12-31-2024, 01:35 PM
(12-31-2024, 08:20 AM)BurrowTheGoat Wrote: To be honest im not overly worried about our DT room. I think Jenkins and Jackson are gonna both be pretty good players. Flashing as a rookie at DT isn't easy to do thats a position that takes a few years as you said. Where we more urgently need help is in the secondary. CTB has been very up and down and DJ Turner and Dax are coming off ACL tears so hard to rely on them. We also urgently need a couple good pass rushers. Murphy and Ossai are playing ok but neither gets consistent pressure on the QB. Ossai has impressed me the last few games but he can't be relied on yet.
I am not worried about CB nearly as much. In fact, I'd rate it as one of our lowest areas of need. While we certainly lack a lockdown corner, we have 5 guys who grade out as above average in coverage, including Hilton, if only just barely, 4 of whom are signed.
Turner broke his collarbone, not his knee. Hill's non-contact knee injury is concerning, but he was playing well. CTB has stabilized and is geading out about where he was in previous years. Turner was playing well right when the injury happened. And after a rocky start, Fig has been pretty good.
All those guys were playing at a significantly higher level that Jackson or Jenkins, though McKinnley in particular is coming on. And even if you count both of them, we still need 2 DTs because we play 4.
DT, Guard, Safety, TE, DE, and WR are all bigger areas of worry for me than CB. At DT, G, and S we do not have a single guy who is average or better, we need 2 guys (or more) at each spot. WR, DE, and TE we have 1 player & not much else, and that is counting All.
Here are our CBs, PFF grades & ranks with snap counts. There are 219 ranked CBs. So above 110 would be top half.
Player: Snaps (Rank): Grades: overall, cover, run (Ranks):
CTB: 976 (15): 64.0/65.3/66.4 (88/70/72)
Hill: 262 (120): 68.2/68.0/66.0 (63/59/76)
Turner: 508 (86): 67.8/68.4/57.1 (64/57/146)
Newton: 444 (93): 63.7/64.7/54.4 (92/77/160)
Ivey: 55 (169): 60.3/58.2/68.1 (117/134/59)
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Hilton (FA): 692 (56): 72.7/65.1/91.7 (34/74/1)
Wilson (FA): 237*(124): 44.4/44.7/45.1 (201/195/191)
*: most of his snaps with another team
Again it is not that I am unconcerned about CB. Just my level on concern is lower. Our top 4 signed corners are top 3rd in the league in coverage grade. FA Hilton almost is, and is the #1 guy vs the run, where Turner & Fig struggle.
We could live with CTB, Hill, Turner, & Fig. If we bring back Hilton, we are solid, if unspectacular, and 5 deep. Play Hilton on running downs & Turner on obvious passing.
At DT, 218 are ranked: Snaps, PFF Grades, overall, pass rush, run d, and ranks:
Rankins: 287 (105): 55.3/58.9/46.2 (114/114/148)
Jenkins: 463 (64): 46.4/54.2/47.8 (170/172/135)
Jackson: 225 (127): 51.1/51.5/50.3 (143/195/125)
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Hill (FA): 657 (22): 69.0/64.0/67.7 (31/69/24)
Tufele: 237 (121): 44.9/56.3/42.5 (181/142/170)
Aside from FA Hill, not one guy is top half in any metric. And we play 4 guys every game. And as you say, rookies usually struggle at that spot. My urgency is higher at DT to add in FA, though there isn't a game wrecker, Hill + a moderate signing woukd have me feeling OK, however.
