DEFENSIVE LINE - ONLY FIVE DL'S ON OUR TOP FIVE DEFENSE?

[Ring 6]

The secondary is our best unit, certainly on the Defense. And everyone returns from injuries: Gonzo, Jones and Jones. This is the group I worry about least. We have even upgraded a bit at safety from Bledsoe to Hawkins.

Gonzo, JJones, Duggar, Peppers are all good football players. They aren’t a secondary that can overcome the lack of a pass rush though, so that amplifies the front 7 questions.

But the bigger question to me is who is the 5th (and where is the depth)

We play 5 or more Dbs basically every play. We seem to be roughly 50/50 in that 5th db being a s or corner. So essentially they split a starting job.

I don’t see a 3rd safety that is really NFL caliber. Pettus is really a is guy who you hope can be ok with experience but shouldn’t be playing as a rookie and Hawkins has been brutal so far in his short career and was basically a minimum salary signing.
Cb3 is with Marcus jones who had played very little in 2 years and isn’t 100% apparently or Austin who is very much unknown. Or it’s Wilson and we are toast.
This is a strength that could become trouble if the pass rush is bad or injuries happen.

 

[Toofy]

Yes, we need 3 or so players in the front seven to step up. In any case, absent injuries we have a good Defense.

The issue is that we are sitting on $30M o unusued cap money (having $10M now like half the teams seems to be OK and gives us flexability).

$30M AAV for the first year of 3-4 year contracts could have bought 2-3 players and had Cap space left over.

You realize the money can be rolled over next year . And losing seasons will start to impact on gate revenues and other avenues. So kraft is not foolish to keep spending at 80% of cap space, I anticipate them to open up purse once they are confident of maye and that will be mid of next season when there will be some disgruntled vets who will be traded by losing teams.

Having the extra cash and draft capital will allow us to get 2-3 x factor players for next 3-4 years while maye is on rookie contract. Why waste it this year on a losing season.

 

[Vindicate]

Gonzo, JJones, Duggar, Peppers are all good football players. They aren’t a secondary that can overcome the lack of a pass rush though, so that amplifies the front 7 questions.

But the bigger question to me is who is the 5th (and where is the depth)

We play 5 or more Dbs basically every play. We seem to be roughly 50/50 in that 5th db being a s or corner. So essentially they split a starting job.

I don’t see a 3rd safety that is really NFL caliber. Pettus is really a is guy who you hope can be ok with experience but shouldn’t be playing as a rookie and Hawkins has been brutal so far in his short career and was basically a minimum salary signing.
Cb3 is with Marcus jones who had played very little in 2 years and isn’t 100% apparently or Austin who is very much unknown. Or it’s Wilson and we are toast.
This is a strength that could become trouble if the pass rush is bad or injuries happen.

In fact I feel like Peppers and Duggar are players that excelled because of a pass rush, it'll be interesting to see if their assignments change. Peppers and Duggar are excellent run defenders.

I'm pretty out of my league with how scheme works, but could you bring up Duggar and Peppers more to blitz to account for the loss on the D-Line with hopes that your secondary can hold? Who does that leave uncovered?

How do you shift the secondary on the field to account for that loss?

 

[Ring 6]

In fact I feel like Peppers and Duggar are players that excelled because of a pass rush, it'll be interesting to see if their assignments change. Peppers and Duggar are excellent run defenders.

I'm pretty out of my league with how scheme works, but could you bring up Duggar and Peppers more to blitz to account for the loss on the D-Line with hopes that your secondary can hold? Who does that leave uncovered?

How do you shift the secondary on the field to account for that loss?

Ultimately in nickel, dime, etc you are replacing front 7 guys with DBs, so it you look at it from a 4-3/3-4 base those dbs are really lbers.

For example if you rush 5 from a 4-3 you rush 4 DL and a LB, if you rush 5 from a 3-3-5 nickel or 3-2-6 dime you are rushing 3 DL and 2 lbs or dbs. Essentially you can call the rushing Db a linebacker because they really are in a lb role.

So the key to using S as if they were LB and rushing them is what the other LB can provide in coverage, because you are sending the S and dropping the LB instead of the normal LB rush.

The best example was Rodney Harrison in his last year or 2. He would blitz in almost every passing down. He rarely got to the qb but he had more qb hurries than any one I’ve ever seen because he would come from outside and the RB would block him. With the running start he had the qb wouldn’t trust the rb would make the block and got rid of the ball.

So the answer to your question is you certainly could make Dugger or peppers play like a lb on passing downs but you still need 2 safeties.

 

[Brick27]

Pats had ridiculously good injury luck on the DL last year with Barmore, Guy and Godchaux playing all 17 games, while Wise and White played in 16. That’s a lot of reps. There is already a lot to replace with Barmore out and Guy gone. Throw in the chance they aren’t as lucky this year with injury luck and it is a big question mark.

 

[TommyD4207]

You realize the money can be rolled over next year .

I feel like I'm going to hear this next year - and the next year. At some point, they have to spend money, because there's a salary floor. They are below the floor for this assessment period so far.

 

[Ring 6]

I feel like I'm going to hear this next year - and the next year. At some point, they have to spend money, because there's a salary floor. They are below the floor for this assessment period so far.

No they actually don’t. It a CASH floor. If you do the math, the floor is 89% cash, and they were at about +40 in cash. 89% is about -30. So over 4 years they can be -30x4=-120 and the start at +40 so they can be a total of -160 the next 3 years and comply.

 

[PatsFan2]

How much easier did Barmore and Judon make the secondary's job?

Say no more Brother.