Galian Beast
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I think this is one of the most important aspects the team needs to look at going forward, and another reason why I am pleased that we're going in a new direction with veteran players.
This team has had a culture of losing games since we got beat by Minnesota in 2009. Defenses that blew huge leads in the 3rd and 4th quarter of games.
I don't want to entirely blame the defense, but the defense has been the largest culprit.
PPG Rank
2010 (6-10)
OFF: 7th
DEF: 31st
2011 (8-8)
OFF: 15th
DEF: 16th
2012 (8-8)
OFF: 15th
DEF: 24th
2013 (8-8)
OFF: 5th
DEF: 26th
Average
OFF: 10.5
DEF: 24.25
Clearly the defense is what is predominantly holding us back. Even when this team scores 49 points, we still manage to lose by giving up 51 points...
The defense currently doesn't have a single starter from that 2010 team. You have to go back as to 2011 when Sean Lee became a starter (but even then he was a part time starter). This team will have at a minimum 4 new starters (depending on whether or not you consider Selvie a legitimate starter and whether or not Spencer is eventually resigned and starts). I think Durant is likely gone, which takes us to 5 new starters. I think you can call Wilcox a new starter as well, which takes us to 6 new starters, which is over half the defense. The core of the defense that has remained has always been that defensive line.
Point is we should look and play very differently next year and that shouldn't be overlooked.
To give you a sense of the snap count that we're looking at, Brandon Carr had 1116 snaps as a full time healthy starter on our defense. Wilcox had 515 snaps and Jeff Heath had 594 snaps. Even our depth should look a lot better on defense next year, hopefully with guys like Selvie, Bass, Mincey, and Crawford coming off the bench.
With your defensive line, you're basically looking for your top 8. Let's take a look at our depth:
Benchmark Hayden was a starter and had 821 snaps on defense (Hatcher had 747 snaps and Selvie had 744, with Ware coming in at 628).
1. Jarius Wynn 275 snaps (Is Mincey better than Wynn?)
2. Drake Nevis 254 snaps (Is Terrell McClain better than Nevis?)
3. Everette Brown 153 snaps (Is Tyrone Crawford better than Brown?)
4. Caesar Rayford 144 snaps (Is Ben Bass better than Rayford and did Rayford play inside or outside, I can't remember how that played out).
5. Corvey Irvin 117 snaps
6. Edgar Jones 72 snaps
7. MISC 246 snaps
Total of 1261 snaps: Basically looking at two extra starters.
It was obvious what we did in the last draft, rather than add a bunch of pieces on defense where we didn't really know what we had, we focused instead on the offense, drafting a Center, Wide Receiver, Tight End, and Running Back.
The idea was to stock up on what was a known solid.
I would say that for the most part the offense focus worked, except for the fact that the team still doesn't know how to put its foot on the accelerator until it needs to. I think the squarely goes on the coaching, which is why it is nice to have Linehan here, just for a change of pace.
The first three draft picks in last years draft was all offense, I'm not convinced that the defense will get that same attention, but it should be close. I think we're going to need to get at least 3 defensive starters from this draft combined with undrafted free agency. I think from last years draft crop Holloman and Wilcox have the chance to start. Then there is Henry Melton that we just signed. That is potentially a total of 6 new starters right there. Also I wouldn't be entirely surprised if we find a starter or two in free agency after the draft.
OTC currently has us at 6.42 million under the cap. On the one hand, this doesn't include resigning Smith or Bryant, on the other hand it doesn't include the savings we will get on June 1st once Austin's base salary comes off the books. That brings us another 5 million dollars of cap space, which is a total of 11.42 million dollars. That actually gives us quite a bit of space to sign some undervalued free agents when the time comes. 3-4 million dollar a year type deals. So don't flip out that we don't sign a guy like Jared Allen to more than he is worth.
We don't need a top 5 defense next year (though that would be nice). What we need is a top 15 defense and a top 10 offense (that is consistent).
I think those things can be accomplished.
This team has had a culture of losing games since we got beat by Minnesota in 2009. Defenses that blew huge leads in the 3rd and 4th quarter of games.
I don't want to entirely blame the defense, but the defense has been the largest culprit.
PPG Rank
2010 (6-10)
OFF: 7th
DEF: 31st
2011 (8-8)
OFF: 15th
DEF: 16th
2012 (8-8)
OFF: 15th
DEF: 24th
2013 (8-8)
OFF: 5th
DEF: 26th
Average
OFF: 10.5
DEF: 24.25
Clearly the defense is what is predominantly holding us back. Even when this team scores 49 points, we still manage to lose by giving up 51 points...
The defense currently doesn't have a single starter from that 2010 team. You have to go back as to 2011 when Sean Lee became a starter (but even then he was a part time starter). This team will have at a minimum 4 new starters (depending on whether or not you consider Selvie a legitimate starter and whether or not Spencer is eventually resigned and starts). I think Durant is likely gone, which takes us to 5 new starters. I think you can call Wilcox a new starter as well, which takes us to 6 new starters, which is over half the defense. The core of the defense that has remained has always been that defensive line.
Point is we should look and play very differently next year and that shouldn't be overlooked.
To give you a sense of the snap count that we're looking at, Brandon Carr had 1116 snaps as a full time healthy starter on our defense. Wilcox had 515 snaps and Jeff Heath had 594 snaps. Even our depth should look a lot better on defense next year, hopefully with guys like Selvie, Bass, Mincey, and Crawford coming off the bench.
With your defensive line, you're basically looking for your top 8. Let's take a look at our depth:
Benchmark Hayden was a starter and had 821 snaps on defense (Hatcher had 747 snaps and Selvie had 744, with Ware coming in at 628).
1. Jarius Wynn 275 snaps (Is Mincey better than Wynn?)
2. Drake Nevis 254 snaps (Is Terrell McClain better than Nevis?)
3. Everette Brown 153 snaps (Is Tyrone Crawford better than Brown?)
4. Caesar Rayford 144 snaps (Is Ben Bass better than Rayford and did Rayford play inside or outside, I can't remember how that played out).
5. Corvey Irvin 117 snaps
6. Edgar Jones 72 snaps
7. MISC 246 snaps
Total of 1261 snaps: Basically looking at two extra starters.
It was obvious what we did in the last draft, rather than add a bunch of pieces on defense where we didn't really know what we had, we focused instead on the offense, drafting a Center, Wide Receiver, Tight End, and Running Back.
The idea was to stock up on what was a known solid.
I would say that for the most part the offense focus worked, except for the fact that the team still doesn't know how to put its foot on the accelerator until it needs to. I think the squarely goes on the coaching, which is why it is nice to have Linehan here, just for a change of pace.
The first three draft picks in last years draft was all offense, I'm not convinced that the defense will get that same attention, but it should be close. I think we're going to need to get at least 3 defensive starters from this draft combined with undrafted free agency. I think from last years draft crop Holloman and Wilcox have the chance to start. Then there is Henry Melton that we just signed. That is potentially a total of 6 new starters right there. Also I wouldn't be entirely surprised if we find a starter or two in free agency after the draft.
OTC currently has us at 6.42 million under the cap. On the one hand, this doesn't include resigning Smith or Bryant, on the other hand it doesn't include the savings we will get on June 1st once Austin's base salary comes off the books. That brings us another 5 million dollars of cap space, which is a total of 11.42 million dollars. That actually gives us quite a bit of space to sign some undervalued free agents when the time comes. 3-4 million dollar a year type deals. So don't flip out that we don't sign a guy like Jared Allen to more than he is worth.
We don't need a top 5 defense next year (though that would be nice). What we need is a top 15 defense and a top 10 offense (that is consistent).
I think those things can be accomplished.
