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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Yep and if s#*t hits the fan, they’ll just dial up the 9-1-1 DThe Patriots will need all their CBs. They're going to be playing a 1-1-9 this year.
Since I followed PFF I am always hoping we draft highly productive players and not raw players with high ceilings. Grissom was another one of those who had a meh college career and had a high ceiling (in theory). Loved the Flowers pick therefore and now Winovich as well.
JMac is someone I think BB really likes, but he's older and may be on the chopping block, especially if Jones and Williams show really well in camp
He is solid at what he does but that's about it to me. NFL teams weren't willing to give up a 2nd round pick, that speaks volume to me.
These are all “perfect” injury-free scenarios, so the problem will likely sort itself out by the beginning of September. Even if everyone remains healthy, I still don’t think there would be an issue keeping 6 CBs, since it’s quite possible that at least one of them will be getting some reps in gameplan specific matchups, meaning that the lines between CB/S may become a bit blurry.It seems that the conclusion is to keep 6 corners (not counting Crossen who would have to beat out one of the Sters to make the 53). Dawson would be expected to inactive in every game unless he beats out this year's #2 draft choice for reps.
After all TEN active defensive back is probably more than enough.
5 corners - Gilmore, Jackson, McCourty, STer Jones and Williams or Dawson
3 safeties - McCourty, Chung, Harmon
1 ST/S - Brooks or Obi or even Crossen
1 STO - Ebner
BOTTOM LINE
I wanted to bring up the possibility of a trade. I'm OK with having a squad with 11 DB's, including 3 STers: Jones, Ebner and Brooks (or Obi or Crossen).
That makes it likely that we will have 14 front six players: 8-9 DL's and 4-5 LB and 1-2 STer (King for now). We carried 4 LB/STers last year: Grigsby, King, McClellan and Humber. Van Nay also played lots of special teams.
As far as special teamers, King is going nowhere. He played on 62% of the ST reps and is a key special teamer. Bentley replaces Grigsby and hopefully will play lots of special teams. Someone will need to pick up the reps of McClellan and Humber, who together participated in half of the special teams reps.
and the main reason we did not win Super Bowls.So nice to have depth at CB. For years our secondary was the teams weak link.
Similar to Flowers in 2015. I'm sure glad we didn't give up on him.
Flowers is/was an anomaly. He proved to be a great player.
There have been plenty of Patriot players picked relatively high that never become anything because they simply weren't good enough. There's a litany of DBs picked in the first few rounds in the BB era that don't amount to anything. Those that do develop like Asante, JC, Malcolm, Devon, you saw right away early on that they were going to be good players.
James White was barely active in his first season as well.
Not saying Dawson will definitely become a good player, but I'm certainly patient and in wait and see mode.
I agree.I expect that Dawson will have camps and the pre-season to prove himself worthy of developing for 2020, when we are likely to lose at least one DB. It is awesome that we may need nothing from Dawson or this year's #2 DB for 2019.
Jones, Dawson, Jackson
=================
Depending on how they perform in camp, we might be willing to trade one of these players. If all look good, Jones "should" be on the trading block. He is in his contract year.
JC is a lock IMO. And we have him for cheap for another 3 years?
I like the idea to trade JJ tho, but they should fetch at least a 3rd, because a 4th or 5th they will get if he leaves in FA. Isee Dawson is a Chung's backup and SCB backup for now. Jason could play SCB too i supose. That leave us with Gilmore, JC and Williams as OCB and Jason and Dawson as SCB. That works for me.
I would like to fetch a second for Thuney too if they don't want to keep him or can't, that depends of course how the kid from Arkansas will look. If they sign Veldheer They could go with 4 T and Wynn as a backup LG for the kid from Arkansas.
Pretty solid too
T: Cajuste, Veldheer, Cannon
LG: Hjalte Froholdt
C: Andrews
RG: Mason
Backup RG/C: Karras
T/LG: Wynn
I don't want to trade Thuney. One disruption in the OL is plenty. I expect that the rookies will need time to develop. I'm not even sure that either will be the game day backup this year. The swing OT job would likely go the OT vet the we sign.
You have Froholdt as the starting LG. I'm not even sure that he will be able to beat out Karras for the job of game day backup at OG and C.
BOTTOM LINE
Once we settle on a veteran swing OT, we will have a very strong OL. It is a strength. We should NOT weaken it.
The situation at CB is much, much different. There, we were discussing a 6th CB when we only needed 5. Here, we are discussing a starter who is integral to the performance of the OL.
This is why I'm thrilled with the N'Keal Harry pick. Super productive in college. That's what you want.
As for Dawson, it's understandable that he didn't get on the field. The Pats secondary was in full gel mode when he returned, and with the emergence of Jackson and the great play of JMac, and Jones in the slot, who would he have replaced?
With it being Jones' last year, I'll be very surprised if Dawson doesn't make the team. He was a good college corner.
Jackson averaged 39.3 defensive snaps a game from Week 7 through the Super Bowl as the Pats’ starting outside cornerback opposite of Gilmore. His 72.4 overall grade on the year (includes postseason) ranked just 29th among the 89 cornerbacks with at least 50 targets, but his efforts on downfield targets largely made up for his struggles against underneath routes. He earned just a 62.4 coverage grade on passes on nine or fewer air yards but turned the second-best coverage grade (74.4) on passes of 10-plus air yards in 2018.
Jackson’s stellar 2018 campaign also stands tall compared to rookie cornerbacks in the PFF era (2006-Present). Among the 107 rookie cornerbacks with at least 50 targets in their debut season in the NFL, Jackson’s 51.6% completion percentage allowed ties for seventh, his 20.3 FINC percentage ranks sixth, and his 60.2 passer rating allowed ranks sixth
For the PFF crowd.
Some decent data here.
If JC improves this pass D will be sick
Stephon Gilmore, JC Jackson enter the 2019 season as one the NFL’s top cornerback duos | NFL Analysis | Pro Football Focus