SB Nation - Kirk Barton

Angelo's Drafting Prowess Not Seen On Offensive Line

Dane Noble — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:14:44 -0000

After thinking this morning about the three not-so-savvy free agent OL acquisitions (Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale, and Kevin Shaffer) Jerry Angelo brought to Chicago this past offseason, I started wondering about how he has addressed the OL through the draft.

Angelo is, of course, known as a "build through the draft" GM, and many will agree that, in building a team, it all starts in the trenches with the big guys. Lucky for me, I didn't have to do too much research, because Bob LeGere of the Daily Herald covered the topic today.

Since 2003, Jerry Angelo has drafted 8 offensive linemen out of 81 total picks through that span. Not a very high percentage, but then LeGere shows us where those 8 picks have been:

Year	Player	Round	Total picks
2009	Lance Louis	7	9
2008	C. Williams	1	7
2008	C. Adams	7	7
2008	Kirk Barton	7	7
2007	J. Beekman	4	9
2007	Aaron Brandt	7	9
2006	Tyler Reed	6	7
2005	None	N/A	6
2004	None	N/A	8
2003	B. Anderson	7	12

Besides Chris Williams in 2008, only one lineman has been drafted higher than the 6th round (Josh Beekman). And as you can see, in two of those years, we didn't select any. Not exactly building the foundation via the draft like he is known for, is it?

LeGere does go on to make sure we remember that Angelo has had success in the draft...

That's not to condemn Angelo's drafting record. The team's topfive receivers- Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Matt Forte, Johnny Knox, and Greg Olsen- are all Angelo draft picks.

So are six of the top seven tacklers: Lance Briggs, Danieal Manning, Al Afalava, Charles Tillman, Zack Bowman, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, and Marcus Harrison.

It also hasn't been long since Angelo was ranked the #8 General Manager in all of professional sports by Forbes, and third best in the NFL. But, the fact remains that Angelo has not addressed the OL in the draft, and the most recent free agent pick ups have not been worth the time.

It would seem to me that, if he was so "fixated" on getting the QB position right, he would also be fixated on protecting him. You can bet that Jay Cutler is already in someone's ears, telling the organization that this is not going to cut it.

Larry Meyer, senior writer at the Bears official site, sat down for his weekly meeting with Angelo today, and Mayer asked Angelo about scouting for talent:

LM: During the season, how actively do you look to sign players to your 53-man roster that are on other teams’ practice squads or are street free agents?

JA: Very actively. I think we’ve got a very good track record of doing that. We are looking for players all the time that fit what we do to create more competition at positions. To me, we do that as well as anybody. We are always actively looking at bringing players on board. But you can’t do it as a revolving door. If you bring a player in, it’s because you saw something—what he did in college or in the NFL. When you bring him in, there’s got to be a plan for him. These aren’t auditions. We want to bring them in, and further their development. So there has to be a plan. We just don’t pick guys up randomly, bring them in for a couple weeks and then send then down the road. We don’t operate that way. It’s not about collecting talent, it’s about finding players that fit what we do and feel we can win with.

I'm not saying that I don't trust Angelo, but it just doesn't feel very good to get a QB like Cutler, only to have not addressed his protection through the draft or free agency very effectively.

Tuesday Notes: Hanson Has Surgery; Lions Make a Few Roster Moves

Sean Yuille — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:21:07 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

4 months ago: Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson kicks a 47-yard field goal, held by punter Nick Harris, with three seconds remaining to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 27-26 in an exhibition NFL football game, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Browse more photos »

Linebacker Cody Spencer has been placed on the injured reserve after tearing his ACL during a kickoff in the Falcons game.
Kicker Swayze Waters has been re-signed, filling Spencer's spot on the roster. The reason the Lions need a kicker is because Jason Hanson had "minor" knee surgery this morning. Jim Schwartz made it sound like the surgery was nothing major, but anytime a kicker has something done to his knee, concern is only natural, especially when that kicker is Hanson. Hopefully he will be able to return sooner rather than later, as it would hurt to lose Hanson for an extended period of time.
Yesterday, the Lions released wide receiver Bobby Sippio and put offensive tackle Kirk Barton on the waived/injured list. To fill those two spots on the roster, the Lions signed wide receiver Dane Looker and offensive guard Terrence Metcalf. Looker played for the Rams for the last seven years, so he has a connection to Scott Linehan. Metcalf was on the Bears for the past seven seasons.
Jim Schwartz is shutting Brandon Pettigrew down, as his quad injury isn't healing very quickly.
A group of local high school football players attended the Lions' practice this morning.
Peter King thinks Matthew Stafford has an "A-minus NFL arm."
The Lions benefited from a bad call in the Falcons game.
John Niyo has a list of the Lions' injuries going into this past Saturday's Falcons game.
The full Outside The Lines piece on Charles Rogers is now on the Internet.
Tom Kowalski thinks the Lions will go 3-13 this coming season.

Friday Notes: Lions Sign Keary Colbert, Two More Rookie Free Agents

Sean Yuille — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:51:30 -0000

After working out wide receiver Keary Colbert on Wednesday, the Lions signed him on Thursday. Colbert played for the Lions toward the end of last season once the IR started to fill up.
The Lions also signed running back Antone Smith of Florida State and center Dan Gerberry of Ball State. Both players attended last weekend's rookie minicamp as tryouts.
Ernie Sims apparently feels much more comfortable in the Lions' new defense.
New Lions offensive lineman Kirk Barton recently had an interesting experience at a Britney Spears concert. He also is staying in a hotel for 56 nights on the Lions' tab. Barton thinks the Lions are "head and shoulders" above other NFL teams he's played for when it comes to ownership and food.
Grady Jackson was excused from the OTA earlier this week for "personal reasons," and we now know exactly why he was gone. His brother, a football player hoping to make it in the NFL, allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend and then shot himself. His brother survived the shooting and was arraigned on a first-degree murder charge. What is so odd about this story is that Jackson's brother survived a shooting back in 2002. In that case he was an innocent victim, and the shooting put his football career on hold. Only now did he work his way back to the point where he had a shot at getting a tryout with an NFL team, and now he has thrown it all away.
As most of you heard yesterday, ESPN officially hired Matt Millen.
Brett Favre reportedly is not going to unretire -- at least not yet, anyways. It is only May, after all. I'm willing to bet this isn't the last we will hear of this story. In fact, if I had to make a prediction, I would say late June/early July is when talk of Favre signing with the Vikings comes about again.

Tuesday Notes: Lions Claim OT Kirk Barton

Sean Yuille — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:28:41 -0000

Just a heads up, I plan on posting scouting reports of every Lions pick in the next week or so and will start posting them tomorrow.
The Lions claimed offensive tackle Kirk Barton off waivers. Barton most recently played for the Bengals, though he was with three other teams last season.
The draft page on the Lions' official site contains links to transcripts of conference calls and press conferences with almost every pick and Jim Schwartz and Martin Mayhew.
Below is a video of Matthew Stafford's appearance on The Late Show last night. It was actually pretty funny, aside from the digs at Detroit, anyways.

Stafford is going to be featured on E:60 tonight (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) with Maria Sharapova. Apparently she gave him a makeover in preparation for the draft. Honest question: Would you rather spend a day with Sharapova or be the top pick of the draft? I'm leaning toward a day with the world's hottest tennis player.

The Free Press has a photo gallery from the draft party at Ford Field.
Fans at the draft party apparently booed both of the Lions' first-round picks when they were announced.
ESPN put together a consensus list of draft grades, and the Lions actually came out with the sixth highest GPA.
The Dolphins released quarterback and former second-round pick John Beck.
Roger Goodell put to rest a report that the NFL was considering having a Super Bowl in London. I hate that they play any games over there, so to have a Super Bowl in London would just be ridiculous. This is America's sport, and Super Bowls belong in the U.S.
Just like Pride of Detroit's NCAA tournament pool, I came in first-place in the POD group in NFL.com's Predict the Pick contest.

Bengals cut Kirk Barton; now offensive line is in really bad shape

Kirkendall — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:21:49 -0000

On Thursday, the Bengals waived offensive lineman Kirk Barton. Joe Reedy calls him a guard. Chick Ludwig calls him a center. How does that shake up the roster, fully aware that cutting Barton hardly is "shaking up the roster". Right now, the Bengals have 12 offensive linemen; three centers, three tackles, three guards and three "tweeners".

Tackle	Guard	Center	Tweener
Levi Jones	Andrew Whitworth	Dan Santucci	Bobbie Williams - G/C
Anthony Collins	Nate Livings	Kyle Cook	Scott Kooistra - G/T
Dennis Roland	Evan Mathis	Andrew Crummey	Digger Bujnoch - C/G

Re-setting the Bengals offense, did they improve, get worse or stay the same?

Kirkendall — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:20:56 -0000

The madness of free agency typically can take fans through any different set of emotions; from frustration, to euphoria and everything in between and beyond its extreme. So after a week, our roster has changed. How much? Let's take a position by position look on offense.

Quarterback (Carson Palmer, J.T. O'Sullivan, Jordan Palmer)
With the signing of O'Sullivan, the Bengals filled an off-season need. The former 49ers quarterback threw seven touchdowns in the first five games in the 2008 season, so we know he can throw. After that, he had a two touchdown to seven interception ratio, which seems like a typical stretch of any Mike Martz offense. Jordan Palmer threw his first career regular season passes during three blowouts in 2008, completing seven of 12 passes and two interceptions for 41 yards passing. With Ryan Fitzpatrick gone to Buffalo, it's presumed that the Bengals lost his scramble ability. However, O'Sullivan rushed/scrambled 30 times for 145 yards for a yard-per-rush average higher than any Bengals running back on the roster last year.

In the end, I strongly believe that if Carson Palmer goes down, then the season is done anyway, no matter whom we have at quarterback.

Possible Changes: Another quarterback acquired to give Jordan Palmer competition.

Runningback (Cedric Benson, Kenny Watson, DeDe Dorsey, Chris Perry, James Johnson)
Cedric Benson re-signing was a top priority for the Bengals entering free agency. One could argue that it was T.J. Houshmandzadeh or his replacement, and that's fair. However, Benson was a higher target than Derrick Ward, whom most considered the best running back available in free agency while Houshmandzadeh had no real intention of re-signing and Laveranues Coles was singed only as a result of T.J.'s departure. So Benson has returned, looking to continue his maddening 282 yards rushing on 63 attempts closing out 2008.

Watson is a serviceable third down back, a favorite of Palmer. He blocks, he sneaks out of the backfield and when asked, he rushes the ball well. I complained last year, while the Bengals rushing offense was struggling, why he wasn't given more chances. After all, he was the team's best back in 2007 and recorded two 130-plus yard rushing performances.

Dorsey is the best of both worlds. He has talent, and the Bengals can't seem to keep him off the roster. However, the primary concern with Dorsey is his durability. Chris Perry and James Johnson are on a bubble; Perry specifically who is likely to be a salary-cap casualty.

Possible Changes: Bengals acquire another running back in the NFL Draft to give the offense a one-two punch complimenting Cedric Benson.

Wide Receiver (Chad Johnson, Laveranues Coles, Andre Caldwell, Chris Henry, Jerome Simpson, Antonio Chatman, Maurice Purify, Mario Urrutia)
The most commonly asked question right now is this. Did the Bengals improve, decline or even-out with Houshmandzadeh's department and Coles' arrival. There's arguments for all three. Coles has a better yard-per-catch average, and therefore can pick up more yardage. Coles isn't the type of reckless over-the-middle-body-sacrificing receiver to pick up a first down on third and three. In the end, they're both possession receivers and the biggest differences between them are minimal.

Johnson is expected to stick with the Bengals in 2009, unless another team makes an offer for Johnson that Mike Brown can't refuse. There was talk when Caldwell was picking up more playing time that he could be Houshmandzadeh's heir, given more experience. Henry is working with Carson Palmer to rebuild and re-brand himself to become a leading receiver on the team.

I'm not convinced that Chatman will make the cut heading into the regular season, while Simpson is the fifth receiver and the team doesn't always activate six receivers. Therefore, a case can be made that Chatman is released, that Urrutia is the team's sixth receiver and Purify returns to the practice squad.

Possible Changes: None expected after Coles signed. However, a late-round receiver could be drafted to give Purify and Urrutia competition.

Offensive Line (Anthony Collins, Andrew Whitworth, Bobbie Williams, Levi Jones, Dennis Roland, Nate Livings, Evan Mathis, Kirk Barton, Scott Kooistra, Dan Santucci, Kyle Cook, Andrew Crummey, Digger Bujnoch)
The offensive line is the least improved since the start of free agency -- each position has been addressed so far except the line. We think that big changes will happen, definitely during the and after the NFL Draft. However, don't be surprised that if the team can't secure a center in the draft that Dan Santucci and Kyle Cook battle it out for the starting gig. Both players were praised at one point in camp last year, only to lose their respective seasons to injury. In fact, there's another thought that should be promoted. Even if the Bengals draft a center, there's a likeliness that they won't put him in the starting lineup to start the season, giving him time to develop against the beasts in the middle of the AFC North. Of course, that depends on the center that we draft.

Overall at this exact point, I don't believe that the Bengals offense improved anything. Signing a backup quarterback is only judged if Palmer goes down; if he goes down, we're already in trouble anyway. With that said, I don't think that the Bengals got any worse either. If Benson didn't come back, it put a premium on finding a running back and the Bengals did find a receiver that could replace Houshmandzadeh.

Of course, free agency wasn't targeted to improve the team's offense. I don't believe that was ever the intention. The biggest judgment will come after the draft next month.

Possible Changes: Bengals could draft as many as four offensive linemen (that's a high number, I know). It's generally believed that they'll draft a tackle and center in the first two rounds. However, with Bobbie Williams playing on the final year under contract, they'll need to start thinking of his replacement and the team could go after another tackle for depth.

Absolutely Ridiculous: Then there were 22.

Kirkendall — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 16:52:51 -0000

Absolutely ridiculous. There's several many aspects in which those two words are spoken freely; government interaction with our economy, my terrible Time Warner internet connection, my body's reaction to eating White Castle or Papa John's Pizza, some people's inability to ascertain the difference between a journalist and a columnist, alarm clocks, Cincinnati drivers during inclement weather, a badly tuned guitar, some people's inability to understand what a blog is, Bob Bratkowski, Busch Light, college football post-season, the broken "F" key on my laptop, the cost for XBOX 360 games, etc.

Poor Kirk Barton, signed off the team's practice squad on November 29, became the 22nd player placed on Injured Reserve on Friday. Exactly why there's 22 guys on the Bengals IR list, is another "absolutely ridiculous". It's been happening since training camp, and exponentially growing since. Yes, but injuries are apart of football. But find me a list where 22 guys are on a team's respective IR. While you're at it, find me the list that includes, almost, 10 starters on offense and defense, or high-level contributors on special teams. We're the only team in the National Football League with a starting linebacker forced to eat soup on Thanksgiving.

Is it strength and conditioning? Is it training? Is it the practices? Is there a critical point of a respective scouting report that we're missing (aka, history of durability)? On the other hand, Barton helps our projected IR starting lineup. It can move Kooistra to right tackle, putting Barton at left guard filling out our starting lineup. If Carson Palmer goes to IR (more on that later), then our starting lineup is complete.

QB: Carson Palmer (eventually, I'm sure)
RB: DeDe Dorsey
FB: Jeremi Johnson, Reagan Maui'a
WR: Antonio Chatman, Marcus Maxwell
TE: Matt Sherry
LT: Andrew Whitworth
LG: Scott Kooistra, Kirk Barton
C: Dan Santucci, Kyle Cook
RG: Justin Britt
RT:

DE: Frostee Rucker, Robert Geathers
DT:
LB: Keith Rivers, Abdul Hodge
CB: Johnathan Joseph, Ethan Kilmer
S: Dexter Jackson, Corey Lynch, Herana-Daze Jones, Marvin White

Justin Britt (G)
Antonio Chatman (WR)
Kyle Cook (C)
DeDe Dorsey (RB)
Robert Geathers (DE)
Abdul Hodge (LB)
Dexter Jackson (S)
Jeremi Johnson (FB)
Johnathan Joseph (CB)
Corey Lynch (S)
Reagan Maui'a (FB)
Keith Rivers (LB)
Frostee Rucker (DE)
Dan Santucci (C)
Matt Sherry (TE)
Ethan Kilmer (S/CB)
Marcus Maxwell (WR)
Herana-Daze Jones (S)
Scott Kooistra (T/G)
Andrew Whitworth (G)
Marvin White (S)
Kirk Barton (G/T)

49ers sign WR Dominique Zeigler from practice squad

Fooch — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 06:04:13 -0000

EDITOR'S NOTE: Don't forget to make your predictions for this week's games.

In a rather quiet move today, the 49ers signed WR Dominique Zeigler from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. OT Kirk Barton was waived to make room for Zeigler. If you missed out on the preseason, Zeigler was quite impressive. He finished the preseason 2nd in the league in receptions (15) and 10th in yards (162).

Shortly before the first exhibition game, we did a roster bubble watch spotlight on Zeigler. While Zeigler was very impressive in the preseason, the numbers crunch sent him to the practice squad. The 49ers had 5 wide receivers in Isaac Bruce, Bryant Johnson, Arnaz Battle, Josh Morgan and Jason Hill. Even though Zeigler outperformed most of them, the 49ers were not going to keep a sixth receiver and even a guy like Jason Hill was higher on the pecking order at receiver.

Now that Arnaz Battle is out this week, it's not surprising Zeigler is getting the promotion. All reports indicate he continually impresses on the practice squad. The question now is whether he'll make any impact. Until Battle's injury, Jason Hill was the fifth receiver and he was seeing next to nothing. In fact, before the Seahawks game two weeks ago he had no receptions on the season. Battle's injury may have gotten Zeigler on the roster, but I think Hill is the one who should see the greatest increase in production.

So as the fifth guy, will Zeigler be able to make much out of it? Obviously it's better to be on the 53-man roster than the practice squad. Not even a question. However, with the potential for the offense to get a little more conservative, I'm not sure how often we'll see Zeigler on the field. If he does get on the field, he's got the size to make things happen. At 6'3 he's shown an amazing ability to stretch out and make some impressive catches. He's listed at 185 pounds, but he seems to play bigger than that.

Ideally, Zeigler would make enough of an impact to convince the team to keep him on the active roster through the end of the season. If this season ends up going in the crapper, Zeigler, Morgan and Hill are three guys that need to be completely assessed going forward. The wide receiver position has been a problem since TO left town and it'd be nice to see what the young trio bring to the table. I'm not expecting Zeigler, Morgan and Hill to all be homerun threats, but it'd be nice to have a better idea of what they bring to the table heading into 2009. Let's just up for a nice bit of playing time for Zeigler this Monday and going forward.

49ers claim OT Kirk Barton; Latest Injury News

Fooch — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:53:53 -0000

The 49ers claimed offensive tackle Kirk Barton from the Miami Dolphins earlier today, placing Shawntae Spencer on injured reserve to make space on the 53-man roster. Barton was a seventh round draft pick by the Bears and after being part of the final roster cut in training camp, he was claimed by Miami.

Mike Nolan was asked about why grabbing a tackle and he said:

“We weren’t trying to look. We weren’t looking for position. We were just looking for a player we thought had an opportunity to - We’ve had the spot as we’ve had along with Shawntae and basically we were just waiting if something became available that we were interested in. That’s what we were kind of waiting for. We didn’t want to force the issue or anything. This is a player that Scot [McCloughan] was interested in, so we claimed him.”

Along with the news of Barton being signed, Jonas Jennings is likely to be listed as doubtful for Sunday's game. Jennings sat out practice yesterday and today with his shoulder injury. In other injury news:

49ers
Limited Participation in Practice
LB Manny Lawson - Hamstring
FS Mark Roman - Knee (missed all of Wednesday's practice)
CB Donald Strickland - Hip

Giants
Did not Participate in Practice
LB Antonio Pierce - Quadricep
LB Gerris Wilkinson - Knee

Full Participation in Practice
C Shaun O'Hara - Toe

Nolan said that Lawson was likely to be probable for Sunday's game, so we might get him back in action. Given the big time running game of the Giants, we're gonna need a lot more linebackers than normal. Of course, if we stick with the "Big Dud" defense, we really won't need Lawson.

Chicago Bears Sign Fred Miller

Adam T — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:09:16 -0000

Last year Fred Miller was the goat of the offensive line and took the brunt of the blame and was released for it. Then the line looked bad and people starting getting hurt and the Bears reached out to Miller.

The line looks to be coming around and now Fred Miller is being brought back into the mix.

Fred Miller turned down more money when the Bears signed him originally in 2005 and he will do the same thing this morning when he rejoins the team as a backup offensive tackle.

He will sign a one-year contract today, a source close to the player said, and is expected to be on the practice field this afternoon. Miller will become the third offensive tackle with the Bears apparently deeming experience necessary as rookie seventh-round pick Kirk Barton filled the role last week.

I'm much less upset with this than when the Bears first contacted Miller. Then it was because we looked awful and needed the players. Now the line looks better and Miller is coming in strictly for experience and depth. The Bears have some young guys in the mix in Chris Williams, Josh Beekman and Kirk Barton and having a guy whose been around awhile and is familiar with the Bears offense can't hurt. Now lets just hope we don't need to turn to him.

Miller's deal is for one year and unless injuries move him in to a starting role or the young guys don't come around he likely will only play out that one year.