Rutgers rookies

[Marqui]

Been really impressed with Ryan. He seems to be improving every week and clearly has playmaking instincts.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'd take Cole out of the brackets personally. I think he's more than adequate as a #5 CB and he's turning into a near elite special teamer.

Cole is definitely a top-tier special teamer. He was with the Jets, and that's pretty much why he ended up here in the first place. The fact that he's able to contribute at all on defense is just an added bonus, IMO.

 

[BradyFTW!]

You mean that Greg Schiano might actually be a good coach as BB recognises and those that we're so quick to criticise him in TB failed to recognise the concept of team rebuilding.

I think a lot of it came from overestimation of Freeman. It'll take another year at least to be sure, but it's definitely looking like Schiano might have been right about both Freeman and possibly right about Glennon too. Sometimes you have to ditch the incumbent QB if his temperament doesn't match up with what you're trying to do, even if it's an unpopular move that threatens to fracture the locker room.

I also find it kinda funny that we've seen some variation of this stuff play out in the Belichick coaching tree so many times. Belichick himself did it with Bledsoe/Brady, of course (not to even mention Kosar). But then we also saw McDaniels do it with Cutler/Orton and Schiano do it with Freeman/Glennon. Granted, it's a stretch to call Schiano part of the Belichick coaching tree, but I'm going to anyway.

 

[RayClay]

I know its silly but I dont trust rookie DB's until they show they can good the year after. Got burned on Darius Butler and i don't plan on having it happen again

I don'yt think it's silly at all. Look at mcCourty. It's damn tough to consistently play cb in this league.

 

[RayClay]

I do wonder why people feel the need to say that Patriot player A is better than Patriot player B. Shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that we have two good nickel CBs, two good #2 safeties and two good slot receivers?

What a revolutionary thought!

 

[Fencer]

We have a very nice and deep set of CBs right now. They seem to get dinged up a lot, but that's football -- and it illustrates why depth is important.

Depth at CB means we can leave McCourty at deep safety, so long as he stays healthy, which fortunately he for the most part has this season.

The other safeties are OK as a group on defense.

And there's plenty of ST talent among the DBs as well.

Would anybody be unhappy about bringing back EXACTLY these DBs for another season? I'd be quite fine with that, Wilson's ST-only usefulness and the general lack of excitement at the #2 safety slot notwithstanding.

 

[manxman2601]

We have a very nice and deep set of CBs right now. They seem to get dinged up a lot, but that's football -- and it illustrates why depth is important.

Depth at CB means we can leave McCourty at deep safety, so long as he stays healthy, which fortunately he for the most part has this season.

The other safeties are OK as a group on defense.

And there's plenty of ST talent among the DBs as well.

Would anybody be unhappy about bringing back EXACTLY these DBs for another season? I'd be quite fine with that, Wilson's ST-only usefulness and the general lack of excitement at the #2 safety slot notwithstanding.

I'd be very fine with it. In fact I'd almost prefer it providing we can get Talib at a reasonable cost.

 

[mgteich]

I agree. As was the case last year, the issue is the cost of Talib or an alternative veteran.
I presume that we will re-sign Cole.

We are in MUCH better shape than last last year going into the offseason. We now know that Dennard is for real. We have also added Ryan and Harmon. We have Arrington long-term.

WHERE WE ARE
CB: Talib/fa, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, Cole
S: McCourty, Gregory, Harmon, Ebner and Wilson.
We even have the possibility of A Wilson and J Green coming to camp.

We have a very nice and deep set of CBs right now. They seem to get dinged up a lot, but that's football -- and it illustrates why depth is important.

Depth at CB means we can leave McCourty at deep safety, so long as he stays healthy, which fortunately he for the most part has this season.

The other safeties are OK as a group on defense.

And there's plenty of ST talent among the DBs as well.

Would anybody be unhappy about bringing back EXACTLY these DBs for another season? I'd be quite fine with that, Wilson's ST-only usefulness and the general lack of excitement at the #2 safety slot notwithstanding.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I also find it kinda funny that we've seen some variation of this stuff play out in the Belichick coaching tree so many times. Belichick himself did it with Bledsoe/Brady, of course (not to even mention Kosar). But then we also saw McDaniels do it with Cutler/Orton and Schiano do it with Freeman/Glennon. Granted, it's a stretch to call Schiano part of the Belichick coaching tree, but I'm going to anyway.

To be fair, McDaniels did it because Cutler gave him no choice.

 

[BradyFTW!]

To be fair, McDaniels did it because Cutler gave him no choice.

And Cutler gave him no choice because he was trying to trade for Cassel.

 

[patsinthesnow]

To give perspective of how well Ryan is playing:

2013 NFL Draft, First Round CBs

Dee Milliner-might be the worst outside starting CB in the league. P-U. GO JEST.
D.J Hayden-On IR and did very little this season.
Desmond Trufant-Remember KT owning this kid? He's been pretty bad as a starter for the Falcons.
Xavier Rhodes-Starter on one of the worst secondaries in the league, alot of growing pains so far.

Throw in how Brady targeted the Bronco's 3rd round CB all day last night, Kayvon Webster, it just shows how bad CBs usually are their rookie year. Ryan's shown play making abilities of a veteran and has been the best of the rookie class so far.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

And Cutler gave him no choice because he was trying to trade for Cassel.

That might have been the final straw, but Cutler was already p***ed off before that.

Agent explains how Jay Cutler, Denver Broncos got in mess - ESPN

 

[Ozymandias]

The Rutgers imports have similar strengths and weaknesses at their respective positions. Neither one of them are physical specimens by any stretch of the imagination and their reading and reacting seems to be a step slow at the moment. Experience and repetition can improve the latter, obviously.

What I do like are their smarts and football awareness, especially Ryan. He's often very quick at keeping his head on swivel and locating the football when in coverage. Not many rookie DBs are as advanced as him in that department.

Harmon has impressed with his willingness to get involved in plays. He's never out of position (even if he's just a hair slow in diagnosing them). This means he'll won't be getting torched all over the field like that bum Tavon Wilson was last year. That's a stark contrast in how I would basically cringe any time I saw Wilson pretending he actually knew what he was doing out there.

Harmon's been an adequate replacement for Gregory. He's learned a lot these past 3 weeks of gametime and it can only help to accelerate his development going forward toward playoff time.

The moment doesn't seem to be too big for the rooks and they can at least do their assignments with competency.

 

[Avenger]

And Cutler gave him no choice because he was trying to trade for Cassel.

lel no, Cutler was pissed becuase Shannahan was fired and never gave McD a chance.