Not sold on Spencer

[playmakers]

Let me first say I like Spencer and think he's really good against the run. With that being said, the one thing that worries me is he's in a spot where he can go either all-pro or bust. I ask how many sacks did he have last year in which he just blew up the tackle and killed the QB? Im pretty sure the two he got in New Orleans were unblocked. The sack he got in the playoff game against Philly he was in coverage and when the running back didn't go out Mcnabb ran right to him. He didn't even rush on that play. This concerns me. Looking in years past he has had low sack totals and a injury concern. I would say sack-wise I wouldn't be ready to call him a sure thing. Again,don't get me wrong I do like Spencer and his Boilermaker celebration dance.

I would even consider trading him because he has a high value right now. If we could package him and the 27th for maybe the 1st pick Suh(it might cost Bennett too). Anyways, that's neither here nor there. What do you guys think? Look at all of his sacks in his career and espically this year, how many have not been unblocked? Opinions

 

[rkell87]

Let me first say I like Spencer and think he's really good against the run. With that being said, the one thing that worries me is he's in a spot where he can go either all-pro or bust. I ask how many sacks did he have last year in which he just blew up the tackle and killed the QB? Im pretty sure the two he got in New Orleans were unblocked. The sack he got in the playoff game against Philly he was in coverage and when the running back didn't go out Mcnabb ran right to him. He didn't even rush on that play. This concerns me. Looking in years past he has had low sack totals and a injury concern. I would say sack-wise I wouldn't be ready to call him a sure thing. Again,don't get me wrong I do like Spencer and his Boilermaker celebration dance.

I would even consider trading him because he has a high value right now. If we could package him and the 27th for maybe the 1st pick Suh(it might cost Bennett too). Anyways, that's neither here nor there. What do you guys think? Look at all of his sacks in his career and espically this year, how many have not been unblocked? Opinions

you made good points then went completely off the wagon

 

[playmakers]

Haha,ok ignore that then. Just threw it out there.

 

[xtreme_2k]

Let me first say I like Spencer and think he's really good against the run. With that being said, the one thing that worries me is he's in a spot where he can go either all-pro or bust. I ask how many sacks did he have last year in which he just blew up the tackle and killed the QB? Im pretty sure the two he got in New Orleans were unblocked. The sack he got in the playoff game against Philly he was in coverage and when the running back didn't go out Mcnabb ran right to him. He didn't even rush on that play. This concerns me. Looking in years past he has had low sack totals and a injury concern. I would say sack-wise I wouldn't be ready to call him a sure thing. Again,don't get me wrong I do like Spencer and his Boilermaker celebration dance.

I would even consider trading him because he has a high value right now. If we could package him and the 27th for maybe the 1st pick Suh(it might cost Bennett too). Anyways, that's neither here nor there. What do you guys think? Look at all of his sacks in his career and espically this year, how many have not been unblocked? Opinions

Yeah, lets keep recycling our players and don't give them a chance to develop from year to year, good idea! NOT! I do believe this is Spencer's first chance to start all year and not worry about Greg Ellis stunting his growth. He showed up nicely in the latter half of the season as a compliment to Ware as he gained experience and develop his confidence. I'm sure if we end up trading him like you wish for a chance to draft a rookie, then said rookie struggles you will be leading the charge to call him a bust and screaming to trade him for another chance to draft another rookie the following year and it goes on and on and on......geez take a breather and let the player develop, Romo was holding a clipboard for years, Austin took years to take off, on and on it goes, good thing we didn't give up too quickly on them.

 

[CF74]

He's no DeMarcus Ware but then again there's only one DeMarcus Ware...

Spencer has nothing but upside but your trade scenario is a tad interesting...

 

[Galian Beast]

 

[KJJ]

I wasn't happy with Spencer early in the season but he really came on at the end of the year and showed alot of potential.

 

[dcfanatic]

He's no DeMarcus Ware but then again there's only one DeMarcus Ware...

Spencer has nothing but upside but your trade scenario is a tad interesting...

Many have said he outplayed Ware in the final five games.

Now Ware was nursing all kinds of injuries so that's probably the main reason.

Spencer finally turned the corner so now is not the time to think he's going to bust.

Confidence is a huge factor in professioal athletes. And now that he's going into the 2010 season with a ton of confidence after actually playing well in all phases of the game in the second half I expect him to be a very good player for the next few years.

He's grown up and he admitted it took him some time to do so.

 

[masomenos]

I've created a basic formula for judging a player's pass rush ability that goes like this...

(Sacks*3 + QB Hits*1.5 + Pressures) / (Total Snaps*.55)

The idea is that a sack is at least twice as impactful as a QB hit, which is slightly more impactful than a pressure. Multiply total snaps by .55 in order to get an approximation of how many pass plays the player was involved in. The total number is a percentage that shows how often a pass rusher is effective.

Example scores for 3-4 OLBS would be...

Ware - 21.9%
Dumerville - 19.1%
Woodley - 16.9%
Matthews - 16.1%
Spencer - 15.2%
Harrison - 14.7%
Porter - 11.0%

Spencer is a difference maker, there's no question about it.

 

[jjktkk]

First of all, I seriously doubt the Rams would make that trade. You'd need more than the Cowboys 1st rounder and Bennett. Secondly, you trade away Spencer, who is gonna replace him? Currently there is no one even close to replace Spencer on the Cowboys roster.

 

[Idgit]

I wasn't happy with Spencer early in the season but he really came on at the end of the year and showed alot of potential.

It's not potential if you only see it when he shows it. That's him actually doing it.

To the OP: no, we wouldn't want to trade our number one pick and a budding star playing under a reasonable contract at one of our most important positions on defense for a bank-breaking rookie who's never played a down in the NFL and who can hope someday to develop into the sort of player we've got in Spencer. Good question, though.

 

[KJJ]

It's not potential if you only see it when he shows it. That's him actually doing it.

He showed the capacity the last few games of the season to develop into an even better player than we saw.

 

[Eskimo]

He was being judged too harshly for most of the season on the basis of lack of sacks. However, everyone knows this is a notoriously volatile statistic for most players. It is far better to take a balanced point of view for his contributions in applying pressure to QBs, playing the run and dropping into coverage. He was clearly superlative in the first two aspects and pretty good at the third.

I don't know if he'll make many Pro Bowls - hard to do in Ware's shadow unless he puts up a 12+ sack year which I don't believe is outside of the question.

 

[67CowboysFan]

Spencer will be just fine. If you want to worry about something, worry about the poor qb's that will be crying for their mommy in their sleep after Anthony terrorizes them for an entire game.

 

[Sarge]

We draft the guy with high hopes - he is now starting to produce and you want to get rid of him? Color me confused.

 

[ThrowuptheXDez88]

holy crap you have to be kidding me.... Spencer has come on to be very very good, next year he can take it to being great.. If you didn't see the plays he was making all over the field and getting to the QB then I am not sure what you watched this season.. By far one of the most consistent players on the team which a lot of people didn't realize it at times b/c the stats weren't showing but believe me, the guy looked like a beast out there.. Excited to see him get even better after working on new things in the offseason!

 

[silverbear]

Color me confused.

Sorry, Sarge, I done wore my confused crayola down to a nub...

Would you settle for a nice fuchsia??

 

[Hostile]

Long before he started getting sacks I was telling people he was playing outstanding. He didn't just come on at the end of the year, he was always playing great. It was just a matter of time before it paid off with results. Too many people only pay attention to certain stats and ignore everything else.

We have great bookend OLBs. Anyone not sold on Spencer simply isn't paying attention.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Spencer is a terror vs. the run - he's already proven that. He's pretty good in pass coverage. He's an improving pass rusher with the potential to be a double-digit guy. He's an improving relatively young player. I dont think we've seen the best of Spencer so we certainly shouldn't even consider trading him now.

 

[dbair1967]

We have great bookend OLBs. Anyone not sold on Spencer simply isn't paying attention.

That happens alot in CZ.