Article on Elliot Vallejo

[zuchini]

This if for you Cardfan. Enjoy.

http://www.revengeofthebirds.com/2009/3/10/783314/exclusive-interview-with-a

 

[Mulli]

 

[Perfectionist]

Nice interview.

 

[cardsfanmd]

paging Mitch

 

[Mitch]

Thanks, cardsmd. I have high hopes for Vallejo. I think he's the heir apparent to Mike Gandy at LT. Russ Grimm really is high on this kid, and in this pre-season, IMO, you all will see why. This kid can play.

 

[JeffGollin]

Read the Piece in ROTB...

Thanks, cardsmd. I have high hopes for Vallejo. I think he's the heir apparent to Mike Gandy at LT. Russ Grimm really is high on this kid, and in this pre-season, IMO, you all will see why. This kid can play.

Revenge of the Birds (ROTB) has a link to an interesting piece by Mike Lombardi on what it will take for a Super Bowl runner up to break the following-year jinx.

In it, Lombardi - while praising Mike Gandy's grit and willingness to play with injury - feels one of the keys to the Cardinals' success in 2009-10 will be replacing Mike at LT. (He views Gandy as a good back up lineman but one whose lack of elite talent may have contributed to our Super Bowl loss).

While I'm not comfortable pointing fingers at any one player (both winning and losing are "team efforts"), I respect Lombardi's knowledge of the game. If you buy into what he is saying, then "Why not Vallejo?" (Assuming, of course, he can beat out other contenders like Keith, E Brown or H Johnson).

 

[joeshmo]

Revenge of the Birds (ROTB) has a link to an interesting piece by Mike Lombardi on what it will take for a Super Bowl runner up to break the following-year jinx.

In it, Lombardi - while praising Mike Gandy's grit and willingness to play with injury - feels one of the keys to the Cardinals' success in 2009-10 will be replacing Mike at LT. (He views Gandy as a good back up lineman but one whose lack of elite talent may have contributed to our Super Bowl loss).

While I'm not comfortable pointing fingers at any one player (both winning and losing are "team efforts"), I respect Lombardi's knowledge of the game. If you buy into what he is saying, then "Why not Vallejo?" (Assuming, of course, he can beat out other contenders like Keith, E Brown or H Johnson).

Its funny because I forget but not one but two different guys on the NFL Network called Pitts OL the worst super bowl winning OL of all time. I think you have to put Levi as a contender as well to move to his more natural LT position. Lots of different directions things can go, one of many guys already on the roster, 2010 free agents, 2010 draft picks, and so on.

 

[AntSports Steve]

It sound like from the interview, that Vallejo was asked by several teams to sign with them, and he choose to stay on the Cards practice squad. Do the Cards have some new hidden plan to keep their practice squad players away from other teams?

 

[joeshmo]

It sound like from the interview, that Vallejo was asked by several teams to sign with them, and he choose to stay on the Cards practice squad. Do the Cards have some new hidden plan to keep their practice squad players away from other teams?

His agent didnt do him any favors. Instead of making $2000 a week on the PS he could have been making over 17k a week on an actual roster. Thats an over 850% raise that he declined. Its why Harrington ran away from the PS last year even though we asked him not to.

 

[cgolden]

His agent didnt do him any favors. Instead of making $2000 a week on the PS he could have been making over 17k a week on an actual roster. Thats an over 850% raise that he declined. Its why Harrington ran away from the PS last year even though we asked him not to.

Without going into too much detail, it sounded to me like Vallejo liked his future here with the Cardinals versus taking more money in the short term and a possibly more uncertain future. Whether or not players should ever put faith in an organization is debatable but to me it Vallejo made it sound like he thinks his future is best served here.

 

[cardsfanmd]

I know you can't always judge a book by it's cover, but his body looks like an absolute mess.

 

[joeshmo]

Without going into too much detail, it sounded to me like Vallejo liked his future here with the Cardinals versus taking more money in the short term and a possibly more uncertain future. Whether or not players should ever put faith in an organization is debatable but to me it Vallejo made it sound like he thinks his future is best served here.

But if his future is bright here on a super bowl caliber team, coaches are confident in him and he is confident in himself as well, then that would translate to any other team he goes to. If he is good, then he is good regardless what roster he is on. He just needs to make a roster to get paid becuase he is still EFA status and it wont be another 3 years before he can be a true Free agent and actually get paid. So he declined a 850% raise to so he can make 310k this year with the Cards, the same amount he would have made with any other team. So him staying with the Cards wont make him any more money in his future. So money wise his next 3 years of his future was not best served to stay here, because he would make the same amount with another team pluss 100k he missed out on last year. He has to be banking on past 3 years from now, which is a 100k gamble.

He is a west coast guy I believe so maybe the extra 100K last year wasnt worth moving to the east coast, if only east coast teams came to him that is.

It just seems odd to me, maybe I am jaded by the money league that the NFL is today.

 

[cardfan]

It sound like from the interview, that Vallejo was asked by several teams to sign with them, and he choose to stay on the Cards practice squad. Do the Cards have some new hidden plan to keep their practice squad players away from other teams?

Vallejo was on roster last year, save two games. He was told he would be brought right back up, as soon as Haggans (I believe) went on Injured Reserve. That is why Vallejo stayed when other teams wanted to bring him on their roster. And. . . it was a smart move. . . he was brought back up to roster, and he got paid even more. . . by the team winning the NFC Championships and going to the Super Bowl.

 

[cardfan]

I know you can't always judge a book by it's cover, but his body looks like an absolute mess.

Just what exactly do you mean by this? He is in great shape and has no injuries?

 

[SuperSpck]

Excellent interview. RotB's is really solidifying itself as a top-draw site.

 

[cardsfanmd]

Just what exactly do you mean by this? He is in great shape and has no injuries?

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/81497/vallejo2.jpg

That just doesn't look athletic at all to me

 

[cardfan]

There is no need to disparage an athlete based on a picture--especially because pictures can be deceiving. You would not say this if you saw him in person and working out.

 

[cardsfanmd]

There is no need to disparage an athlete based on a picture--especially because pictures can be deceiving. You would not say this if you saw him in person and working out.

I didn't say that he wasn't in shape. I said his body looked like a mess. He just doesn't have an athletic looking build is all. I wasn't saying he slacks through workouts, that role is reserved for a Mr Alan Branch. You can do whatever you want at the gym and it's not going to change your body type and structure. My point was that you look at him standing next to Reggie Wells and one looks significantly more athletic than the other. At the same time, Michael Pittman looked like a beast. As I said in my first post, I realize you cant always judge a book by it's cover. You obviously either are him or know him and are a bit sensitive about him, but I wasn't trying to insult the man.

 

[lauraw]

I second that Superspock!! about ROTB