Hugh Douglas Fits Right In

It's kind of disappointing when a guy looks at the options available in his post-football commentary career and decides to take the easy way out.  Today's exhibit A:  Hugh Douglas.

Looks like Les was right, by the way.  Not a lot of laughter coming out of Winston Justice these days.  Still, you can't argue with this kind of stand-up statement:

"There's nothing I can really say,'' Justice said. "The only thing I can do is prove it [isn't true] by my actions . . . There's no need to say anything to him.

"He's not the only one who thinks that. This [season] is my chance to prove him wrong.''

The other weird thing about Justice's situation is that the guy is already in the second-to-last season of his rookie contract.  Assuming Thomas and Runyan stay healthy and Justice sits another year, he'll be looking at one year as a starter before he needs a new deal.

Something to consider for all those folks who were angry the Eagles didn't draft an offensive tackle in the first round this year.  As I've said many times, I still think Justice starts in this league for a long, long time, but it's a little hard when you take a guy -- any guy -- that high and then get no value out of him for the first three years because of the starters you already have in place.

On the other hand, with only a couple of notable exceptions (DeMeco Ryans, MoJoDrew, Hester), that 2006 second round actually doesn't look that good for a lot of teams right now.

Comments

[Brad]

First off, new to the site and like it a lot.

Second, I am glad you posted this about Winston, as I read this article this morning and wasn't too thrilled by it:

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080528/SPORTS02/805280360/1002/SPORTS

Now, I am glad he has realized some of his issues and is working to fix them, but as a big fan of his when drafted (and even after the Giants game), this article has me worried. Mainly the part where his trainer states he is lacking fire and is not angry on the field.

This leads me to believe that maybe he just doesn't care and isn't motivated as much as he needs to be. Now, I obviously can't say for sure and it's always dangerous to speculate on how someone is motivated, but maybe football is just not for him. As much as I hate to say it, this pick is looking like a bust, which pains me because I saw "Future LT" written all over him.

Great blog!

[Bama]

If Douglas' comments didn't get him pissed off enough to want to fight back, maybe old Hugh was right. I, too, thought they got a steal when he fell to the second round. Maybe the other teams knew something we didn't. Or, maybe, somebody can light his fire and we will still have a valuable asset.

[Me]

Good find on that link, Brad.

[Eric]

I'm new to this blog so I don't know if people have known this before. I'm assuming it's been widely covered after Justice's first training camp.

However, it was known that he was ready to just leave training camp because he's very much a home-body and couldn't handle the pro game. It may have just been too easy for him in college. The recent knock on the offensively good Pete Carroll USC teams has been that their offensive players are average or below average in the pros.

Now, I'm not knocking on Justice about last year's Giants game. It wasn't all his fault and definitely more so on the coaches. But if his heart isn't in the right place, then it probably never will be. I'd like to see some interview with him discussing whether he has a different view of things now compared to his rookie year training camp.

[Eric]

Oh, Brad has something as to what I'm interested in seeing. Thanks!