Selected in the second round, No. 34 overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, former
Penn State linebacker Paul Posluszny is already being projected as the starting
middle linebacker for the Buffalo Bills.
After making a school record 327 tackles, there's little doubt that the
former Nittany Lion will help Buffalo's run defense. But he's drawn some
criticism for his man-coverage skills in pass protection.
It's worth noting that out of his 44 games at Penn State, Posluszny only manned
the middle in six of those games. But at the pro level, it seems like a good fit
for his skills and leaves him less likely to be out on an island in pass
coverage.
For an insider's perspective on the 6-foot-1, 237-pound linebacker, you don't
have to look any further than our Penn State site at Scout.com where
FightOnState.com's publisher Mark Brennan tracked Posluszny's career.
While he thinks highly of Posluszny, Brennan wasn't all that surprised to see the highly-heralded linebacker slip into the early part of the second round, partly because of a knee injury that he suffered in the
Orange Bowl game at the end of his junior year.
"He came into last season having not played competitively since the
Orange Bowl. I think there was definitely some rust, and there was a lot of talk
about his knee brace," Brennan said. "He also moved positions.
They moved him from outside to inside. So he had a lot of different things he
had to tackle early in the season."
Scout.com subscribers can learn more about Posluszny and how Brennan thinks
he will fare as an NFL linebacker in this exclusive 2-minute audio clip. Just
click the link below:
Listen to Audio