How badly do you guys think we need to make investments in the secondary?
Here is our secondary depth chart in 2022 right now:
CB: Sneed, Fenton
S: Thornhill, Zayne Anderson
That's it. That's who we have under contract.
Surely there will be some people we sign to futures and bring back from this roster in places, like DiCaprio Bootle, but none of them move the needle.
Mathieu, Ward, Sorensen, Hughes, Baker, and Watts are all free agents.
There's been some debate as to whether we bring back Ward, who we all really like, though I do think we agree his uppermost limitation is against Jamar Chase. I think Ward played his ass off against Chase, but just couldn't hang with him. To say nothing of the fact that Fenton was clearly outmatched on the other side, and may not be a full time starter anyway.
That being said, what kind of resources should we explore in the secondary? The Bengals are clearly not going anywhere.
Just goes to show you, you need to be a flexible defense to win it all in the NFL. Some teams like to space you out and air it out, like the Bengals. Other teams like to pound you up front. [Reply]
And you have to have some decent cb's( preferably taller than 5'9) with athleticism when team counter your rush with quick passes and deep throws to the boundary. That's the recipe IMO [Reply]
Originally Posted by CatfishBob2:
And you have to have some decent cb's( preferably taller than 5'9) with athleticism when team counter your rush with quick passes and deep throws to the boundary. That's the recipe IMO
well, deep throws take time. I think the plan should be to not give them enough time.
The shorter corners are mostly a problem on the deep throws; if they're in trail position, you can loft it over their heads.
In close, the height difference isn't as big a detriment. it's about the angle of the throw.
You don't want to overthrow a short, quick pass, or it's an INT waiting to happen.
Sideline throws notwithstanding.
Anyway, yeah, you'd like your corners to all be 6'0" with long arms and run 4.4, but you know, you do what you can with what you can get.
I'd rather spend the money on 'chess pieces' and pass rushers is all I'm saying. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
How many safeties out there in the NFL can cover TEs one on one?
Five? Three?
THIS is why I want more chess pieces.
You can't shut down good TE's with one safety, or one LB. You can't shut down elite WR's with a corner one on one anymore.
You have to have MORE guys like Mathieu, and Sneed, and I think Willie Gay with his freakish speed at that size can be a chess piece. the opposition needs to have no idea who's going where pre-snap.
And I think you have to be able to get to the QB fast, and do it with 4. Make them make rushed decisions.
Give me safeties that can play some corner. Give me corners that have/can play some safety. Give me LB's that can cover, rush, and stuff the run. Give me a coordinator that mixes it all up so much the offense has no clue what is coming on any play pre-snap.
Confuse and rush the look. Force the ball out before the QB wants to throw. [Reply]
The constant distraction from his tweets, I think, makes the team's job harder.
I'm as big a Mathieu fan as there is but you can't have a guy walking around your locker room telling all the rookies what a joke our front office is. We're going to have to retain some of those guys in a couple years and Mathieu could be priming them to jump ship. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
I think you have to let Mathieu walk now.
The constant distraction from his tweets, I think, makes the team's job harder.
I'm as big a Mathieu fan as there is but you can't have a guy walking around your locker room telling all the rookies what a joke our front office is. We're going to have to retain some of those guys in a couple years and Mathieu could be priming them to jump ship.