Unfortunately for us fans the question of performance is often a matter of opinion. None of us have the resources to break down a player in comprehensive fashion, especially secondary personnel, who spend the majority of their time offscreen on TV broadcasts. So don't use the word "opinion" pejoratively. Most of the posts on this board are opinions, the difference is the degree to which our opinions are informed or not.
As a person in the Lions' home market, who gets all their games whether he wants it or not (not, by the way), I feel I have a more relevant opinion than most on this board when it comes to Lions' players. It's not the end all be all, but it's something. And this year my opinion of Dre Bly was that he was not noticeably better than Fernando Bryant in the defense this year, or Jamar Fletcher for that matter. And the year before he played with a cast and looked out of sorts, not near as good as Hobbs did for us this year. If he was fulfilling the expectations his contract demands he would simply not be on the market.
Dre Bly is a gambling cover corner, and he doesn't fit the Tampa 2 not because his ball skills are poor (they aren't) but because the man can't do run support. Tackling is anti ethical to Bly's game, and Tampa 2, along with cover 2 in general, asks the corners to set the corner on run plays because the safeties drop so deep. He also has a tendency to get burned. Asante Samuel makes plays on the ball without abandoning his zone responsibilities. Bly cheats. He cheats at a fairly high winning percentage, but in a system where responsible players like Hank Poteat, Ray Mickens and Artrell Hawkins can come off the street and perform solidly, while freelancers like Arturo Freeman get cut after two weeks time, I don't see how Bly would be on the Pats' radar.
Bly could come in and play for New England as a nickel corner, but I doubt Belichick would rent Bly at $4.2 million for a year for that role. Asante Samuel is a former safety turned corner, Eugene Wilson was a corner that turned into a safety, Chad Scott is a tweener, and Ellis Hobbs is one tough son of a *****. See a pattern there? Dre Bly does not fit that pattern. And frankly I generally like the players we select with our third round picks recently, so I say no to Bly. Instead, lets draft another Ellis Hobbs and have the man grow into the nickel like Asante and Ellis.
