Bullrush

Ugh. It's weird being used to having somebody around the team for so long and suddenly they're gone. Never got the due he deserved unfortunately but the people around him know how good he was. He's made so many careers... RIP Coach.

Who came up with this myth that Tucker doesn't have a big leg? He's regularly hitting 50+ yarders, almost all his kickoffs are touchbacks.

If a handful of FF geeks in the UK that never played or coached football say so it must be true.

K.O. hits the market, no way he doesn't test what's out there and pick the best offer. And that ain't coming from us, that's guaranteed. Somebody will pay him top 5 LT money, we couldn't even pay him top guard money. Upshaw isn't worth re-signing, he'll get a decent deal elsewhere, Browns or Colts or somebody like that. Tucker will be locked up, maybe tagged first. This is just based on what we've done in the past. Would love for K.O. to retire here but I don't see it happening. I love Yanda but I would have preferred K.O. over him.

First and foremost, I LOVE K.O. as a player. I think he's a Pro Bowl Guard and has Pro Bowl LT skills/talent/upside. That said, we're pretty much stuck with Eugene Monroe for next year I think because of his contract. Even though he's been injury prone he's still pretty young for a LT and has a bunch of good years left in him if he can manage to stay healthy (big if, I know). But. We need a DL. Pretty bad. Brandon Williams is a terrific run stuffer but we need a force on the edge to help out our pass rush as well, to take some pressure off Elvis, and we don't know what Suggs is going to be next year, or even Elvis. Whether they can still play at a 10+ sacks per year type level. On to Wilkerson. He's a way better version of prime-Trevor Pryce and he's only 25, hasn't even hit HIS prime yet. He fits the scheme perfectly, he can play any position up front in the 3-4 or 4-3 on a Pro Bowl level, so you know what you're getting with him.The Jets are stacked up front, so much that they had to move their other All Pro DE (Richardson) to OLB. So that would definitely make sense for them. They can't pay Wilkerson, Sheldon, Leonard Williams, they have let one walk soon. Now let's look at their LT position, the current starter (Ferguson) is aging and probably gets cut coming off season, and they have absolutely no depth and nobody to take over for him. The other option would be to draft a DL in round 1, re-sign K.O. cut Monroe. And then the Jets probably get Monroe for nothing. Not sure if they can afford to re-sign Wilkerson. In the end I think it would make sense for both teams. Both teams could fill a huge gap on offense/defense with one of the best young talents at their position. LT K.O. + future pick for DL Wilkerson. What say you?

I tend to agree but it's only rare because nobody lets 25 year old Pro Bowl caliber players just hit free agency. There's no way you let somebody like K.O. just walk out the door, teams draft guys like that in the top 5-10. You have to get something in return and I'm not interested in a conditional draft pick in the 4th round. At least not when it comes to K.O.

There's a thing called franchise tag. I'm pretty sure the Jets will do the same with Wilkerson, his contract is also running up.

But that would make sense, so why bother. It's like asking the fans to pick our uniforms (colors).

You don't build your team around a nose tackle even though he's probably the best at his position. We still need an elite pass rusher who is not a stopgap solution, somebody for the next 3+ years. A new corner and for crying out loud a capable safety who can make plays. Brandon Williams is just another piece, Nose Tackles aren't that hard to come by. Every year you can get a capable run stuffer late in the draft, I'm not too worried about it and I wouldn't spend more than 4-5 mil. per year on a guy like that.

Once the coaches film is up I'll check him out and throw my observations out there with some gifs if there's anything worth being captured.

Clausen was pretty good in his one start last year I believe. Jefferey dropped like 10 passes that game.

Aaron Donald made the Pro Bowl and he's 2 spots ahead of Mosley. They're rookies, have do repeat what they did in '14 to be considered elite first before they make it to the top.

Off man coverage is very similar to zone coverage and that was my point. Man coverage, tight man coverage is mostly just you using your athletic ability to stick like glue to the receiver. Playing off is not as much about athletic ability but more about the mental side of it. You have to use your instincts, it's more about reading the routes, playing the ball. That's what young corners always struggle with. They're all 80-90% better at playing man to man, tight coverage, because all it really takes is athletic ability. The really good football players (corners) that lack those athletic skills however are almost always really good in off coverage, because that's what they've been doing in college for years in order to get by. They would have not survived if they'd played tight man coverage. So they are way ahead mentally. Jimmy is a good example. Patrick Peterson is. Milliner is. All those big, athletic freaks. They're all studs in press coverage and tight man coverage. Off coverage? Zone? Not so much. Not saying Jimmy can't play zone or off, but he's a natural press corner, that's his strength. Flowers is the exact opposite. And those guys are usually the ones to make a successful transition to FS if they're being asked to.

That's a nice way of saying he's too slow to play tight man coverage, which is a huge part of playing the corner position. If you can't do that you're better off at safety. And off man coverage is pretty similar to playing zone...

It is absolutely common practice. Big corners that come out usually face the same decision they have to make when making the jump to pro football, similar to small DE's that would have to switch to LB. And I'm not sure if you've followed Flowers or not. He's a natural zone cover corner, he brings all the intangibles needed to be a very good centerfielder. When he came out scouts actually viewed him as a CB/S tweener, some scouting reports (NFL.com) even had him listed as a safety prospect. By the way, for every Freeney there are about 50 John Abraham's, Robert Mathises. Even Freeney who has struggled at first is now effective rushing the QB as an OLB despite the fact that he's getting up there in age. He already showed signs of slowing down a few years ago when he played DE so this isn't really position related, more about him just being close to being finished. He probably has only 1-2 more good seasons left. Besides, when a DE gets up there in age it's usually a bad idea to move him to LB because athletically it's a lot more demanding unless all you do is rush the QB. That's why you don't see many 30+ year old guys switch from DE to LB. With corners it's a lot different, the older they get the more it makes sense to move over to free safety because athletically it's a lot easier on your body than playing corner. As a corner it's more about being explosive, having quick twitch muscles. At 30-35 years of age you lose those. However your experience goes up, your instincts improve, your ability to read QB's, the game slows down. So moving to safety is absolutely natural. You see this with every good corner that hits a certain age now, guys in their early / mid 30s. Right now that applies to Charles Tillman, Champ Bailey, Brandon Browner and a bunch of other guys. Revis in about 3-4 years potentially. It only makes sense for certain guys because it's natural for them. For others it's not. So saying switching from corner to safety is easy/hard doesn't make sense. For somebody who has those skills/intangibles, like a Tillman, a Bailey, a Woodson, McCourty, it's not a big deal, it's the easiest thing in the world. Webb is even being considered by some of the people here to play FS for us. I think he could be a good FS as well. But Jimmy Smith? Totally different story, I don't think he'd make a good safety. So it all depends on the player, not the switch itself. That being said, I only threw it out there with Flowers because I liked the idea, I think he could be a very good centerfielder. But obviously he's still too young to make that switch, he's not gonna do it. And he's not stupid, he realizes that he can make a lot more money playing corner. Wait another 3-5 years, I'm sure he'll have to switch to safety at that point if he wants to stick around in the NFL and have an impact and continue to start. Right now he's not gonna consider that move for obvious reasons.

They're not gonna take it personal, I'm sure they realize that we don't have any really proven guys behind Jimmy/Webb. We could use one more veteran with starting experience to compete with Asa/Brown.

Have you looked around the league? It's pretty common. Do you think it's easy for a pass rushing DE to go switch from a 3 point stance to standup and play OLB? It's no different. If you have the skills it only makes sense. Whether you're gonna end up being good at it is another thing that remains to be seen. There are no guarantees, no matter what position you play and whether you switch positions or not. It's not like Flowers lit it up at CB last year...

I wouldn't mind bringing him in to play FS here. He's got a little bit of Ed Reed in him in terms of their playing style. Good tackler, physical, great in zone, leadership, he's rather short, has decent ball skills & instincts. Not in the same league as Reed or even close to Reed obviously but he could make a good center fielder if the FO doesn't have faith in Brooks getting it done as a rookie.

Regardless of the comparison? That was your whole point. A backup is somebody who usually doesn't see the field unless it is in specific situations or as you already mentioned it without realizing, in case somebody (the starter) goes down. The typical starting lineup in the NFL consists of two starting cornerbacks. That's where that term comes from. It doesn't come from who is getting how many snaps. You are confusing these two things. All that is scheme-related. If we play a team that doesn't have a QB who can throw which forces them to run the ball 50 times, I'll put some run stuffers on the field in response to that and they'll get most of the snaps. That doesn't mean they're "starters". Cody is not a starter just because somebody decides to run the ball a lot on us and we have to keep him out there. I don't know why I'm even pointing these things out, it's so obvious. And you still haven't answered my question why nickel corners are NOT eligible for Pro Bowls, why the NFL will not allow you or anybody to vote a nickel corner in. Nickel corners get a lot of playing time in most teams, nobody is arguing that. But it is situational, no team lines up with 3 corners unless they have to. The typical starting formation consists of 2 receivers and 2 corners, those are the starters. If you line up with 3 receivers the defense will send out their sub package, a nickel formation with pass rushing D-Linemen on the field as well as an additional corner instead of a linebacker to defend the pass. That doesn't mean they're "starters". And I guarantee you that no cornerback who thinks highly enough of himself, who has been a #1 or #2 corner his entire career, will consider a nickel job a starting position. It's a demotion to a backup role. It'd be like us now asking Ngata to only enter the field in obvious running situations. He'll still get plenty of playing time but ask him if that's a starting job. Either way, I'm done with this. This has been going on forever.

That's about as silly a comparison as I've ever heard. You might want to look up the definition/meaning of the word "starter". What you just said makes no sense whatsoever.

I don't mind adding Florence or Ross as depth behind Asa and possibly Brown.

Who said anything about them leaving? I said I would rather stick with Asa & Brown as our 3rd & 4th corner. Instead of picking up one of those 2 washed up players. At some point we need to see what we have with those two and whether they can be future starters.

I rather stick with Asa & Brown as our 3rd & 4th corner instead of picking up washed up players like Florence or Ross.

That applies to every team out there... How does that make sense what you just said? Our best corner is built for press coverage and yet you say we're not built for press coverage at all? You have any numbers to back up those claims? % Wise how do we stack up against the rest in the NFL? And don't you think it had anything to do with us not having a decent safety back there to cover deep? That we were forced to play off a lot because of that and not because Jimmy is so great at it? Our safeties were horrible covering deep, we got beat like a drum with deep balls, that's why we played off, not because Jimmy excels in off coverage. He doesn't. If he did and if we played it so often he'd have around 10 interceptions by now. He's the furthest thing from a good off corner. Guys like that need tremendous instincts & awareness, a lot of experience and a natural feel for routes and being able to read QB's. That's not what Jimmy does. And you just basically pointed out the obvious. Jimmy is a press specialist. What exactly is the point of not playing press with a guy like that? Yes, we play off here and there like everybody else in the NFL (mainly because we had to, in my opinion), we don't just play ONE coverage 100% of the time. But that's our bread & butter. Jimmy is not an off corner, he's built to play press with his size, his long arms, how strong he is and his lack of experience/instincts to excel in zone or in off coverage. You sprinkle in some off coverages to balance it out a little here and there to help your safeties a little maybe, but anything more than that is a waste of talent and skill. Look, if we had Earl Thomas back there or a prime Ed Reed we definitely would have rarely played off coverage, and even then it would have not been played because our corners excel in off coverage but because we have to balance things out and keep offenses on their toes.

I can always count on you to step up and make sense. Appreciate it.