06-03-2023, 10:07 AM
As others have said, there's a lot on the plates of the young safeties.
We had one of if not the best safety tandem in the league for a couple of years. It's hard for me to imagine the defense getting better while losing both of those guys.
Yes, they had countermeasures in place to address this, and yes, I think the young safeties could be terrific. The key word is young, as in really young and inexperienced. Scott has put in some time, and he could potentially get better, but he's still new to the defense.
Hill is an unknown. I think people were very confident in him as a value draft pick. Unfortunately (or fortunately, since it meant Bell and Bates were healthy) he didn't get much on-field action in 2022. When he did he made some real bonehead mistakes, ie the Wild Card game. Even so, the potential is high. He has versatility, which is normally a positive, but I think we need him to be one thing, and that thing is a Bates replacement. It doesn't matter if he can play everywhere in the secondary if he can't man single high like Jesse did. That's what he's probably going to be asked to do. No Bates heir means a huge downgrade in containing the deep ball, which is crucial in this conference with these qbs.
Battle is very interesting. Camp will tell a lot about him. If he manages to secure a starting spot against Scott or Hill, then we might have a steal on our hands. Smarts go a long way, and if coaches are to be believed, he has all a DC can ask for. In some ways, his draft position and profile remind me of Bell when he came into the league. He wasn't a first day pick and he came from an always-loaded college secondary. Teams viewed him as a limited player vs the pass. He did not get a big contract after his rookie deal. He did, however, prove to be an instinctive safety that had a knack for big plays. Super smart and reliable. Against the early odds, he got a nice second contract. We'll see....
I like the youth in the secondary as a long term asset, but you just never know how long it's going to take them to adjust to the league and the defensive scheme. CTB was relatively quick with it despite missing time due to injury early on. Another advantage is a staff that's been entrenched for a long time despite a lot of recent success. Somehow, Lou is still here, and he's a DB wizard. This isn't a bad thing.
We had one of if not the best safety tandem in the league for a couple of years. It's hard for me to imagine the defense getting better while losing both of those guys.
Yes, they had countermeasures in place to address this, and yes, I think the young safeties could be terrific. The key word is young, as in really young and inexperienced. Scott has put in some time, and he could potentially get better, but he's still new to the defense.
Hill is an unknown. I think people were very confident in him as a value draft pick. Unfortunately (or fortunately, since it meant Bell and Bates were healthy) he didn't get much on-field action in 2022. When he did he made some real bonehead mistakes, ie the Wild Card game. Even so, the potential is high. He has versatility, which is normally a positive, but I think we need him to be one thing, and that thing is a Bates replacement. It doesn't matter if he can play everywhere in the secondary if he can't man single high like Jesse did. That's what he's probably going to be asked to do. No Bates heir means a huge downgrade in containing the deep ball, which is crucial in this conference with these qbs.
Battle is very interesting. Camp will tell a lot about him. If he manages to secure a starting spot against Scott or Hill, then we might have a steal on our hands. Smarts go a long way, and if coaches are to be believed, he has all a DC can ask for. In some ways, his draft position and profile remind me of Bell when he came into the league. He wasn't a first day pick and he came from an always-loaded college secondary. Teams viewed him as a limited player vs the pass. He did not get a big contract after his rookie deal. He did, however, prove to be an instinctive safety that had a knack for big plays. Super smart and reliable. Against the early odds, he got a nice second contract. We'll see....
I like the youth in the secondary as a long term asset, but you just never know how long it's going to take them to adjust to the league and the defensive scheme. CTB was relatively quick with it despite missing time due to injury early on. Another advantage is a staff that's been entrenched for a long time despite a lot of recent success. Somehow, Lou is still here, and he's a DB wizard. This isn't a bad thing.
