Hunt/Clark: Interesting Stat

[NATI BENGALS]

(05-30-2016, 10:58 AM)fredtoast Wrote: All it proves is that you did not look deeply enough into what really happened.  Despite missing time with injury every season his fiorst three years in the league dunlap was still playing 2/3rds of the snaps.

Starts don't really mean that much, and in hjis second and thrid seasons Dunlap was nothing close to the player he is now.  

2/3rds is pushing it. 9.5 sacks his rookie year. Maybe Hayes "coaching" was like "coaching" for the Reds and instead of developing it was hindering. Yes he is better now. But Dunlap has been good since the day we drafted him.

Dunlap is clearly better than Hunt and Clarke. But early in his career Dunlap still lost snaps to guys like Fanene, Frostee, and Geathers. Probably because they were the veteran preferance of whichever coach makes the call. If a guy with his talent isnt even getting fully utilized because Fanene, Frostee, and Geathers are here... Its easy to see why Hunt and Clarke were underutilized with Dunlap, MJ, and Gilberry ahead of them.

I think Hunt and Clarke were underutilized big time in 2014. And being inactive for about half the games last year for each of them seems pretty counter productive. We didnt even draft a DE and we let Gilberry walk without a fight. At least Shawn Williams got a little time to shine in real action before being counted on to play a big role. Would be nice if we had a little more experience in our 2nd and 3rd round picks going in to year 4 and year 3 of their contracts who are now supposed to be big contributors to our rotation.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(05-30-2016, 12:23 AM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: This isnt revisionist. Just facts.
Geno led the team in pressures and was second on the team in sacks as a rookie. He was ready to make an impact.

Dunlap had 9.5 sacks as a rookie. He needed to mature. His football skills were there. Playing him behind Geathers didnt make him better. Had injuries that slowed him year 2 and 3. Still rediculous our coaches gave one of the best 4-3 DEs in the league 2 freaking starts his first 3 years in the league.

You can say whatever you want. Hopefully it was the DL coach who left deciding the pecking order. But the fact Dunlap had 2 career starts going in to his 4th year proves there is something broke there.

We had a great opportunity to get Hunt and Clarke a good look in 2014. Instead we rode Gilberry to a league worst sack total.

I hope the change at DL coach changes this and we start to properly utilize the talent we have.

Geno did make an impact, as a role player. He wasn't ready to play against the run every down. For his own freaking college team, he started only 3 of the 13 games before getting drafted. Why? He was a pass rush specialist, so his run defense hadn't developed to the level you'd need for an every down NFL defender. That extra year allowed him to hone that ability.


Same with Dunlap, sure you can mention his QB pressures and sacks and such. How was his run defense? How was his ability to attack the football in a player's hands? There's more to playing DE than just running at the QB. Otherwise you're going to get your face run all over and you'll give up control of the ball to the other team for about 40 minutes per game.

I'll say this again. Dunlap was 21 when he came into the NFL. Not 21-about-to-be-22, but 21 for the entire season. That's young. Combine that with having work ethic/drive questions that dropped his draft stock... yet you're pretending that today's Carlos Dunlap was the same Carlos Dunlap of 2010 and 2011. They're different.

[*SHRacerX*]

(05-29-2016, 02:47 AM)J24 Wrote: They have to earn their snaps. The fact that they haven't is very concerning.

I completely agree, but it seems recently that a lot of our early picks went a long time before getting that many snaps:  Dennard, Kirkpatrick, Hardison, etc.

Injuries and depth have had a lot to do with their their diminishd snap count.  I think this season they will get ample opportunity to prove themselves...unless, of course, they sign Freeney!

[BengalChris]

(05-31-2016, 07:24 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I completely agree, but it seems recently that a lot of our early picks went a long time before getting that many snaps:  Dennard, Kirkpatrick, Hardison, etc.

Injuries and depth have had a lot to do with their their diminishd snap count.  I think this season they will get ample opportunity to prove themselves...unless, of course, they sign Freeney!

The secondary is a bit different. Marvin really doesn't like starting rookies at corner or safety. He's only done it twice in his time here and both those times we were extremely thin at corner and the defense in general wasn't that good then. Lately, he's trying to maintain a top level defense.

But for a 2nd round DE pick to go three full years and get very, very little playing time? Hunt could barely get on field when MJ left and Gilberry was a starter. Neither could Clarke.

Of our more recent DL picks, only Thompson has gotten decent playing time. Still is gone, Hunt never developed, Clarke hasn't developed. Hardison is only going into his second year, so really can't count him as we really didn't expect much from him last year. Hunt and Still were both 2nd round busts.