One Year Later: Youth Races Into Starting Lineup

What a difference a year makes in the life of a team in retooling mode.  No players drafted in 2009 made the starting lineup in the first game of the 2009 season.  By the end of the year only 2009 First Rounder Josh Freeman was in the starting lineup.

Fast forward to the opening day victory of 2010, and seven players from the 2009/2010 Drafts (i.e. since Mark Dominik and Raheem Morris took over) got the starting nod.  Throw in players acquired in the past 2 years (Keydrick Vincent, Kellen Winslow, and Sean Jones) and almost half the starting players have changed in just one season.

The players who have moved on took a lot of experience with them:  WR Micheal Clayton, WR Antonio Bryant, DE Jimmy Wilkerson, and DT Chris Hovan all had at least 7 years playing experience.

Names in italics are draft choices made by the Dominik/Morris front office:

Starting Lineups
	2009 Game 1	2009 Game 16	2010 Game 1
WR	80 M.Clayton	85 M.Stovall	19 M.Williams
LT	70 D.Penn	70 D.Penn	70 D.Penn
LG	76 J.Zuttah	76 J.Zuttah	68 K.Vincent
C	52 J.Faine	52 J.Faine	52 J.Faine
RG	75 D.Joseph	75 D.Joseph	75 D.Joseph
RT	65 J.Trueblood	65 J.Trueblood	65 J.Trueblood
TE	82 K.Winslow	82 K.Winslow	82 K.Winslow
WR	89 A.Bryant	89 A.Bryant	18 S.Stroughter
QB	7 B.Leftwich	5 J.Freeman	5 J.Freeman
RB	24 C.Williams	24 C.Williams	24 C.Williams
x	TE 86 J.Stevens	FB 45 C.Pressley	FB 34 E.Graham
LE	97 J.Wilkerson	96 T.Crowder	94 K.Moore
DT	98 R. Sims	98 R.Sims	93 G.McCoy
DT	95 C.Hovan	95 C.Hovan	90 R.Miller
RE	90 G.Adams	91 S.White	98 R.Sims
SLB	58 Q.Black	58 Q.Black	58 Q.Black
MLB	51 B.Ruud	51 B.Ruud	51 B.Ruud
WLB	50 M.McCoy	54 G.Hayes	54 G.Hayes
LCB	25 A.Talib	25 A.Talib	31 E.Biggers
RCB	20 R.Barber	20 R.Barber	20 R.Barber
SS	21 S.Piscitelli	21 S.Piscitelli	26 S.Jones
FS	23 J.Phillips	36 T.Jackson	36 T.Jackson

Many other players drafted by the current leadership also play a significant role with the team, including DT Brian Price, RB Kareem Huggins, and special teams standout SS Cody Grimm.

One can only wonder if, with another strong draft in 2011, will the team get still younger next year??