FanHouse Damien Woody

CORTLAND, N.Y.(AP) -- Mark Sanchez reared back and lofted a pretty pass downfield that landed in Jerricho Cotchery's hands for a touchdown.

It was the first play of team drills and the beginning of a brilliant practice Saturday for the New York Jets rookie quarterback.

"I put it in a place where only J-Co can get it," Sanchez said, "and he made a great adjustment for the ball."

Working exclusively with the first-team offense for the first time this summer, Sanchez completed 10 of 19 passes for two touchdowns and an interception. He also further solidified his edge over Kellen Clemens in the team's quarterback competition.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J -- The big guy in the black sweatshirt didn't get down the field quite as quickly as all of the other guys in the orange skullcaps. But the fact that he had the cap on at all and was running down the field with the scout team on kickoff coverage drills was one of the highlights of the Jets' Friday morning practice.

"Yeah, you notice when the head coach is running kick coverage," guard Damien Woody said. "That's not something you see all the time."

You only get to have one of these early minicamps if you have a new head coach, and for the Jets the past couple of days have been about getting to know Rex Ryan, who has impressed everyone from the kick coverage team to the media with the differences between himself and his predecessor, the buttoned-up Eric Mangini.

While the offensive line might not represent a direct draft day decision for your roster, few areas of knowledge can offer a competitive advantage in fantasy football like having a good grasp of the various units of trench soldiers around the league. Over the course of a couple weeks, I'll break down every NFL team's offensive lines into five tiers: the crème de la crème, the highly competent, the serviceable, the grim, and the bunk.

The "serviceable" group is akin to a pack of trusty white Hanes beefy tees. They don't necessarily add a whole lot, but they work well for most situations and won't let you down very often. Just be careful not too rely too heavily upon them, because they'll stain your armpits and turn into something that resembles yellow bulletproof glass. Maybe we better just get started.

The Jacksonville Jaguars: Any team that can rack up 2,391 rushing yards and average 4.6 yards per carry with Fred "It's Pronounced Frahgeelay" Taylor leading the way must have a decent offensive line. Despite being a group of pretty obscure names with zero Pro Bowlers, this is a reliable unit. Brad Meester is a solid center and Tony Pashos, a free agent signing after the Jags waived Chris Naole due to injury (nice right?), should do well at right tackle.

2007 Sacks Allowed: 31

2007 Yards Per Carry: 4.6

Continue reading for the rest of the "Serviceable" offensive lines.

It seems that the misery of a 4-12 season has lit a fire under the seat of Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum. He's been the most active man in the NFL since the offseason officially began, a trend that continued this afternoon when Gang Green signed Calvin Pace and Damien Woody as free agents. And, as in the Kris Jenkins and Alan Faneca acquisitions, the Jets spent money like a drunken sailor to make the deal happen.

Pace, a bust until recording six and a half sacks this season, got $22 million in guaranteed money to sign with the Jets for six years and $42 million overall. The move to a 3-4 served Pace well in Arizona last season but, as the Jets saw with Bryan Thomas, boosts from scheme changes can be temporary boons to otherwise mediocre players. Even his 2007 "breakout" was a modest one, making this move a gamble of major proportions.

Woody didn't match Faneca's NFL-best deal but will get $11 million in guarantees from the Jets to play right tackle. He started five games there for the Lions at the tail end of a four-year stint which featured more negatives than positives. He had been a productive guard and center with the Patriots before moving to Detroit, something that likely affected Eric Mangini's impression of his abilities.

Prior to the 2004 season, the Detroit Lions signed guard/center Damien Woody to a big free-agent contract. Woody had been a starter on the New England Patriots, and Lions president Matt Millen figured, "Hey, if he's good enough to play for the Patriots, he's good enough to play for us."

It didn't quite work out, because Woody seemed to have spent his entire signing bonus on food. He showed up to his first training camp overweight and out of shape, and he's never been anywhere close to the player the Lions thought he would be.

Until three weeks ago, that is, when injuries made the Lions so desperate at right tackle that they started Woody there, even though he hadn't played tackle before. Surprisingly, he's played quite well.

So well, in fact, that now Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz says that when Woody's contract expires, he hopes the team re-signs him: "We need to have Wood back," Martz says.

My advice to the Lions: Make sure the next contract you give him is loaded with incentive clauses. Woody plays hard when he thinks he has to earn it, and he loafs when he thinks he can get away with it. It's no coincidence that Woody is playing hard again, just in time to get one more contract.

The list of mistakes made by Lions president Matt Millen is far too long to give a full accounting of here, but there's one name that doesn't get thrown into the mix often enough: Damien Woody.

In 2004 Millen signed Woody to a six-year, $31 million contract, and Woody promptly started eating like a man who was set for life financially and didn't have to work at his craft anymore, ballooning up to 378 pounds.

And now the Lions have announced that Woody has been benched in favor of Stephen Peterman.

Was signing Woody as big a mistake as drafting Charles Rogers? No, probably not. Woody has certainly contributed a lot more to the Lions than Rogers has. But then again, draft mistakes are commonplace because the information available to the team at the time it chooses a player is limited. Millen saw something in Woody that no other team saw, and he offered Woody a lot more money than any other team offered. And this benching makes crystal clear that whatever Millen saw was a mirage.

Lions G Ross Verba, while still with Cleveland, made a calculated gamble by holding out for one complete season in an attempt to get paid a salary on par with OT's Walter Jones and Orlando Pace. The Lions signed him this past off-season, which was also a roll of the dice, in hopes that Verba could upgrade the Lions offensive front. Apparently, Verba's luck has crapped out. He was arrested Tuesday night for speeding in Wisconsin. As a consequence of writing bad checks for a line of credit he was extended in a Las Vegas casino, he was also forced to repay the casino $50,000.

Verba never panned out for the Lions. He was injured for almost the entire season. The Lions offensive line was mostly pathetic and the only brief promise it exhibited was when young players like Frank Davis, Clint Stickdorn, and Jonathan Scott had replaced injured veterans like Ross Verba and Rex Tucker. During past seasons, the Lions seemed to be able to hang their hats on the fact that they were not hampered by the off-season issues that most other NFL teams were. The 2006 season not only represented disappointment on the field, but also off the field for the Lions organization.

It is unreasonable to expect NFL players to be model citizens off the field. That being said, Matt Millen's personnel failings are highlighted even more by this season's off-season troubles. Let's recap: 1 arrests for drunk driving (Kenoy Kennedy), 1 coach arrested for lewd conduct (Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen's "Naked Drive-Thru" escapade), 1 player arrested for resisting arrest (Kalimba Edwards), 2 players failing league administered drug tests (Shaun and Charles Rogers), 1 player arrested for harassment and stalking (G Damien Woody), and now Verba for writing bad checks. The Lions probably don't have anymore off the field issues than any other franchise, but considering their circumstances, the Lions should probably hold their players to a higher standard of conduct.

Entering the 2007 season, the Lions have to place a stronger emphasis on players who have the character necessary to turn around this franchise. The Lions continued personnel struggles can ill-afford to weather the continued embarrassment and missed playing time that comes as result of these types of poor judgment.

With the recent announcement of G/T Barry Stokes and DT Marcus Bell being placed upon the injured reserve list, that makes 14 members of the Lions roster who have been lost for the season due to injury. One other player, G Ross Verba, would have already been placed on the injured reserve but his injury doesn't fit under the right parameters of an injury that would allow him to be placed on the injured reserve. How did the Lions get themselves into a situation where 15 players, who are obviously better and more experienced than the ones who have taken their place, are no longer on the active roster?

One theory may be the extra-physical nature of Rod Marinelli's pre-season camps have exerted an exceptionally heavy toll. That being said, I don't believe that this is the case. The Lions entered the regular season with only DE Bill Swancutt and S Idrees Bashir on the injured reserve. You would think a lot more players would have went down to injury earlier in the season if the camp had been too physical. To the contrary, with the high number of offensive and defensive linemen who have gone down to injury, and the additional knowledge that several of these players were being penalized for being overweight, conditioning of linemen on both sides of the ball seems to be a major issue which needs to be addressed this offseason.

G Damien Woody and DT Shaun Rogers have been both the recipients of fines for being overweight, and as a result of their weight issues, out of shape. Both players were considered cornerstone members of the franchise entering the season, but now might be considered organizational dead weight as the season plays out. Neither contributed much value this season and both provided a certain amount of embarrassment to the franchise. Rogers, who was suspended for four games for testing positive for a banned substance, and Woody, who allegedly stalked and harassed a Detroit-area woman who he had had an affair with, should probably receive the first ticket out of town after this season expires.

Lions G Damien Woody was recently placed on the injured reserve list, which puts an end to his 2006 season. With the loss of Woody, the Lions will go into their game Sunday against the Bills with only two of their original starting offensive linemen healthy. The Lions also have veteran free acquisitions Guard Ross Verba and Tackle Rex Tucker injured. Both Verba and Tucker aren't expected to return until after the bye week. This rash of injuries directly influenced their loss last Sunday against the Vikings. After Woody and Tackle Jeff Backus missed significant playing time last week, the Lions replacement linemen had difficulty picking up blitzes and communicating their line calls, which ultimately determine their blocking responsibilities. In order for the Lions to have a legitimate chance at obtaining victory this weekend, these communication problems need to be overcome.

If their is an upside to the injuries on the Lions offensive line, it is that the Lions may be able to determine what future value Tackle Jonathan Scott and Guard Frank Davis have to the organization. As difficult as it is to accept, this team is going nowhere this season and the coaching staff's are starting to enter into evaluation mode. Unfortunately for Jon Kitna, he will likely be reduced to running for his life and having to hurry through his reads in order to avoid annihilation. The loss of these linemen will likely stymie some of the rhythm and effectiveness that had begun to develop in recent weeks.

As with all personnel issues, Matt Millen is largely to blame for this predicament. He was active in the off-season in acquiring veteran offensive linemen in hopes of upgrading the performance of the offensive line. Unfortunately, he made a lot of risky decisions by signing players who possesed checkered injury histories. Now the team is suffering as a result of these decisions.