Ring 6
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A few comments.
He is not stout enough to be a run stuffing DT and gets pushed around at times but fights and holds his own.
He’s not quick or agile enough to be a pass rushing force but makes some plays. He is ok at every thing and smart but doesn’t excel at anything. Reminds me of mike wright.
Many of your concerns were there when this defense answers them by dominating the playoffs. Replacing brown with Pennell and flowers with Bennett doesn’t open up a slew of questions that can’t be answered until
Halloween. Most were answered already last year.[/quote][/QUOTE]
Guy is a high effort player that I have no problem with but he’s the kind of guy you always want to improve upon.The strength of this team is BY FAR the depth and talent of the secondary. But we know that really good defenses are built from the inside out. And right now there are a LOT of questions that need to be answered about the "inside" of that equation.
Lawrence Guy is NOT one of them. When all is said and done, Guy might rank among the top ten FA picks ups of BB's career. All his measurables were bordering on the elite, and his effectiveness within this defensive system when he was on the field was never in question. He is the perfect example of a "no-name" player who allows the defense, as a whole, be better.
He is not stout enough to be a run stuffing DT and gets pushed around at times but fights and holds his own.
He’s not quick or agile enough to be a pass rushing force but makes some plays. He is ok at every thing and smart but doesn’t excel at anything. Reminds me of mike wright.
I see Bennett as a very close match to flowers in terms of usage and skillset. Long wasn’t really a good fit for the role we played him in and left because he wanted to be a dedicated pass rusher. Bennett is a much more complete player.It's the rest of the DL that has me worried. If I was sure we were getting the Michael Bennett we saw terrorizing the Pats OL in 2016, I'd have no worries. If I could get 90% of that, I'd feel great. But the man is now 34 and his YOUNGER brother is retired from the league. Also I take a lesson from Chris Long's experience. Long left because this was a defense that didn't match his skill set, and I see Bennett's skill set to be more like Long's than Flowers. MAYBE this will be a match made in heaven, but the question remains.
It’s a limited role. And the basic requirements are exactly his strengths.Pennell? I know very little about him, and would like to know more, but to think he'll be a seamless fit from Brown, or an upgrade is ONLY a possibility. Another big question there.
Upgrade to what? The only guy we lost that they would replace could barely get in the field as the season wore on.Rivers, Wise, Winovich, Simon or whomever are ALL big question marks coming off the edge. To think any or all are upgrades is a ludicrous thought at this point in time. Any and all COULD be upgrades, but that's an unknown now.
Love the lbs.You DO have to like the LB's we currently have. Van Noy has been the Christmas present under the tree that no one expected. He has been dependable, as well as impactful. Roberts has shown improvement in a limited role, Bentley showed great promise, and Simon was a fantastic midseason pick up relatively. And of course Hightower's smarts and position flexibility is what pulls this group together.
I think it’s CRITICAL. More important than ever. You can’t play nickel base if your lbs aren’t studs. You can’t take away threats 1,2,3 in the passing game if your lbs can’t be part of covering 4 and 5. Everything a defense really wants to do that’s days leaves lbs exposed.HOWEVER, you have to wonder about the very nature of the LB position and how important this group actually impacts the overall defense, as more and more teams need DB's to avoid the awful mismatches offenses can create vs LB's. I like that we will have a strong group, but just how important IS having a strong LB group is now days.
More than most any other season we will have very little turnover on defense and should hit the ground running. Swapping out a couple of DL isn’t a big deal.Finally, some of these questions might be answered by guys who aren't even on the roster yet. I'd feel better about the inside rush if a guy like Solomon Thomas could be gotten in a trade, or better yet, Gerald McCoy. Ziggy Ansah would be an upgrade Edge rusher IF there is cap space (down to around $13MM currently)
So in the end, the potential EXISTS that this defense will be a good one....by the end of the season, when it counts the most. But a LOT of questions remain. Questions that will likely only be answered after Halloween.
Many of your concerns were there when this defense answers them by dominating the playoffs. Replacing brown with Pennell and flowers with Bennett doesn’t open up a slew of questions that can’t be answered until
Halloween. Most were answered already last year.[/quote][/QUOTE]