Vladimir Ducasse: It's Now or Never

Conor Orr had a feature on Vladimir Ducasse yesterday. The lineman knows how important this year is for him.

"That's pretty much it, it's now or never," Ducasse said. "I talked to coach Rex (Ryan) about it, it's pretty much a year for me to do what they drafted me to do."

Ducasse is in a world of trouble. When we entered the offseason, he figured to be a favorite to start at guard. The Jets signed two free agents, Willie Colon and Stephen Peterman, and drafted two players in the middle rounds, Brian Winters and Oday Aboushi, who all project as guards.

Ducasse was a Mike Tannenbaum project. Tannenbaum thought his connections at UMass, his alma mater, had led him to a steal in Vlad. It has not worked out that way, but Tannenbaum could not cut ties. It would be admitting he messed up a second round pick. John Idzik has no such connection to Ducasse. Judging by his moves, it does not seem like Idzik thinks much of Vlad.

King Ugly is really going to need to impress in camp to make this team.