01-03-2019, 09:37 AM
(01-02-2019, 12:46 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Josh Malone.....Watched him play in college. He is a great athlete with good ball skills. But we were paper thin at WR this year and he did nothing.
Alex Redmond....Like Malone he had no history of being productive in the NFL, but he seemed like the type of guy that just needed "polish" coming out of college. He is supposedly up there with Geno and Boling as the strongest guy on the team, and they also talked about his "nasty streak". But he did not do much of anything to impress me.
Burfict....One of my favorite players. Looked "flat" this year. With his latest concussion I don't expect anything special out of him ever again.
Ross was a disappointment, but I was kind of afraid he would struggle.
Some people will say Lawson, but according to an new ESPN pass rush stat called "win rate" Lawson was #2 in the league in beating his blocker even though he only had one sack before getting injured. Lawson and Hubbard could be the building blocks of our future defense.
Some people will also say William Jackson, but he has played great before and was not injured in 2018. I am guessing it was more about the defensive scheme that made everyone look bad than a lack of skill on Jacksons part.
Definitely agree on Malone. After the interception in the Carolina game on the ball that bounced off his should pads, he put himself behind Cody Core and we basically never saw him again the rest of the year. Cody Core! c'mon Josh
Redmond - agree 100%
Burfict - also one of my favorite players
He looks completely finished and hasn't been football "ready" for the start of a season in almost 4 years due to injury or suspension... between concussions and never being in shape, I am stuck wondering how he would've been regarded differently had the '16 playoff collapse ended with his interception of Ben and Jeremy NOT fumbling. Tez would've been a hero and not the poster boy for thug Bengal football.Ross - I am still one of the few that have not given up on Ross. I do not believe we have put him in situations to "win" thus far, though I admit he has messed up enough to not warrant a lot of confidence yet. They need to understand that his size should make him more of a slot and gimmick threat similar to Tyreek Hill... Hill torched defenses from the slot this year, they attacked deep safeties with him from that spot and were extremely successful. Get Ross away from the boundary, he is not physical enough and needs to get off of the press and/or bigger CBs.
Lawson did not produce the sacks this yr while he was active but he still rated very highly as a run defender before he blew his ACL. That goes a long way and I do feel they missed him a lot up front. Only plus was the emergence of Hubbard. Really like that kid!
Jackson, I believe will bounce back and be ok. Consider it his "sophomore" slump imo as '17 was more-or-less his rookie season. The dysfunctional defense at the onset of the season was as much due to scheme not fitting personnel... or at the very least the scheme being too unfamiliar to our defensive players' instincts and we were left making mental errors and being picked apart while being tentative and out of position.
The one alarming thing with the secondary this year would be the lack of interceptions by any of our starting DBs... absolutely none for our CBs, Williams got one finally in the last game vs. Pitt... only Bates was a true threat to make any plays on balls in the air. I saw Dennard drop two that hit him in the chest, and another that JuJu took out of his hands that he should've intercepted before busting up his shoulder on that TD.
Jessie Bates is going to be a great FS imo
