Thoughts on What The Defense May Look Like (Not Opening the Piggy Bank on Re-signings)**

[SetfreexX]

As you all know the primary FA's are - Reddick (12-15M) / Gilmore (18M) / Jackson (7-8M)

Those are just my rough estimates based on things I've seen over the years -- feel free to check Spotrac or OTC for estimates, I just wanted to provide a point of reference as after the Moton restructure, we are around 26M in cap space. 

With that in mind, here's what we have left:

DL - Brown / Roy / Fox / Nixon

DE / Edge - Burns / Yetur Gross-Matos

Off Ball LB - Shaq / Luvu

Corner - Horn / Henderson / Bouye / Taylor -- Pride / Hartsfield / STO III

Safety - Chinn

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

That is not a bad ''cornerback'' room, plenty of young talent with a veteran presence for stability, not to mention the ''low key'' return of Steve Wilks -- IMO that was a great hire. 

Edge / LB'er are thin as far as depth, but those are positions that are normally relatively cheap when looking at reserves ''if'' you think Yetur is ready to step into a full-time position year three which should to some degree be an expectation as he's built similar to Hardy for those that aren't aware, a little longer maybe just looking at him and tested as a better athlete overall.

Interior DL / Safety to me still remain my bigger concerns, we have to find a partner for Chinn, and could use more on the IDL to help support Brown. 

I do think we will retain one of those three guys mentioned at the top, and I hope it's Reddick, I think him with the group above has the ''most'' sensible impact / fit. I have a hard time seeing him getting Von Miller type money on the open market, no one was willing to offer it last year, and the staff here knows his skill set best, he's been kind of a volume guy (he gets sacks in bunches) then can sometimes feel less impactful. I think that will hurt him (see the 5 sack game vs NYG in 2020 as an example of this) that one game was almost half his sacks in his final season with ARI. He had a game or two like that for us as well which led to some ''where is he moments'' he had ''7'' games with no sacks, but he had ''5'' games with 1.5 - 2 sacks. 

• Games he had no sacks -- DAL / MIN / NYG / MIA / ATL / both TB games

Common theme in those games, all losses, in the five games he had the 1.5-2 sacks -- we won them all except versus PHI.

I say all that to say that I believe he's worth re-signing, BUT he's not THE guy as far as a pass rusher is concerned IMO weight added or not, he's a niche player and teams usually pay them less, not to mention guys his size / skill set are usually littered throughout the draft. 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by SetfreexX

[MHS831]

That Gilmore trade (giving up a pick for an injured star player they could not afford to keep) was puzzling.  They thought they were playoff bound at that time, fwiw. Decided to go "all in" they did.

[davos]

YGM needs to develop into a 3-down DE.  He's an asset in run-D and would compliment Burns well if he breaks out this season.  His pressure % was super good and was always digging into lines.  Those 2 with Fox rotating in and playing 1 tech sometimes is fine.  

Brown is in a big year for 2022.  He needs to become a leader for Roy, Nixon and co.

Luuvu may be a rare diamond in the rough find with this awful regime.

 

[Waldo]

Chinn needs to be up closer to the LOS and not playing FS again.

[Khyber53]

19 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

That Gilmore trade (giving up a pick for an injured star player they could not afford to keep) was puzzling.  They thought they were playoff bound at that time, fwiw. Decided to go "all in" they did.

I've wondered about that and thought maybe it was partly a case of New England wanting to get Gilmore off the books and out of the locker room, so we did them a solid in hopes of building a trading relationship for the future.

Or we just kinda overpaid for a short-term resource because we weren't very savvy . That could just as easily be the case.

[frankw]

22 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

That Gilmore trade (giving up a pick for an injured star player they could not afford to keep) was puzzling.  They thought they were playoff bound at that time, fwiw. Decided to go "all in" they did.

It was the kind of move you make on Madden just because you can and you're bored. Who needs draft picks?

[Ricky Spanish]

36 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

That Gilmore trade (giving up a pick for an injured star player they could not afford to keep) was puzzling.  They thought they were playoff bound at that time, fwiw. Decided to go "all in" they did.

It was for a 6th round pick two years into the future.

I don't agree with MANY of the moves that have been made over the past few years, but I make that trade every day of the week for an All-Pro CB coming off injury.

The price tag for the player was laughably low.

[hepcat]

Just now, Ricky Spanish said:

It was for a 6th round pick two years into the future.

I make that trade every day of the week for an All-Pro CB coming off injury.

The price tag for the player was laughably low. 

yea the Gilmore trade was a no-brainer. probably Fitterer's best move he's made. Rent Gilmore for 3/4 of a season and get a higher comp pick than they traded away? Yes please.

[Ricky Spanish]

1 hour ago, hepcat said:

yea the Gilmore trade was a no-brainer. probably Fitterer's best move he's made. Rent Gilmore for 3/4 of a season and get a higher comp pick than they traded away? Yes please.

For real, as long as we don't go do something stupid, we can potentially land a 4th round comp pick for next years draft (based on the contract Gilmore Lands), essentially trading our 6th round pick for a 4th rounder in the same draft.

 

Edit** I stand corrected, it's a 5th at best. Still not bad. 

[shaq]

We need to finally get a true deep safety, why are we putting an uber talented player, who is legit built for playing up or closer to the line of scrimmage all the way back at FS?? Chinn is a special player and unpopular opinion I thought he had a great year even playing out of position.

[Khyber53]

1 hour ago, davos said:

YGM needs to develop into a 3-down DE.  He's an asset in run-D and would compliment Burns well if he breaks out this season.  His pressure % was super good and was always digging into lines.  Those 2 with Fox rotating in and playing 1 tech sometimes is fine.  

Brown is in a big year for 2022.  He needs to become a leader for Roy, Nixon and co.

Luuvu may be a rare diamond in the rough find with this awful regime.

 

You're right about all of this. I do think, however, we have from Burns what we will get (unless the attention he garnered from o-lines was what broke Reddick free). And if this is what Burns gives us every season from here on out, he'll be fine and have a long career. Peppers was never the same without Rucker on the other sideline. If Burns is this generations Rucker then, yeah, we're good with that.

YGM, I believe, is going to just be a rotational guy, but an important one. Fox as well. And Brown needs to make this his biggest year, either as a disruptive force or an immovable object. Leadership along that line is needed, too, as evidenced by the lack of strength vs the run.

Luuvu was good, better back there than any LB not named Shaq Thompson. Can he be a starter for a whole season? I think I'd be willing to see it and see him develop. But I also want to see Chinn move back to LB where he had the biggest impact. 

Still, we're only going as far as our coaching and team building and that means we're not going far under the Rhule regime. Sad, but true.

[Toomers]

40 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

For real, as long as we don't go do something stupid, we can potentially land a 4th round comp pick for next years draft (based on the contract Gilmore Lands), essentially trading our 6th round pick for a 4th rounder in the same draft.

  Gilmore can not bring more than a 5th round comp pick. No matter how much he signs for. And that’s if they sign no FA worth anything. 

[Ricky Spanish]

30 minutes ago, Toomers said:

  Gilmore can not bring more than a 5th round comp pick. No matter how much he signs for. And that’s if they sign no FA worth anything. 

Is there a rule they implemented that caps the round you can get based on if you traded for a guy mid season? I know they base comps off of playing time, the contract signed, and anyone signed to the team at a comparable rate in FA. Wasn't sure there was anything else that determines it. 

[Toomers]

Just now, Ricky Spanish said:

Is there a rule they implemented that caps the round you can get based on if you traded for a guy mid season? I know they base comps off of playing time, the contract signed, and anyone signed to the team at a comparable rate in FA. Wasn't sure there was anything else that determines it. 

10 year vet rule. Comp pick rules are strange and are hard to keep up with. But this was mentioned from when he came here. The way it constantly changes, no telling what will happen from year to year.