Lions
Claim Linebacker Ashlee Palmer
by Sean Yuille on Feb 18, 2010 1:02 PM EST
The Lions added linebacker Ashlee Palmer to the team, claiming
him off waivers after he was released by the Bills. According
to John Niyo, the Buccaneers also tried to claim him, but
since the Lions narrowly have priority over them, Palmer is
headed to Detroit.
Palmer
was signed by the Bills as an undrafted rookie free agent
last year and ended up becoming a pretty good special teams
player. He appeared in 14 games for Buffalo last season and
was one of seven players that the Bills got rid of earlier
this week
A
happy day for some upstart Bills
Chris
Brown, Lead Journalist
Sep
8, 2009 - Making
an NFL roster is a dream for many aspiring pro football players,
and each year there are individual stories that are easy to
root for come cut down day. The Bills have a few such stories
on their roster this season.
Undrafted
rookie Ashlee Palmer was passed over by 32 NFL teams in the
April draft, but the fast-moving linebacker had the last laugh
making Buffalo’s roster as one of their top six linebackers.
“I
was at the hotel most of the day and they were calling some
people over to the stadium to come meet them and that was
one of the most nervous days of my life,” said Palmer.
Despite
playing what he felt was a good game in the preseason finale
against Detroit, Palmer still didn’t sleep a wink Friday
night. But a weight was lifted when the coaching staff gave
him the good news.
“The
coaches came and congratulated me on making the squad and
I was just ecstatic with it,” he said. “It’s
just been a dream of mine to be on an NFL team and to play
in the NFL.”
With
Palmer making the roster the Bills have now had at least one
undrafted rookie make the opening day squad in six of the
last eight seasons. Head coach Dick Jauron said the reason
Palmer make the team was simple.
“Two
things,” said Jauron. “He ran and he hit. And
that’s defensive football and that’s special teams,
too. And he showed up doing it. We’re glad it worked
out that we could keep him. It’s obviously harder to
get him on the field on game day, but he ran and he hit people
and really showed up.”
And
as for the teams that passed on him in the draft?
“I
really don’t pay too much mind to it,” said Palmer.
“I’m really just focused on football. There may
have been some teams that felt I did not fit in their scheme.
I’m just happy to be part of an organization.”
The
story read a bit differently for fellow linebacker Marcus
Buggs. As a rookie he wasn’t as fortunate as Palmer
as he was waived in the Bills’ final cut last season,
but later signed to the practice squad. He was called up to
the active roster at the midseason mark where he saw action
on special teams for four games.
Entering
year two Buggs was determined to take the next step and make
the 53-man roster. But halfway through OTAs in the spring,
Buggs was switched from the outside to middle linebacker.
It made his goal a bit harder to reach with a flood of new
responsibilities as the defensive quarterback for the second
unit.
In
the end however, Buggs made it work.
“I
can tell you I was happy about it,” said a grinning
Buggs. “I was very excited, but I’m trying to
approach it the same way I did last year and stay calm with
it and go out and work hard.”
The
last thing Buggs is going to do is rest on his laurels after
making his late position switch work in his favor instead
of against him. Making a 53-man roster was a major goal for
him, but now he’s hoping to reach some others as well
knowing how hard job security is to come by in the NFL.
“This
is my second year in the NFL and hopefully the second of many
years in the NFL,” Buggs said.“I’m just
going to come out and work hard and next offseason it will
be time to go back at it again.”
For
Xavier Omon the deck looked stacked against him. With Marshawn
Lynch, Fred Jackson and veteran Dominic Rhodes ahead of him
on the depth chart, getting reps, let alone a spot on the
53-man roster was not a lock.
But
Omon doubled his efforts in the offseason from that of a year
ago. He shed 10 pounds, was lighter and quicker and made a
great first impression in the Hall of Fame game. So much so
that the veteran Rhodes was suddenly expendable in the eyes
of the coaching staff leaving just Omon and Jackson as the
only true backs on the roster while Lynch serves his suspension.
“I
was a little bit surprised,” said Omon of the Rhodes’
release. “I feel it says a lot. Hopefully it says that
they’re trusting me and that they’re going to
give me an opportunity to prove myself and hopefully it shows
that I worked hard in the offseason and that I’ve earned
this opportunity and can do something with it.”
In
one year Omon went from inactive running back to Fred Jackson’s
understudy in the season opener on Monday night at New England
where he is likely to see carries.
“I
know I’m ready to do it,” Omon said. “I’ve
been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and it’s
finally here so I have to take advantage of it.”
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