannenbaum says Hunter will have to compete, now DeGuglielmo says they will have to shoot him if Hunter doesn't start.

Someone speaks with forked tongue.

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The real question is If Hunter is the Starting RT, no questions asked, then how bad is Ducasse and how bad are the back ups in general ? Are we going to go into the season again with terrible depth ? Before Woody got hurt we were lucky that our O-Line stayed relatively healthy for 3 years in a row we cant count on that kind of luck every season or to happen consistently. This team better seriously think about getting some real back ups in here since the best one we had (Turner) is now a Ram. If we stay as we are now are we going into this season in the same or worse shape than last year ? If someone gets nicked up for a few games do we want Ducasse filling that spot ? I guess we will find out In preseason since the starters dont really play much

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Before Woody got hurt we were lucky that our O-Line stayed relatively healthy for 3 years in a row we cant count on that kind of luck every season or to happen consistently.

You mean like last year when the whole interior OL played injured and both tackles had their worst seasons in a long time?

The team has like 6 OL behind these guys including one or two they really like. I'd bet money they don't miss Turner a bit. He was barely missed last year when he missed the season despite the drop in OL play.

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You mean like last year when the whole interior OL played injured and both tackles had their worst seasons in a long time?

The team has like 6 OL behind these guys including one or two they really like. I'd bet money they don't miss Turner a bit. He was barely missed last year when he missed the season despite the drop in OL play.

Turner was a solid "do everything" type backup, which is certainly nice to have, but I don't get the big hard-on for the guy. The team didn't even attempt to bring him back, so what does that really tell you. The Jets clearly really like Schlauderaff and sounds sure to already be planted as the first guy off the bench for the interior line (and perhaps even the heir apparent at whatever starting G spot opens up first), with Ducasse serving as the same for the tackle spots. While I can get not being 100% sold on the OL due to the down year, but I'm not sure what a guy like Turner was going to do about that. Let's not forget, he's the same guy who they wouldn't even let compete for the LG job two years ago.

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You mean like last year when the whole interior OL played injured and both tackles had their worst seasons in a long time?

The team has like 6 OL behind these guys including one or two they really like. I'd bet money they don't miss Turner a bit. He was barely missed last year when he missed the season despite the drop in OL play.

I know you dont read what I write but do you bother to read what you write ?

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Turner was a solid "do everything" type backup, which is certainly nice to have, but I don't get the big hard-on for the guy. The team didn't even attempt to bring him back, so what does that really tell you. The Jets clearly really like Schlauderaff and sounds sure to already be planted as the first guy off the bench for the interior line (and perhaps even the heir apparent at whatever starting G spot opens up first), with Ducasse serving as the same for the tackle spots. While I can get not being 100% sold on the OL due to the down year, but I'm not sure what a guy like Turner was going to do about that. Let's not forget, he's the same guy who they wouldn't even let compete for the LG job two years ago.

BG Turner was a good back up and that is all. Never expected him to start but he filled a role. With what we went into last season with and the way the line fell apart when Mangold got hurt are you comfortable with Ducasse and Schlauderaff ?

Im fine with the starters and Im fine if the Jets feel Hunter will rebound since we did see him play well the year before last at the end of the season and through the playoffs, but If one guy goes down Im not sure what we have to step in wont cause the entire line to impolde again

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