Give me your dark horse and your dud for 2018

[Bengalstripes9]

(04-13-2018, 01:15 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Nice post man, i completely understand all of your points. Dre sure had a great game against Peyton Manning
back in the day. He has good length and good closing speed, doesn't get beat deep too often. His biggest problem
is the interference penalties. He doesn't get beat by the double moves as much as he used to.

Dennard last year just looked more polished in all aspects. There is a reason coaches were comparing him to Hall.

The thing with Lawson is i like that Merv is looking at playing him at SAM cause we need to know if he can be a
3 down Linebacker. If he can, damn. If he can't i just hope it doesn't cost us games. A lot seems to be hinging on
Lawson if we do not Draft a SAM backer.

Injuries are the only things holding Eifert and Ross back. They are both extremely talented and if they can stay
healthy can be as good as anyone at their positions.

I like Dennard too. Seems like they only play him in the slot though. He's definitely effective there. He's very quick, and his coverage skills have really developed. Leon Hall is a good comparison; he was pretty damn good in the slot too (also great from the outside before the injuries). It'd be interesting to see if they work Dennard more on the outside this year at all. Dre has kinda been their guy on the outside, and has definitely struggled. I'm hoping the coaching gets him playing better. The defense has been on the field too much lately, and he's been exposed for sure. If he doesn't bounce back this year they really gotta think about replacing him soon. Fingers Crossed. 

Also, wouldn't mind seeing Pacman come back on the cheap after the draft for depth; don't think anyone's signed him yet. 

To be honest, when I think back to when we drafted Dre I remember not being blown away by the pick. Wasn't he a zone corner coming out? If he was a little bigger maybe he'd be a good safety... haha Anyway, never have been all that excited about him. But I'm really hoping he can prove everyone wrong this year. Like I said, he was pretty decent a couple years ago.

I hope it works out with Lawson, really can't tell what to expect. Hope they have him in there rushing the passer in a rotational role. I'd rather they try someone else at linebacker but who knows, maybe it could work out. Sounds like they're thinking of having him do what James Harrison did for us that one year?

I'm not sure Ross is ready quite yet. If healthy it seems like he still has a lot to learn as far as fitting into our offense and running good routes. He didn't get a chance to play last year, so I feel like this coming year turns into his rookie year in a sense. Not many WRs do too well in their rookie years. We'll see. I'm hoping for the best. Glad he's working with TJ in the offseason. I feel like learning a new offense could make it harder on him too, but we'll see. Lazor might be able to find a way to make it easy on him.