Quote:
Originally Posted by albionmoonlight
Castillo: Even if those top two bars show some improvement, can we really expect them to get to where we want them to be?
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Okay, here's my more detailed thinking here:
In careers with limitations (empty cupboard, etc), I have a lot of experience fiddling around with a very low-skill offensive line... or at least a line where I won't invest much draft/cap capital. And in doing so, there's a certain "pattern" player that I have become pretty fond of. His initial bars will look zero or near zero in the areas that I generally consider to be the keys to on-field performance: run blocking and pass blocking. But he will have a strong, even maxed-out bar in blocking strength. High endurance is another good sign, but I don't think it's essential for this pattern of player.
I have had a lot of experience landing guys like that, giving them playing time, and watching their bars in the top two areas move from voids to... well, pretty decent. Not studs, but guys who in time might be rated 30 or 40 in run blocking and pass blocking, which isn't bad given the late-round of after-draft investment required to get them. Actually, if you had the files for this IMT Bills team, you'd see that our current starting LT Alex Beyer is a mini-=creeping version of that style of player (though I don't think he will ever get to 30 on those top bars, I bet they have moved up since he started playing). Anyway... general concept: guys with a strong bar in a fixed skill can see the lousy or zero bars in the more variable skills start to drift up in time.
So... that's my theory with DE Castillo. I confess that I don't have a lot of past with guys like this at DE, as I am rarely patient enough to play them for long. But I halfway expected to see (and still do) some development of those zero/zero bars in Run D and PR Tech into the 5-1- range and then beyond. Would he eventually get to 40 in each? Don't know. Would he maybe play better than the zeroes would suggest? Don't know. But I have a theory, at least, that this guy was worth a season or three as a starter to find out.