he can play Guard, but not Tackle.

 

He was much better suited at gaurd in 06 than tackle in 07. But I think the biggest part of his game that kill us the most are the penalties he gets. Every game it seems he is getting called for something. Albeit he did a good job at guard in 06, we def need an upgrade regardless. I dont think he is any more than a backup

 

Shelton is a career underachiever ..we need to upgrade

 

that pretty much explains it. he doesnt have the mental capacity to play as a starter. He was the same way in Zona too..Total underachiever..Anyone know his salary out of curiosity

 

Whatever it is, it's too much. For a former 1st round pick, Shelton has been a career long disappointment. He plays like he's uninterested in the game and is sluggish. We've seen enough of him.

 

I dont see Parcells keeping ANY underachievers. He'll be able to sniff them out and he'll cut them lose

 

I'm not a big fan of Shelton's but I won't be suprised if Parcell's moves him to guard. He's a big body blocker who excels at run blocking and those are the kind of linemen Parcell's likes. Also, remember the Cowboys gave a huge contract to another oversized, underacheiving tackle drafted in the first by the Cardinals. They signed Leonard Davis, moved him to guard and one year later he's a starting pro bowler. I know Parcell's wasn't there when they signed him but Ireland was as well has other guys that will be working in Miami next season (im assuming). Granted, Shelton will probably never reach Davis's level but he could be a very good option at guard for us until a new starter is groomed.

 

I think when Houck said he needed better players it tells you what he thought of guys like L.J. Shelton. I think Houck got about as much as he could out of what he had to work with and the end result was a mediocre line. With better players he could have made chicken salad, instead with the players we chose we got the latter.

 

and wade smith, and chris lewinski, and seth mckinney, and damion mcintosh... What a joke some of the players we had were

 

Shelton needs to go - his play at times was worse than horrendous. It's not just a matter of being spoiled having seen Carey play the RT spot - it's out and out suckage on Shelton's part. A guy who hasn't put together his physical ability and mental part of the game at this stage in his career more than likely won't ever.

 

Shelton is a short term answer to our long term problem. I think he'll be around until Tuna and Ireland can find a suitable replacement. That could be this year via the draft or FA (F. Adams?) or it could be a year from now. But Shelton is not a building block for this team IMO.

 

People give Houck too much praise. His olines were bad the whole time he was here. At times they were able to generate good run blocking but the pass protection has been HORRIBLE. You can argue all you want about talent and it's partly justified but one of the main reasons we signed Houck in the first place was because he had a knack for grooming late round picks into quality starters. As for Shelton, if you can remember back, Houck was a major reason we signed him. Houck was excited about the signing and thought Shelton was the long term answer at LT. A few games into the season, his play was so bad that Damien McIntosh had to replace him.
I'm happy with what Houck has done with Carey and Satele but beyond them, who cares? They were both high picks so it's really not all that suprising they're working out. Houck was just another mediocre coach, imo.

 

cut him today!

 

The point here is that of course we need to upgrade here but we can't just cut Shelton with no replacement on the roster. Anthony Alabi is always hurt and when he isn't he sucks. Shleton is sure as hell not a Pro-Bowler but he is also our best option at Right Tackle besides Vernon Carey who has to play Left Tackle b/c we have noone there. Ideally cutting Shelton loose and signing someone like Flozell Adams would be huge because Adams could play Left while Vernon shifted back to the right side.

 

i think we all agreed coming into last year that Shelton at T was going to be the weak link in the OL.

His performance did nothing to change that.

Whether you want VC as a LT or RT, doesn't matter - we still need a good T either way, and that T is not currently on our roster.