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New Mock with a QB to develop
- Thread starter Rey
- Start date
badboy
Hall of Fame
I'd jump at this one. Dysert prolly gone but if there would be good selection. Swearinger looked good recently. McCullers would need to drop signifcantly imo as did Brooks across th eline but he cannot be worse than Cody. I'd start Mitchell and get Mc in as much as possible. You don't have a WR but I have argued we may go with what we have. I just don't get the fascination with Long other than bloodlines.
I like Jordan and Long, tons of athletic potential but might take a year to polish up their game. I don't know anything about Dysert, haven't been researching QB's. I don't like McCullers, to tall for NT where getting low for leverage is key. Swearinger, should add some good depth/competition. I haven't researched RB's either so don't know anything about Barner either. I love the Adams pick but it might take some luck in the 5th. He's got a good skill set and speed to add some quality depth to the CB corp.. Not familiar with Foketi or Zudfeld but I like the positions chosen.
Honoring Earl 34
Something Witty !
Not that it matters but Dion Jordan and his buddies were siphoning gas with a vacuum cleaner in high school and he snapped that this wasn't the brightest thing to do . He ran into his garage and pulled the plug which ignited the fumes . He was burnt pretty bad and missed the last 5 games of high school . Oregon still honored his scholarship and the rest is history .
Not a fan of the ILB's in this draft. I think this is a weak class for ILB. I'd rather go the FA route or trade for a guy under a reasonable contract.
Bart Scott will probably be released this off season. Mauluga might be available. Both of those guys would be talent upgrades IMO and wouldn't need to be every down players.
BUT.....when all compensatory picks are announced I will probably add an ILB somewhere in my mocks...
kiwitexansfan
Hall of Fame
Did.you not watch the last game? Mauluga is no better than Brady James. Probably even worse in coverage.
Bradie was thought to be terrible in Dallas too. Rudd was out of a job.
I think mauluga has more ability than both of them. I think in this defense he'd get good coaching and be put in a better position to succeed. In our defense he wouldn't be the only MLB. His responsibilities would be different. We wouldn't have him playing man over te's.
Mauluga is not great in coverage, but his run defense is pretty good.
Not many mlb's can hold Arian or od one on one.
No. no, no , no, no, he77 no.
& I'll tell you why. It's actually the same for all your picks except Kyle Long & Johnny Adams.
We have too much trouble already with Walter(s) & Daniels. We don't need any Zac without a K, or Fikuta's, or Dions (i instead of e) that's bull crap. We need Jack Smiths & Ron Joneses.
aussie_texan
Veteran
you must remember though that in passing situations we only play 1 MLB and put in an extra safety or CB
So let teams exploit him on first and second down then take him out? Don't you think wade would rather have his base defense in no matter what the situation is if he had the personnel to do it.
Exactly!
No we don't.
We need lb's with talent and ability. Bradie. James is not a real good player. He's below average. Same thing for the rest of the bunch.
Odds are you're not going to find a player that is great against the run and pass and can blitz. If yoy find a guy like that he'd be Brian Cushing.
We need to upgrade the talent level and as far as I'm concerned mauluga fits that bill. He's a better player than every MLB we have on the roster not named Cushing. And while he may not be the best in coverage, this scheme will put him in position to succeed.
How many mlb's can check Arian or od 1 on 1?
Don't let their stupid defensive coordinator cloud your judgement. We don't ask our guys to do that.
aussie_texan
Veteran
However many of them there are, Maualuga isn't one of them. OD & Arian had career days against him.
I liked Maualuga coming out of USC, he's the one I wanted at the time. But right now, sorry... don't see him as an upgrade over Dobbins much less Sharpton & he's definitely no replacement for DeMeco.
Sorry, just not seeing it.
We need to upgrade the talent, we need to get more athletic at the position, we need someone who is "great" in coverage.. Cushing is not. He's pretty good, but not "great"
We need a bigger Glover Quin for our next ILB.
Fili
Rookie
If Dysert is still there 3rd round, I would take it.
1. He's confident in the pocket, but sometimes he's a little too dependent on the O-line.
2. Good mobility and can extend the play if necessary.
3. Pretends he's a runningback sometimes, and takes too many hits when he runs the ball. He just needs to slide more often.
4. Puts the ball away from the defender on short passes.
5. He likes big bodied receivers so I could see him hitting Graham a lot.
I think he needs a lot of work in the NFL though. Could be starter in a couple years.
1. He's confident in the pocket, but sometimes he's a little too dependent on the O-line.
2. Good mobility and can extend the play if necessary.
3. Pretends he's a runningback sometimes, and takes too many hits when he runs the ball. He just needs to slide more often.
4. Puts the ball away from the defender on short passes.
5. He likes big bodied receivers so I could see him hitting Graham a lot.
I think he needs a lot of work in the NFL though. Could be starter in a couple years.
He wouldn't be asked to do that here is the point.
And you are dreaming if you think you are going to find a MLB with the coverage skills if a safety to play in this defense.
If Cushing is healthy he's not coming off the field on passing downs. He's the coverage lb and he's actually pretty good at it.
The texans are going to get a guy to be the thumper in this defense and allow Cushing to be the playmaker. That's exactly why they let Demeco go and why he was seeing the field less and less here.
Mauluga fits what we need. Veteran, intense, hard hitting and won't be asked to make a bunch of plays against players he has no business guarding.
Mauluga would be a great fit next to Cushing in this 34. In the 43 he was asked to do more than he should have.
How about Minter or Ogletree in the 1st? I know most probably don't want to use the 1st pick on an ILB but to me it's a big weakness on this team that needs to be addressed early. Are either one of them athletic enough for coverage?
Im not sure I would use our first on Minter. Ii wouldn't hate it, but I wouldn't do it. Ogletree? hell yeh!!! That's if the interview checked out. He has some off field issues that need to be discussed. If that checked out I would love him. He is the best ILB in this draft. Yes even better than Teo.
Ogletree wouldn't be my first selection in the 1st round either but I wouldn't be mad with it either. IF, yes big IF, we picked Ogletree in the 1st I'd take that as a sign we might not re-sign Cushing when he becomes a FA. With his PED and injury history I'd be cautious re-signing Cushing. They could work well together for a yr. or 2 but Ogletree could very well be Cushings replacement.
beerlover
Hall of Fame
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
My thinking exactly. Its part and parcel why the patriots ate us alive...
Leave both of our sub par lb's in...put 1 of em in coverage & exploit em
take a lb out in favor of a cb...run it down our throats.
& that's just when the patriots weren't running uptempo and catching us switching out players trying to match up.
Getting Cush back alleviates some of this, but getting a guy next to him that can be good in coverage at the lb spot would be huge.
It's 1 of the reasons SF is so good on defense although Willis does come out at times on 3rd downs depending on the matchup. Otherwise, he and Bowman are on the field controlling the middle of the field every single down for SF.
Lol at the...Mauluga suggestion...coverage was a big knock on him coming out and it's still a big knock on him 3 years later.
We do ask our guys to guard rb's and te's but we generally give Thosr guys dome help.
Of course you do have the occasional case where they don't get help like against the pats.
Wrong again as usual.
We don't take out a lb in favor of a corner. We take out a lb in favor of a safety.
And we arent just throwing stuff against the wall hoping it sticks. We pick defenses based on the personnel we are facing. The only thing wade does consistently as a wrinkle is use gq in that joker position.
When offenses come out in a base or two tight formation you're going to have lb's on rb's and te's. That's inevitable. But the difference is how you ask those guys to cover.
Mauluga in a 43 means he's the only guy in the middle of the field. The safeties are playing two deep and Mauluga is asked to cover a large area ALL the time. There is Bo escaping that in the defense he played in.
Here in a 34 we don't ask our guys to do that too often.
That's why you find guys with talent and ask then to do things they are capable of and not having then do things they suck at.
If you can find another Cushing or a player close to Cushing, great. But we are talking about someone that would ideally be a two down player. Someone whose most important job is stopping the run. Will there be matchups that's not good for him? Sure. That's when you play him less.
And bowman and Willis are both all pro's and are super athletic. If you can find a guy like bowman, great. I'm all for that. We should definitely look for a good lb with athleticism in the draft.
But in the meantime it wouldn't be a bad idea to sign a good player that can successfully fill a niche on the team.
The offense can't dictate our coverage. They can only exploit it when it's available.
We didn't have to run Ruud out there on that rb. It just happened that they caught us in the right coverage and took advantage. We could have audible to a zone or put a safety on him.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
don't you understand that the reason we don't ask our guys to cover like that is b/c wade knows his lb's can't do it? Your rationale is exactly why the defense has been getting exposed...finding "niche" guys.
& Lol, cb, safety what does it matter? it's a smaller db that can't cover a big athletic TE.....you seen how well that worked out for us. You seen how many times Aaron Hernandez just ran straight over Quinn. In that regard it doesn't matter what smoke & mirrors wade tries to use to mask his personnel deficiencies, Great scheming and coaching eventually exposes it. Bringing in another LB like Mauluga that's sub par in coverage isn't going to change that regardless of "how" wade "asks" him to do or cover..he sucks in coverage period. So play him less & then we're back to square 1 above with Quinn getting TD passes caught on him by Mercedes freaking Lewis..hell, Mauluga's not even that good against the run. Like i said, coverage was a knock on him coming out and it's still a knock on him 4 years into his career.
The better way to go would be just to get a LB in here who can actually cover someone and get a fat NT in front of him to mask any of his run deficiencies and leave the safeties up top...
try again.....
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
They can if they gash us enough...or big enough...unless you're into that whole we do what we do regardless of the outcome thing....by the way have you seen us in zone? :mariopalm:
Sorry...us putting an LB out there...or us attempting to happened way too many times in both games for it to be something that just happened to happen.
"Bradie James can't cover, so lets get him out there on Hernandez.."
"Brooks Reed's athletic, so lets test how athletic his in coverage.."
"Barrett Ruud's Ok in coverage, so lets split him out wide and see how well he does.."
"They're putting a db on Hernandez, he's too small lets get him the ball"
They knew that we couldn't match up with them no matter who we attempted to put out there b/c they knew our personnel as well as we did and it all goes back to having all these 1-sided type guys on the field.
Yep,
I thought Ruud did a great job this yr, for a man that just came off the street. I've got all LB positions as a big need. But since the way offenses are being run today (60% nickle) if I could choose one thing to instantly improve the defense, it would be to re-sign Quin and draft an impact S as an upgrade over the thoughly unimpressive Demps/Keo.
The offense needs to be fixed 1st though. Not enough playmakers and offense that's keeps the defense off the field would make a bigger impact for the defense than drafting a LB' in the 1-2 rd.
I see your point. But, they replaced Demeco with Sharpton/James.... I don't think they were going after "thumper"
The way you explained him next to Cushing, makes complete sense, coming out on passing downs, makes complete sense.... what we ended up with & doing... not so much.
While Vareen did make that catch for a TD, there was another occasion Ruud was able to get him to the sideline & out of bounds. I thought he was going to do the same thing on the TD play, but Vareen started further from the sideline.... great in game adjustment.
1st, Glover Quin is a bad ass. Mercedes Lewis may catch a TD pass on him, but it isn't going to be very often.
2nd, defense is about guessing. We guess right most of the time & close enough the others.... except what happened against the Patriots. But the way we're built, I can see us going after a guy to stop the run. We've got good corners on the ends, Jjo & Kj I'd match them up against any Receiver tandem one on one. Allowing the Safeties, LBs, & Nickel to work out some kind of coverage in the middle.
Problem was, they ran over GQ & didn't get called but for one of them. GQ has a right to any spot on the field that he gets to first. Second, they ran a lot of crossing patterns which leads to confusion when you're playing man, or naturally open receivers, depending on how you play it. They also picked off defenders with those crossing patterns, some obvious, some not so obvious, but we got away with a few as well, so I won't complain too much.
Now shifting that RB out wide kinda screws up that Safety, LB, Nickel concept in the middle. It put a LB on an island with a RB. But, a RB is not usually a mismatch for a LB as it's part of that LBs job, covering RBs. Every now & then you get a freaky RB that is a mismatch.... I don't think Vareen is a freaky mismatch. I saw two instances with Ruud on him, the first time, Ruud did an excellent job, the second, not so much..... but that's the way things go.
I don't think it was a problem that we were playing man so much, I think the problem was how we played man.
I don't agree that Maualuga should be brought here..... I think we can do better.