Off The Grid
Veteran Starter w/Big Long Term Deal
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- Apr 20, 2010
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Dragoon: Mounted Infantry!!
Fanatical Yankee's Deeply Deranged Definition of a Dragoon:
Any potential Defensive End ~ MidFielder Hybrid!!
DR Chandler Jones
Fanatical Yankee's Deeply Deranged Definition of a Dragoon:
Any potential Defensive End ~ MidFielder Hybrid!!
DR Chandler Jones
Woo!! We haven't played a down, yet, with this kid lined up, I'll grant you, but I am Jacked!! And who isn't?? Chandler Jones commands exceptional Core Strength, outstanding Launch Velocity, fantastic Fluidity, long arms, and a tremendous Arsenal of Pass Rush moves!! At long last, we have a Rookie Defensive End with immense upside!!
...And he's tough and rapidly improving in Run Defense, as well!! Woot!!
DR Rob Ninkovich
I absolutely love Rob Ninkovich.
Love this crazy beast.
Even now, so many doubt this guy, and long for his replacement.
Yet every year, the guy gets substantially better.
Every year, the guy's razor-sharp Instincts get sharper.
Every year, Rob Ninkovich gets more reliable in Support...and makes more Big Plays.
And this year, I expect him to take another big step forward.
Especially when it counts most.
This guy, Ladies and Laddies ~ this untalented schmuck, to listen to the Idiot Radio Jesters ~ is precisely the kind of guy ~ phenomenal Processing Speed, fanatical Attention to Detail, marvelous Instincts ~ that you want on the field in the Depths of Winter, as Eli tries to lead the Giants downfield with the seconds ticking away...
DR Jermaine Cunningham
Ahhh...The much-maligned Jermaine Cunningham.
In 2010, Cunningham ~ a Defensive End in College ~ joined our crew, and ~ as a Rookie, mind you ~ managed to master not only the excruciatingly demanding transition from Defensive End to Will MidFielder ~ "Right OutSide LineBacker" to you Earthlings!! ~ but did so in our maddeningly complicated system...and won the starting job!!
Mind you: He was competing with the likes of Tully Hyphenator...But by all accounts he did a solid job. And to manage that, under those circumstances, speaks mountains about his Work Ethic, his fanatical dedication, and, above all, to absolutely outstanding Diagnostic Acuity and phenomenal Processing Speed.
This, Ladies, and Laddies, is not a guy you want to Sell Short.
Yet 99% of New EngLand's fans did just that, this Summer, in the wake of a disastrous ~ and mysterious ~ 2011.
Not ME!!
I believe that 2012 will feature a stunning resurgence of Jermaine Cunningham's fortunes...and Sacks aplenty!!
DR Trevor Scott
What an amazing Off Season we've had. The signing of Trevor Scott was another Dream Come True for me, as I've been praying for us to steal this guy for a couple of years, now...and now he's 4th on the Dragoon Depth Chart!!
Trevor Scott is an highly intelligent, quick, fast, strong, agile, and incredibly versatile Defender who's already lined up all over the Front 7 ~ and in different schemes ~ in his young career. And because he's so incredibly versatile, he's never been left in one spot for very long, yet has managed to flash explosive production, in between moves.
And yet, because he was Working His Way Back Up To Full Speed in 2011, after tearing an ACL in 2010 ~ which of course means that he hadn't fully recovered his Explosiveness yet ~ he had a very pedestrian year, and became ~ inexplicably ~ a bargain Free Agent who we signed for a cheap 1 year deal...something I pray we soon amend!!
Now 21 months recovered from the ACL Tear ~ albeit with the LockOut considerably slowing down his recovery and exacerbating his expected, albeit uncharacteristic, mediocrity, last year ~ I expect Trevor Scott to surprise a lot of people, because most clearly don't grasp the process that recovery from an ACL team entails...And I expect him to be an exquisitely violent, versatile, and occasionally deadly member of our incredibly deep Dragoon Squad!!
DR Jake Bequette
Jake Bequette commands an intoxicating fusion of Power, Athleticism, Savvy, and a Scrapper mentality:
* Outstanding Core Strength: Bequette has the Core Strength and the will to become a phenomenal Run Defender.
* Universally outstanding grades for his Work Ethic, Diagnostic Acuity, and Processing Speed.
* Highly productive in College: He simply Makes Things Happen.
Mind you: All of the above, while admirable, often tragically deliver the Prospect in question to the scrap heap, or, in the case of a Scrapper like Bequette, to the bottom of the roster, if his Fluidity is lacking.
Straight Line Athletes riddle the landscape with their bloated corpses.
And on tape, his Fluidity is lacking.
Yet, at the Combine, he finished at the very top ~ tied with Vinny Curry ~ on the 3 Cone ~ which is a pretty damned good gauge of Raw Fluidity ~ with a 690.
And it doesn't hurt that he annihilated the Field on the Short Shuttle ~ a great gauge of Lateral Agility ~ with a stunning 407!!
Sure, that's just raw Athleticism, and Bequette is clearly a raw Prospect who needs a lot of coaching...but if I'm placing a bet ~ and every single Pick is a Gamble!! ~ then I'm placing it with the guy with Power, Strength, consistently high Production, Savvy, Raw Athletic Talent, and outstanding Work Ethic...every single time!!
DR Justin Francis
Oh, I love this kid.
Terrific Launch Velocity off the Snap, outstanding Fluidity, and tremendous Lateral Agility ~ a legitimate Pass Rush Threat, all the more so because of his Savvy, his Intelligence, and his absolutely relentless Motor!!
He's got some work to do, but believe me: He'll do it.
We've stolen ourselves a Gem, here, Ladies and Laddies.
Positional Prospectus
1 ~ Unbelievable. I have never in my life even fantasized about our having such a ludicrously deep Arsenal of young, explosively talented, and highly motivated Dragoons to play Defensive End and the MidFielder Flanks!!...OK. I have.
2 ~ But our Depth of Talent is phenomenal. Utterly phenomenal.
3 ~ And what the Media Morons are somehow ~ unfathomably ~ overlooking is the fact that having all these capable Dragoons around means that we've effectively also got outstanding Depth of Talent at Sam and Will, which in turn means that ~ via the Ripple Effect ~ we've got surprisingly substantial Depth of Talent at Mike, as well: Jerod Mayo is not only the starting Will MidFielder, he's also the back up Mike MidFielder, because any number of Dragoons ~ Trevor Scott, Rob Ninkovich, and Jermaine Cunningham, at the very least ~ could instantly take on the Sam role, and bounce Donta HighTower over to Will...or simply take on the Will role, themselves: Thanks to the beauty of the Ripple Effect, Our entire Front 7 now boasts outstanding Depth of Talent!!
The Future
1 ~ I'm all for continuing to seek out Talent at all positions. And as I'm extremely fond of saying:
You Can Never Have Too Much FirePower!!
...But we are so incredibly loaded with young, ferocious, smart, highly talented and highly motivated Edge Setters and Pass Rushers...that I'm in no hurry to expend heavy Draft Capital here in the immediate future. Indeed, I would love to see this group play together for the next several years...But there's always room for one more!!
