Start Jaylon? Replacing Hitchens

FuzzyLumpkins

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With Hitchens out at MIKE the team needs to figure out who replaces him. Here are the candidates:

Durant: Veteran experience but has not played since he was activated this past week.
Nzeocha: Athletic and proficient in coverage but misses tackles like JJ Wilcox circa 2015.
Wilson: Already the starting SAM, he struggles carrying RB and TE in space.
Smith: Needs to square up more consistently on pursuit outside but athleticism and range stands out.
Jones: Raw and misses reads. Struggles taking on blocks. Excellent athlete with exceptional coverage range. Solid tackler and pursuer. Have been hiding him. Likely to be on PS.

I am of the mind that you might as well start the Smith era now. He will take time to fully adjust and need to be rotated early but I suspect by the time October is winding down he will start making plays consistently.

I expect that they start Durant and rotate the other guys in. Curious to see how many LB they keep now.
 
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FuzzyLumpkins said:
With Hitchens out at MIKE the team needs to figure out who replaces him. Here are the candidates:

Durant: Veteran experience but has not played since he was activated this past week.
Nzeocha: Athletic and proficient in coverage but misses tackles like JJ Wilcox circa 2015.
Wilson: Already the starting SAM, he struggles carrying RB and TE in space.
Smith: Needs to square up more consistently on pursuit outside but athleticism and range stands out.
Jones: Raw and misses reads. Struggles taking on blocks. Excellent athlete with exceptional coverage range. Solid tackler and pursuer. Have been hiding him. Likely to be on PS.

I am of the mind that you might as well start the Smith era now. He will take time to fully adjust and need to be rotated early but I suspect by the time October is winding down he will start making plays consistently.

I expect that they start Durant and rotate the other guys in. Curious to see how many LB they keep now.
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You may as well at this. We dont have other proficient options at this point IMO. Smith at least has the chance to be proficient
 
Just started watching the game, did Smith look a bit better tonight?
 
Jaylon is not playing more than 15-20 snaps a game this year,everybody from Stephen to Brad have said the same thing.I think we will be looking for outside help and even a trade.
 
No way. would make a great story but the team needs a competent mlb. Hitchens played with seemingly every group.

Dallas has a number of picks next year and I think they need to dip into one from the 4th to the 7th for a young veteran who doesnt fit a scheme somewhere or for a veteran who can play a lot of snaps and knows the system. I have no idea who that would be at the moment but I can't imagine they roll into the season with what they have. Nzochea and durant should both make the roster as of tonight but the team has to go out and get a better player than nzochea and a more durable player than durant.

This is a big loss.
 
reddyuta said:
Jaylon is not playing more than 15-20 snaps a game this year,everybody from Stephen to Brad have said the same thing.I think we will be looking for outside help and even a trade.
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Please quote someone saying that Jaylon would be limited to 15-20 snaps. Before the game they were saying he was to get upwards of 25.

Hoping that someone else's 7th or 8th LB is better than what we have seems farfetched to me.
 
FuzzyLumpkins said:
Please quote someone saying that Jaylon would be limited to 15-20 snaps. Before the game they were saying he was to get upwards of 25.

Hoping that someone else's 7th or 8th LB is better than what we have seems farfetched to me.
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I was just listening on the radio and Brad mentioned it,he thinks they will not overdo Jaylon this year at all.
 
theebs said:
No way. would make a great story but the team needs a competent mlb. Hitchens played with seemingly every group.

Dallas has a number of picks next year and I think they need to dip into one from the 4th to the 7th for a young veteran who doesnt fit a scheme somewhere or for a veteran who can play a lot of snaps and knows the system. I have no idea who that would be at the moment but I can't imagine they roll into the season with what they have. Nzochea and durant should both make the roster as of tonight but the team has to go out and get a better player than nzochea and a more durable player than durant.

This is a big loss.
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You're talking about another team's 7th or worse LB. I'm sure we will bring someone in but expecting starting material on the scrap heap seems an unreasonable expectation.

And who is to say that Jaylon cannot be competent. All I see are people talking about his short area quickness. I see that as a speed of the game thing and you are going to be better off in the long run getting Jaylon up to speed now.
 
reddyuta said:
I was just listening on the radio and Brad mentioned it,he thinks they will not overdo Jaylon this year at all.
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Sure but I don't see how you get from there to only a dozen snaps a game. The word was they were going to double Jaylon's 13 snaps from the week before for this game.

I expect they would platoon him but I still feel he is the best option now and in the long run.
 
FuzzyLumpkins said:
You're talking about another team's 7th or worse LB. I'm sure we will bring someone in but expecting starting material on the scrap heap seems an unreasonable expectation.

And who is to say that Jaylon cannot be competent. All I see are people talking about his short area quickness. I see that as a speed of the game thing and you are going to be better off in the long run getting Jaylon up to speed now.
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Im not talking about someone else's 7th linebacker. Im talking about finding a team that will trade you a linebacker before cuts. Linebackers are basically devalued in this league because of the passing game so there maybe a team that feels they have backers that are similar and give you one.

This team has drafted linebackers it feels like every year since garrett has been the coach and its a bummer they didnt this year of all years.

as far as smith goes I can't imagine he can handle all the snaps hitchens plays. Maybe the combo of durant and smith can do it. Its a bummer to lose church with this happening also.

another option is moving one of these young wr to a team that is willing to swap a lb for wr so they won't get beat on waivers for a guy.

I imagine will mcclay has a list of linebackers that fit what they want.
 
theebs said:
Im not talking about someone else's 7th linebacker. Im talking about finding a team that will trade you a linebacker before cuts. Linebackers are basically devalued in this league because of the passing game so there maybe a team that feels they have backers that are similar and give you one.

This team has drafted linebackers it feels like every year since garrett has been the coach and its a bummer they didnt this year of all years.

as far as smith goes I can't imagine he can handle all the snaps hitchens plays. Maybe the combo of durant and smith can do it. Its a bummer to lose church with this happening also.

another option is moving one of these young wr to a team that is willing to swap a lb for wr so they won't get beat on waivers for a guy.

I imagine will mcclay has a list of linebackers that fit what they want.
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When we have done this in the past we get someone like LaVarr Arrington. MAybe there is a Brice Butler quality player at the position but given how often defensive players are injured I don't think they devalue depth as much as you claim.

And of course Smith would need to be rotated. I would feel more comfortable finding a platoon mate than I would a starting quality middle linebacker.
 
Smith upped his participation on Saturday night, logging roughly 16 snaps and finishing with three tackles and a tackle for loss. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said he’s hopeful Smith will be able to play in Week 1, but the situation with Hitchens won’t affect their game plan for bringing him back.
 
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