This thread idea materialized after I watched HB stand there throwing his hands up in the air rather than trying to challenge Lock at the goal line on his first touchdown run.
What are some acceptable alternative courses of action if you let Mathieu walk in the offseason? [Reply]
100%. He makes more business decisions than Deion Sanders did at the end of his career. Would be a huge mistake to sign him to another big deal imo. [Reply]
Veach has some work to do on the D side of the roster this Spring.
Mathieu is unlikely to earn his next contract, and we don’t need another Frank Clark situation. I assume Veach will let both go.
I hope Kaindoh can break in and provide some productivity. And I expect Veach to go WR/DE/S-CB in some combination very early in the draft/free agency.
I don’t see a replacement at S on this roster or taxi squad at this point.
We need players with toughness on D willing to play with passion and physicality.
Tyrone used to be that guy….Frank used to be that guy.
At this point I'd almost re-sign Ward over HB. Mathieu really regressed compared to last season in my view. Don't know if it's age or just a blip on the radar. You'd think with contract talks looming he would've balled out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tmax63: At this point I'd almost re-sign Ward over HB. Mathieu really regressed compared to last season in my view. Don't know if it's age or just a blip on the radar. You'd think with contract talks looming he would've balled out.
Totally agree. Ward didn't have a great game yesterday against Denver, but for the most part in the Cincinnati game he was in good position and just got beat by perfect passes to a great WR, and there's not much he could do about that. By and large this season I think Ward played very well. I've said before that if it came down to signing him or signing HB, put me in the Ward camp without question. [Reply]
I'm about done with Mathieu; his effort isn't always there and instead of tackling he throws a shoulder at people. Don't know who would replace him however I would concentrate on defensive ends and linebackers. Seems like a competent defensive back could move to safety.
I think if we keep Spags, we gotta keep HB. The defense is made specifically with him in mind and I don’t see any other safety in the league that could replace him in the capacity of the “HB” role Spags has specifically installed for this scheme.
If we were to let Spags go and really let Veach retool the defense this offseason the way he before the SB run, you let Mathieu, Hitchens, Sorenson, and Spags go. Bring back the cheaper of Ward and Hughes, and build a new defense around the nucleus of Sneed, Jones, Bolton, and Gay. [Reply]
Originally Posted by BryanBusby:
Why not Sneed? I think he's a fantastic HB replacement.
We drop Mathieu into deep coverage a lot. I'm sure Sneed can do that, but I think he's so much better closer to the line, in the slot, covering slot recievers and/or blitzing.
IF you actually replace Sorensen with an actual athletic enough player to be a box safety and yet cover deep, then yeah, you could do that. [Reply]