colin

If we borrow a page out of the lorax days, and I think you are right that we will, it's a 5 2 4 with lots of matchup and gamed alignments up front. One of the down lineman will be in a LB position, but won't really be playing a 4-3 olb position post snap. If we think about it, taron plays LB on a lot of our downs, especially when they are reading the run. I think most of the time we will just be in a 4 2 5, but if we can play man over and zone under in the back end it creates wrinkles that we didn't have last season. I'm being an off season homer but I expect massive 3rd down and pass rush improvements.

Need a fingers crossed emoji

Is that true? It kinda makes sense, 4 of 22 regular starters (ignores special teams, but let's presume a similar portion play special teams as start on O/D) are DL, so about 11/12 of 53 (as dl rotate out more than OL, QB, CB, LB) Interdasting

Every secondary slot is up for grabs except benford's (well, tbh his is too, but there are about 3 or 4 players in the NFL who have a shot at winning it). I think they like bishop and he will work out, and I think rapp is a steady hand, so it will take something impressive to unseat him. Taron Johnson has fallen off and if this kid outplays him he will take his spot, and while mad max is the favorite to win CB2, it will be a fight. After next season youth and cheapness will beat out vets if the race is a tie.

I think this is doubling down on our power running, it lets us run the same stuff with either Anderson or this guy lined up in the smashing machine role. Also, I think they let Knox walk away and keep him to get younger and cheaper next season.

I think this is a sign that our defensive scheme (not philosophy) is changed. They brought in new coaches, signed steroid monsters up front (two who got popped) and drafted 5 top level athletes on D (they KY DT is limit size, I count that maybe even above RAS in his case). No more Hamlin and washed Miller and Douglas and Elam and Jordan Phillips getting tons of burn in chip games. No more Oliver pulls a hammy and we can barely rush the Houston QB who is behind the woat oline. I admit it might not work out, and I've been a devout McD hater because I felt like his scheme put us in losing position if everything wasn't going right, but this is a case of "I know what recipe I'm cooking, so get me the right groceries". Outside of benford and maybe Bernard, every single position on D has youth and talent competing for time and could potentially dethrone the incumbent. We now actually have the depth and breadth in the dline that mcd needs for his scheme, and instead of Addison and other past it jags holding on, these are young guys on rook contracts and one year deal vets (bosa, AJ, DT from Pittsburgh) along w some long term extended picks (Groot, Oliver, Bernard, benford). Guys like Milano, taron Johnson, Carter, bishop and Dorian Williams won't be given the long leash they might have been given in the past (Williams IMO will ball out and take over the other lb slot over Milano, but the point is everyone is on notice). We obviously lack 1tech depth and talent, and simply don't have enough lbs on the roster to play much outside of nickel base (or even done) but we now have the horses to cover and rush the passer, and the run d will continue to be shooting gaps and hoping for stuffs. I came into this off-season thinking we were gonna just ride with how mcd had done things for years, so I figured Garrett and draft a CB and it was our only chance. I like what we have now much better. Some of these guys are gonna bust out hard, but with this many pure athletes along w proven vets I think the days of Elam and Hamlin getting touched behind a zero pass rush are behind us.

Benford and Bishop are the only two dbs that played last year who we can be certain will be on the roster next year. This is getting ready for a house cleaning

Another limit athlete. They want young cheap athletic freaks and that's what they are stacking on d. They don't want a washed Douglas and Elam getting torched in the playoffs again, and I'm here for it.

Guy prolly washes out, but if he doesn't then there is a real chance he's Marcus Stroud part two. Stroud was a wrecking ball before injuries did him in. Between him, sanders, Jackson, and Groot, we can take away the short passing game with an all shot blocker package.

As a team we still have a big hole at outside wr, we really lack speed and speration ability. On d we really need Carter and Bishop to look way way better than they did in their rook seasons, on O we need Coleman and kinkaid to show a ton of improve. What is clear is how the FO wants to build their team. They want the most athletically dominant group near the ball, and they want the secondary to compliment it. Jackson, sanders, Hoyt, bosa, Oliver, and Groot are all plus athletes, the only one of them who is undersized in all honesty is Oliver. We don't have a 320# dancing bear in the gut (yet, I guess we could draft one today) but end to end the front is far from small. They are going for a team that can pressure and cover and winning third down (my gosh we need that so bad) and will continue to play the run with unstoppable force instead of immovable objects (I'll judge it as successful if we can be top level past d while mid pack on run d). On the other side, Dawkins and brown are monsters at OT, Cyrus is a true dancing bear, and rg and c are at or above replacement. Assuming kinkaid can get back to form, he and Knox round out the front with athletic traits, and we being in Anderson to be a strong heavy jumbo front a lot too. Our outside wr is just lacking, and our slot guys have depth and some real ability but are not dominant. The backfield is where we have our horsepower. Allen is a creature and the lifeblood of the team, and even if cook holds out we have backs who can run and catch and power through.

I think the direction we are seeing is that our d is going with the pat Reilly model: a bunch of talented hybrids. Hoyt at the dt from pittz, bosa and Groot, Oliver and Sanders and the razorback de we got in the 3rd. With the ability to play man behind it, I think we are going to see more formations and overloads and stunts upfront. We don't have an giant monsters in the gut (kinda ironic considering how huge and physical the ok is) but the combined size and athletics of the front 4 is something. Groot/bosa/razorback/AJ at de and Oliver/sanders/Jones/Carter/ at Dt and Hoyt wherever they put him is a lot of chess pieces if they can be creative with it.

Speed and coverage skills on this guy look pretty crazy. SEC corners have a real history of walking into the NFL and being pro ready. Being small and not in any way shape or form a thumper is a downside, which is why a 4.2 fluid corner makes it out of the top 12 tbh. Adding Hoyt and bosa and drafting this guy, along w some of the play calls last year and new d corches brought in this off-season makes me think (hope) MCD and CO want to make a pretty meaningful way the team defends the pass schematically and they are trying to bring in guys to execute that. We have tended to be super vanilla and exploited horribly in the playoffs because we couldn't really cause any confusion. Having wild card pieces up front and pure coverage in the back is what we need to have success in post season situational football. We'll need our new additions to ball out to do that, but I like the cohesive direction this is pointing in.

I don't disagree but as of last season our biggest issue was pass d. You often point out how bad we were if you eliminate the turnovers, well we got those turnovers more vs the pass game. The d was a tire fire for real. I say we trade up for a top flight CB because that's the single position that will make the biggest impact --, rook CBs can ball out the box, big men tend to take more time. I do think we need a lot more talent on the d line too tho, I'm hoping for 2 cbs and 2 or 3 dl taken, with at least 1 cb and 2 DL taken in our first 4 picks

Miller shoulda been travelling to medical clinics getting better peds and stem cells and the like for his knee. Sad!

I think there is a chance he falls a bit and then mayyyybe we can trade up and get him around like 10 or so. Being a guy who can play wr and cb could hurt him w NFL gms who are scared of someone who doesn't fit into a box (trubisky went before mahomes and Watson, that big LSU back went before McCafferty, Josh Rosen went a mile before Lamar Jackson).

they have the opposite issue we have, tons of top tier blue chip talent and a weak qb.

that's a fair concern. i disagree on 1 tech tho. a starting quality cb is worth so much more than a 25-50% of snaps 1 tech. we need a 1 tech, but if he's not a guy who can be a top 10 at his position player, an average starting cb does so much more for the team. bosa hoyt oliver and groot in whatever mix the put them in can be a nasty pass rush package. if williams or bernard can make some plays on passing downs as kind of wildcard/joker types our 3rd and long pass d could be way way better, we were just about the bottom in the nfl last season. just getting that up will lead to more punts in money games, and a starting quality cb2 gets us a long way there along w the boys we got in the trench.

if he can get his contract worked out for us, and didn't cost to much i'd do it. he would make the team better or the same at every position (assuming we get a starting cb and DT in the draft) than what we were last season, including having two real outside threats at WR. i think this is more smoke than fire tho.

it seems to me our brain trust is basically banking on kinkaid, coleman, palmer, and whoever we draft to all have solid positive impacts on the team, as well as our young guys and FAs on D. very beane/mcd esque strategy of buying a bunch of lotto tickets and hoping rather than putting all your eggs in one basket not named josh allen. they might need to swing on some athletic freaks in the draft in the hopes we get a field stretcher, impact cb2, and some kind of monsters up front.

that's true, i think the mindset of the FO is that the new coaches on D, adding bosa and hoyt and that dt from pittz, and whoever we add in the draft is gonna result in a better team -- along w bishop and williams and carter growing up, and kinkaid and coleman getting right on O. i agree we shoulda added real blue chip talent, but the only DL who seemed to be at a high level who was actually available was hendrickson (i really wanted garrett) and at WR it was maybe adams (if he woulda signed, not certain at all) and the dk trade. i thought dk signed for too much tho. if i had my way, and we coulda gotten him for not so much in draft picks, i woulda not extended bernard, not signed palmer and the dt from pittz, and gotten DK -- but the d needs help so i kinda get it. beane needs his picks from last year to show improve or to have a total monster draft this season IMO.

in hindsight it was. we paid the guy, and he blew this past season. he was good his first year, but now we have one single starting outside corner, and we had douglas and elam let us down hard and lose us the afc chip game, so ya it was a bad trade. we coulda dumped a 3 into a cb last year, or packaged and traded up and got thomas jr or something. that mighta got us to the bowl. im not even fading the last two in season trades, i thought at the time they had a good enough shot to get us over the hump. are you douglas' agent, cousin?

a 1 tech at 30 is similar to the bishop pick in the 2nd (i was a big fan of his coming out of college, so it shows my drafting chops!). If it's a year one starter who is or will be better than the rest of the roster at his position, then it's a really good pick. if it's a project, or a non starter (like carter has been, total washout so far), or a guy who got hurt and stymied his growth year one (like bishop or coleman) then you missed a chance at a real plus player at a more important positions. i think our first four selections will be DT, CB, WR, with a slim shot at edge rusher. i could see 2 DTs and 2 CBs, but no less than one of each. if a guy is pat williams, then im happy to spend the 30 or trade up in the 1st for him, but those don't come along too often.

there is a 0% chance we spend our first 5 picks exactly where they are right now. no shot! makes draft day a bit more fun, at the least.

the advanced stats and the tape shows that over the last say 2 years (the hamlin season was honestly a bit different, von went down, trey white came back but should not have had an nfl jersey on, and dorsey was playing dr demento on O) that our actual problem (which was news to me tbh) on D was how we defended an accurate passer. we continued to be tops of the tops at stopping deep passes, and kinda let teams run on light boxes (last season the only game we got really trucked on was the 2nd game vs miami where we sold out vs the pass and dared them to run on us. the baltimore game we got BTFO on big plays and horrible offensive production as much as anything). the rams game, the second half of the detroit game, and the kc playoff game really nailed this. we used so much smoke and mirrors and extreme offensive efficiency to pressure teams into turnovers (i now admit they are not entirely random, there is a method to that madness) to mask how our D just did zilch to make the day long for an accurate passing team. outside of staffy, joe cool is the most accurate passer in the nfl imo, and his garbage line isn't enough for us because our scheme and lack of talent has lead to either big time disruption up front or easy mode stuff on the back end, rather than a well coordinated d where the rush impacts the throw in synergy with the coverage (ironically, that is exactly what mcd's d in carolina did at an elite level). im just hoping the changes in d coaching and the addition of potential xfactor rushers (hoyt and bosa) mixes in w who we have enough to change that this season, but trotting out raw coordinators doesn't give me that much confidence that we will have a big change -- but a change must happen one way or another.

im saying we managed to get ourselves into a situation where our two worst position groups (maybe we have to stretch from cb to secondary, since we have TJ and benford at cb) secondary and wr not only had a lack of top end talent, but also the effective depth was pure cheeks. for example, i think our 3rd lb, williams, is gonna be a bit of a monster. our back ups at RG and C look like they aren't too bad of a fall off from our starters. we have a top 3 or so tackle combo, but when the RT went down vs kc in 2024 reg season, they still blocked their buts off. any one of our RBs can make steady or big plays. it's just goofy to me that we ended up, after spending high picks and trading 3rds mid season the past two seasons, with such a disaster at wr and cb/secondary in the afc chip game. to answer your question, in retrospect the douglas and the cooper trades were bad, but i supported them at the time and if coop stayed healthy maybe it woulda worked out.