Article:Packers Add Size to Offensive Line

According to Player Agent Craig Domann, The Green Bay Packers have come to terms with there first unrestricted free agent of 2009, former Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Duke Preston.

Although Preston is a very large man at 6’5” and 325 lbs, Packer Head Coach Mike McCarthy denies that there has been a philosophy change with the offensive line. "He's got a nice frame.  He's more of an athlete. We see him as an athletic frame. Once again, he’s young, too. He has a lot of football in front of him," McCarthy said of Preston.



The Packers have been struggling to get consistent performance from the zone blocking scheme that McCarthy has been trying to implement since his arrival in 2004.

Preston was drafted in the fourth round of 2005 from the University of Illinois. He has appeared in 59 games in his career with 20 starts. In 2008, Preston took over at center for the injured Melvin Fowler and started the last 11 games. The scouting report is that Preston struggled with some of the better tackles in the league such as Vince Wilfork, Kris Jenkins, and Shaun Rogers.

According to conventional statistics, the Bills were 25 th in the league in yards gained last season with 38 sacks allowed.

According to the interesting statistics at Football Outsiders], Buffalo had the 11 th best offensive line for rushing in the NFL with 4.26 Adjusted Line Yards in 2008. Unfortunately, they had a Stuff Rate of 25% and a Sack Rate of 8.1%.