He has not shown any reps, or at least any good ones, going up against OTs. He will get absolutely bodied any time he goes up against one, regardless of ability.
Agree. My problem with this selection is that his readiness to play was clearly misjudged. You don’t sign a bunch of expensive FAs and then take a first round pick who’s not an immediate asset. Of course they told us he would start in place of Hicks, but they were dead wrong. He may not be a bust but they have to stop drafting picks in round one who need essentially a red shirt year.
They definitely have uses in shallow zone coverages, especially against flat routes and RBs out of the backfield.
We don't know if he 'isn't ready.' Coaches have pretty much said that they don't/didn't want the rookies in there, because they couldn't afford to have them make rookie mistakes. That isn't the same as not being ready. If you aren't going to trust very high picks to come in and make an impact at a position, you should probably look elsewhere in the draft or trade down.
The fact he couldn’t play in front of Vallejo abd now walker says he’s not ready. We play Wilson so it’s not just a rookie thing.
Wilson didn't look ready to start either
Fair point. It may be a rookie LB issue, since we have seen in with both of our 1st round picks. He very well may not be ready as well. Wish I was a fly on the wall.
VanceJoseph said:
Agree that it’s not necessarily a rookie thing. But, VJ’s system requires far more thinking from his LB’s than his CB’s. IMO, VJ needs to be shown the door because his system punishes athleticism & rewards slower, older players who can mentally process his system.
When thinking about why a player isn’t playing I usually go with the most obvious: coaches can’t trust him because he doesn’t know the alignments or schemes or isn’t physically talented enough. Obviously the physical traits exist. So why seek out all of these other conjecture-based reasons?
I don’t think it “punishes athleticism.” But it certainly seems to reward experience and knowledge and recognition. I mean it’s not like he wouldn’t play someone just because they’re athletic if they had the mental side down too.
I could believe this if (a) Vance had ever come off as arrogant, which he really hasn’t; and (b) his livelihood wasn’t dependent on the success of his defense. I mean, to believe he would take out his anger at a comment keim made on an innocent rookie at the potential expense of his own career seems somewhat far fetched to me.
Because that is pretty much what we do on a forum?
Exactly. I would love to know which one it is. Either way, it is still fun to talk about.
Not really. At least that’s not what I do. I try figure why something is happening. Not search for any possible reason with no evidence, but actually try to figure out what the most likely reason for something happening. Obviously there are gradations. But it seem like some posters cling to what seem like less than 5% probabilities as explanations when 85% probabilities are staring them in the face.
I think you tend to forget that before attaining those ten wins, these coaches were fighting for their jobs... I doubt it was about ego
I think you tend to forget that before attaining those ten wins, these coaches were fighting for their jobs... I doubt it was about ego
His system over emphasizes the mental aspect, which slows players down, thus neutralizing any advantages they may have in athleticism. Sure, it’s great to have a player who possesses the whole package of athleticism, knowledge, and recognition, but that’s seldom the case early on or even ever. Exactly why his defenses almost always are near the bottom of the pack stopping the run. And IMO, the great defenses MUST be able to stop the run.
It only slows down the ones who are slower mentally. For those that understand the scheme and have the recognition ability it does nothing to impede their impact. I guess this makes sense to me because I played the position and played over more physically gifted players due to my ability to understand defenses and analyze offenses more quickly thereby allowing me to be in position to make plays earlier than the meatheads who were often outta position. Eventually the kid that replaced me when I was injured was just as quick mentally and a superior athlete. That combo is what makes guys like Kuechly the holy grail.
