August 9th, 2016 by James Rapien


This is the most important training camp of Margus Hunt's career. The former second round pick knows that if he doesn't prove himself now, he might not get another chance.


Hunt worked with Kevin Greene this offseason. Greene, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last weekend, was at Bengals practice yesterday.


Hunt has the physical tools to succeed in this league. He is listed at 6'8" and 277 pounds. The former Southern Methodist University star says his biggest takeaway from working with Greene is how important the physical part of the game is.


“He really focused on the physical aspect of the game and making sure you’re coming out as the aggressor and setting the tone from the get-go," Hunt said in the Bengals' locker room today. "If you look back, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he did to get 160 sacks. He just figured it out. He told me the reason he was around so long was because he figured out how to rush."


Hunt has 12 tackles in three seasons. Last year, he had two tackles and zero sacks. Working with Greene, who had 10 seasons with double-digit sacks can only help the Bengals defensive end. Hunt knows he has to improve and seems confident in himself heading into the season.
“That’s the biggest thing I need to improve on is consistency,” he said. “I’ve been going against these guys for four years now so I gotta get out of my comfort zone and play against other people.”


Hunt talked in depth about this season, working with Green and going up against the Minnesota Vikings this week. You can listen to that interview below.


Read more: http://espn1530.iheart.com/articles/bengals-184762/margus-hunt-on-improving-and-working-14991369/#ixzz4GrByrWeG

I'm done reading about Hunt / Clark . Show it on field. I'm not talking pre season.

I'm glad that it only took four years in the NFL to figure out how important he physical part of football is

Well the good news is he has nowhere to go but up.

Hopefully he actually shows us something this year. Lord know we've been waiting to see something from him. Anything.

I just saw this video where Lapham talks about Hunt's improvements and it's more than just "oh, now he's getting pressure" because he talks about Hunt has all the physical tools and just needs to finish, which he points out how Greene used too use tackles' size and movements against them.

Let's hope he can stay healthy and at least provide some pass rush and maybe cause a little disruption!

If he has a good week in front of Zimmer can we trade him to the Vikes?

I am always hopeful. But it is amlost unheard of for a player to do nothing for 3 years and then suddenly take his game to another level.

So, he JUST NOW figured out he needed to get some outside help (a la Dalton and House) to up his game, or was he just too damn lazy to do it until now?  Wasted pick.....

I think the biggest knock on Hunt is that he just never grew up around football. Only reason he played in college was because they dropped track & field which was his specialty in his teens so he tried out for the football team. The guy is an athletic freak, but unless you have that 'football' mentality which I dont think he does, it wont translate much outside of a few plays here and there. But if Greene can get that mentality instilled in him, which I doubt he can, but if he did Hunt can be a solid 3rd down pass rusher for us.

(08-09-2016, 03:27 PM)OrlandoBengal Wrote: I'm glad that it only took four years in the NFL to figure out how important he physical part of football is  

Same thing I thought ?? Just figured that out ?

(08-09-2016, 05:12 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am always hopeful.  But it is amlost unheard of for a player to do nothing for 3 years and then suddenly take his game to another level.

^This^

(08-09-2016, 05:14 PM)Wyche Wrote: So, he JUST NOW figured out he needed to get some outside help (a la Dalton and House) to up his game, or was he just too damn lazy to do it until now?  Wasted pick.....

He's pretty quick ain't he ? 

(08-09-2016, 05:12 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am always hopeful.  But it is amlost unheard of for a player to do nothing for 3 years and then suddenly take his game to another level.

But most players also started playing football before the age that Hunt did, well before.

How much knowledge did he even have of football before he started playing?  That also plays a part because most kids at least watch it and play backyard football.

(08-09-2016, 05:12 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am always hopeful.  But it is amlost unheard of for a player to do nothing for 3 years and then suddenly take his game to another level.

He doesn't have to. He's played well every time he's gotten an opportunity. Just keep doing what he's doing.

He should be a poster boy for the drafting scouts on why you shouldn't draft a second rounder as a "project"

Hopefully he's also learned how to finish plays.  I remember one play in particular against the Ravens where he had beaten the tackle and had a clear shot at Flaccid.  He hesitated long enough to let him slip by and slide down for positive yards.  It'll be a nice surprise if he ends up panning out after all of the setbacks, but I'm hesitant to sip from the kool-aid fountain just yet.

Nice thread Holic, i think this is where our team truly could improve or fail the most.

Backup rotational Ends. Lapham said Hunt looks better and working with Greene can only help.

We will see once the regular season comes around cause we have seen Hunt dominate a scrub in Preseason before to become a no show.

Hunt needs to learn to bend like Dunlap as i have said before though, he can try and by physical all he wants but in the NFL that does not
cut it in the end. He needs to have better bend and techinique for being such a tall fricker. The O-lineman are just too good in the NFL to
just out man them unless you are lower to the ground and play DT like Atkins.

(08-09-2016, 08:56 PM)GodFather Wrote: He should be a poster boy for the drafting scouts on why you shouldn't draft a second rounder as a "project"

He was not some guy who had never played football before.  He started 30 games in college and was an D-1 First Team  All-Conference player.  For his career he had 17 sacks, 28 tackles for loss, and 17 blocked kicks.

Hunt was much less of a "project" than Ziggy Ansah who was taken in the first round.  Ziggy only had 4.5 career sacks in college.

(08-09-2016, 09:34 PM)fredtoast Wrote: He was not some guy who had never played football before.  He started 30 games in college and was an D-1 First Team  All-Conference player.  For his career he had 17 sacks, 28 tackles for loss, and 17 blocked kicks.

Hunt was much less of a "project" than Ziggy Ansah who was taken in the first round.  Ziggy only had 4.5 career sacks in college.

The 17 blocked kicks sure was an eye opener, that is what made the pick just fine with me at the time.

Too bad he has done nothing since he has went against much better competition except look a touch better than Clarke to me.

But i could see Hunt being a solid rotational guy and honestly that is all we really need, someone better than Gilberry.

Pretty crazy how good Ansah has become for being just a project BTW.

Still am hopeful but definitely it is his last chance i believe.

(08-09-2016, 09:46 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Pretty crazy how good Ansah has become for being just a project BTW.

Yep.  30 in just three years and his 14.5 last year was third in the league.

Funny that some people here would not have drafted him until the third round.