A Lot of Ifs Riding on Edge

Kwyn said:
The word “proven” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence

With the exception of Quennin and the Clark and Gary of years ago, all of them seee starters out of a void on their team. Most were JAG starters.

Our problem is that we have all of them on one team and of those seven, it’s possible that only one of them starts on even a majority of teams in the league.

They were all free agents or easily had trade picks up for a reason

I would say they were “proven passable” at best and only one is “proven excellent”.
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Excellent post.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
The lack of actual NFL starting level talent from last year's defense has caused several here to over rate the actual impact that the new replacements will provide. While upgrades no doubt, it won't be these huge positional impacts some here are making them out to be.
A middle of the road end of year type of defensive group would still be a reach imo. Anything better than that is a success and an over achievement in my book.
But I guess that's why they play the games.
 
Pass2Run said:
Just my title alone would make some readers want to nose dive off the proverbial cliff.

But please.

Don't jump.

We've got problems at edge again.

But don't worry. The proverbial Chicken Littles should step away from the ledge. We've got everything under control.

Or do we?

In the right scheme, if the right players stay healthy, with the right players taking the right leaps, we could be surprisingly good in '26.

That's a lot of ifs.

Rudyard Kipling would be proud.

On the other hand, if things don't go well, we could be surprisingly bad.

Gary is consistently average, but he's new to this scheme. He's solid, but hasn't been special.

A lot hinges on the development of Ezeiruaku, who was good versus the run but didn't make it home as much as we'd like. He did generate a lot of pressures for a rookie, which indicates he may take a decent jump in year two if he can stay healthy.

Fingers crossed.

Lawrence could be better than we imagined. Or he could struggle like most rookies do. We shall see.

Knock on wood.

Houston is what he is, undersized, but otherwise high motor who sometimes gets beaten because of his size. He's decent at rushing the passer but has been historically streaky.

We can hope

Sam Williams, meh.

Wish us luck.

At least we have a better coach.

You never know. The ball could bounce our way.

Or maybe it's a fumble.
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That is a lot of typing for a boo boo stank team.
 
75boyz said:
Excellent post.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
The lack of actual NFL starting level talent from last year's defense has caused several here to over rate the actual impact that the new replacements will provide. While upgrades no doubt, it won't be these huge positional impacts some here are making them out to be.
A middle of the road end of year type of defensive group would still be a reach imo. Anything better than that is a success and an over achievement in my book.
But I guess that's why they play the games.
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Yup. Are they improved? Absolutely. Does CP deserve massive credit if this unit ends up in the top half of the league? 100%. This defense is improved, but we have lower end starting caliber players at several positions on defense, and others with massive injury concerns. Honestly I'm not sure its fair to your new DC to have ultra high expectations year 1.
 
Kwyn said:
In his last year here he was the Cowboys highest rated run defender including the incoming Clark,

I know, i know, it doesn’t reflect the voice of the echo chamber.
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I also don't think people realize that contain isn't just the responsibility of the edge players these days. You cant just play straight up with the same responsibility and not expect modern offenses to take advantage of that. A lot of the concerns about Micah jumping inside and not keeping contain is exactly what he was asked to do....especially under Zimmer. He played a ton of gap exchange rules, which most teams do these days to make it difficult on offense reading the edge on option plays. Its often the responsibility of the LBs to get outside and play contain while the edge crashes....especailly if the tackle blocks down.

There was a time when Micah was a true liability against the run, but its something hes gotten better and better at.
 
Kwyn said:
In his last year here he was the Cowboys highest rated run defender including the incoming Clark,

I know, i know, it doesn’t reflect the voice of the echo chamber.
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As the RB ran right by him as he was rushing in w/ his ears pinned back. Who's doing the rating, BTW?
 
DarkVader33 said:
Rated by who?
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Pro Football Focus.

Pretty much the only thing going that actually tries to measure performance

Everything else we see is just a content creator using ChatGTP to create an AI inforgraphic with a prompt like “rank all top WR Pairs (edge rusher/guard combo, etc)”, which is basically what sports “opinion” has become.


Run Defense Grades

Parsons
2021: 59.9
2022: 73.2
2023: 68.1
2024: 65.5
2025: 72.6

Tank
2021: 90.1
2022: 92.2
2023: 92.4
2024: 62.4
2025: 85.0

Clark
2021: 54.7
2022: 53.0
2023: 61.2
2024: 57.1
2025: 53.7
 
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kskboys said:
As the RB ran right by him as he was rushing in w/ his ears pinned back. Who's doing the rating, BTW?
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Pointless even discussing parsons around here because this is the only place in the world of NFL social media, let alone actual professional journalism where Micah is not considered elite and gets treated like a scrub.

Too much “I hate my ex girlfriend (sniffle)”

Five year history of PFF above.
 
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gimmesix said:
Yes, Philly's version of it was doing so well that they traded for Jaelan Phillips. They also drew Brandon Graham out of retirement because their outside pass rush was bad after letting Sweat leave in free agency and the defense wasn't as successful as it had been during its Super Bowl year because of that.

You need quality players no matter what scheme you run.
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Agree on needing quality.

After seeing and evaluating the new defense they can address what's working or not and make further moves.

I like to see the FO make measured patient moves before over-extending
 
Kwyn said:
Pointless even discussing parsons around here because this is the only place in the world of NFL social media, let alone actual professional journalism where Micah is not considered elite and gets treated like a scrub.

Too much “I hate my ex girlfriend (sniffle)”

Five year history of PFF above.
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This is the one place that actually deconstructs the fake media narratives surrounding Michael to market the game to the average fan.

We see the whole picture involving the whole player, not just the fluff promoted by BSPN et al.

There's actually a very good reason for it, and it's not even close to what you're trying to imply.
 
Pass2Run said:
This is the one place that actually deconstructs the fake media narratives surrounding Michael to market the game to the average fan.

We see the whole picture involving the whole player, not just the fluff promoted by BSPN et al.

There's actually a very good reason for it, and it's not even close to what you're trying to imply.
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lol, yeah, right

That’s why you should believe me. Because I am a regular here.

Qualifications speak for themselves
 
Kwyn said:
lol, yeah, right

That’s why you should believe me. Because I am a regular here.

Qualifications speak for themselves
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Michael is overrated for many reasons. He'll never win a Superbowl.
 
Pass2Run said:
Michael is overrated for many reasons. He'll never win a Superbowl.
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I’m sure you said that about Tank as well.

He was disliked here also, for a lot of the same reasons.
 
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