gimmesix
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
- Messages
- 48,135
- Reaction score
- 46,129
At the beginning of this year, I felt our defense was going to be far behind our offense and ultimately be what held us back from playoff success (as in previous years). However, as we go into this final game, I feel like we've seen some things we can build on with the defense while some needs on offense have materialized.
The defensive line was a primary concern heading into the season. DeMarcus Lawrence proved himself to be the defensive end I felt he could be while David Irving provided a punch at 3-tech when he either wasn't suspended or concussed. Taco Charlton also has come on to show that we might have a bookend to Lawrence, leaving getting a monster 1-tech as the primary need.
At linebacker, we were overreliant on Sean Lee, both because of how good he is and how bad the other linebackers were, but there were good reasons for this. Our other primary linebacker, Anthony Hitchens, missed the first part of the season, which forced Jaylen Smith into the starting lineup before he was ready after a year away from the game. The good new is, like Charlton, Smith has started to look like he could be a player. Dallas has to start planning for Lee's career ending, though, and needs to improve the depth of this unit, whether or not it brings Hitchens back.
In the secondary, we also had our struggles adjusting to letting three-fourths of last year's starters go. Orlando Scandrick seemed to be our only reliable starter at the beginning of the season but went downhill quickly because of injuries. Nolan Carroll was a bust, Brown regressed and Jeff Heath and Byron Jones were hit and miss as the starting safeties (with both of them mainly being misses in run support). However, hope arrived in the form of three rookies who have stepped into leading roles. Both Chidobe Awusie and Jourdan Lewis look like they belong as starters and Xavier Woods has handled any role he's been given well. This allowed Brown to be a spot player and has made playing an injured Scandrick unnecessary. It also appears that we learned that neither Heath nor Jones is suited to be a run-support safety. Heath plays his best as a center fielder and Jones plays his best when given a specific coverage assignment, Kavon Frazier has taken on a role more like Church's had been in situational defense, but we need to bring in a starting strong safety who can handle that and not be a liability in pass coverage.
So our needs on defense are monster NT, starting strong safety and linebacker depth. I think we can get this by drafting a space-eater in either the first or second round, bring in a top FA at safety (which would give us an experienced starter to pair with the youth in the secondary), and spending several back-end picks on linebackers. If we do that, then we use a couple of our earlier picks to address holes on offense.
So here's a list of our needs and how I think we should address them:
WR: First- or second-round pick on player with downfield speed
NT: First- or second-round pick on space eater, plus veteran
SS: Top FA
LB: Multiple picks after second round (re-sign Hitchens if fairly cheap)
TE: Give Gathers chance to take some of Witten's snaps (if he fails, then TE becomes the priority in 2019)
OL: Re-sign Cooper or bring in FA starter, draft for depth after second round
(This is assuming, of course, that we re-sign or tag Lawrence and first-round tender David Irving.)
I'd also like to see us do something with the fullback position. I like Keith Smith, but if we could find an H-back or fullback who blocks as well but is more of a receiving threat, it would put more stress on the defense.
The defensive line was a primary concern heading into the season. DeMarcus Lawrence proved himself to be the defensive end I felt he could be while David Irving provided a punch at 3-tech when he either wasn't suspended or concussed. Taco Charlton also has come on to show that we might have a bookend to Lawrence, leaving getting a monster 1-tech as the primary need.
At linebacker, we were overreliant on Sean Lee, both because of how good he is and how bad the other linebackers were, but there were good reasons for this. Our other primary linebacker, Anthony Hitchens, missed the first part of the season, which forced Jaylen Smith into the starting lineup before he was ready after a year away from the game. The good new is, like Charlton, Smith has started to look like he could be a player. Dallas has to start planning for Lee's career ending, though, and needs to improve the depth of this unit, whether or not it brings Hitchens back.
In the secondary, we also had our struggles adjusting to letting three-fourths of last year's starters go. Orlando Scandrick seemed to be our only reliable starter at the beginning of the season but went downhill quickly because of injuries. Nolan Carroll was a bust, Brown regressed and Jeff Heath and Byron Jones were hit and miss as the starting safeties (with both of them mainly being misses in run support). However, hope arrived in the form of three rookies who have stepped into leading roles. Both Chidobe Awusie and Jourdan Lewis look like they belong as starters and Xavier Woods has handled any role he's been given well. This allowed Brown to be a spot player and has made playing an injured Scandrick unnecessary. It also appears that we learned that neither Heath nor Jones is suited to be a run-support safety. Heath plays his best as a center fielder and Jones plays his best when given a specific coverage assignment, Kavon Frazier has taken on a role more like Church's had been in situational defense, but we need to bring in a starting strong safety who can handle that and not be a liability in pass coverage.
So our needs on defense are monster NT, starting strong safety and linebacker depth. I think we can get this by drafting a space-eater in either the first or second round, bring in a top FA at safety (which would give us an experienced starter to pair with the youth in the secondary), and spending several back-end picks on linebackers. If we do that, then we use a couple of our earlier picks to address holes on offense.
So here's a list of our needs and how I think we should address them:
WR: First- or second-round pick on player with downfield speed
NT: First- or second-round pick on space eater, plus veteran
SS: Top FA
LB: Multiple picks after second round (re-sign Hitchens if fairly cheap)
TE: Give Gathers chance to take some of Witten's snaps (if he fails, then TE becomes the priority in 2019)
OL: Re-sign Cooper or bring in FA starter, draft for depth after second round
(This is assuming, of course, that we re-sign or tag Lawrence and first-round tender David Irving.)
I'd also like to see us do something with the fullback position. I like Keith Smith, but if we could find an H-back or fullback who blocks as well but is more of a receiving threat, it would put more stress on the defense.
