JeffGollin
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You draft or sign a guy with certain expectations in mind (i.e. shutdown corner, better as MLB than OLB, NT instead of UT or whatever).
But once you get him in here, the focus shifts from what you expected him to do to what he actually can do - within the context of what the team needs most.
Far be it for me to read DG's and RG's minds, but when the Cards drafted Rolle, I didn't think it was to be a so-called "shutdown corner" (translation - someone fast enough and with good enough coverage skills to take away half the field) but more along the lines of a very good physical corner - good enough in man coverage but best in zone coverages - & someone who could match up physically with the growing number of big NFL receivers.
(Note - I don't mean to insinuate the Rolle isn't good enough at man-to-man coverage; he's just not "shutdown." (You want shutdown, you look for someone more along the physical lines of PacMan Jones).
So here we have a guy with outstanding CB skills except for perhaps one: blinding speed. Also, a CB with a recent history of knee "issues."
In a perfect world, he fully recovers and has other skills so tremendous that it more than compensates for his less than blinding speed. But what happens if he's still a bit gimpy from the knee surgery? Or our division rivals go out and get a bevy of 4.3 burners? I suspect DG and RG probably take a long hard look at their options; which include: bringing in more quality depth at CB, adding speedy UDFA corners in the hope that one or two can represent answers to the speed dimension.
And - if it turns out they've created a quality log jam at corner but thinness at FS - consider shifting one of our more physical but less speedy corners to FS. Griffith is around 6-0 and 202. Rolle is 6-0 208. Macklin is stockier at 5-10 206. Law is listed at 5-11 200. This suggests that size is less of an issue than, perhaps, skills specific to a FS, and some would argue that all of these guys have the physical skills at CB that logically should translate to FS.
Please don't misconstrue this to mean I feel the Cards will definitely shift one of their corners to FS willy nilly. I just think it's one possible option they'd logically list among many.
But once you get him in here, the focus shifts from what you expected him to do to what he actually can do - within the context of what the team needs most.
Far be it for me to read DG's and RG's minds, but when the Cards drafted Rolle, I didn't think it was to be a so-called "shutdown corner" (translation - someone fast enough and with good enough coverage skills to take away half the field) but more along the lines of a very good physical corner - good enough in man coverage but best in zone coverages - & someone who could match up physically with the growing number of big NFL receivers.
(Note - I don't mean to insinuate the Rolle isn't good enough at man-to-man coverage; he's just not "shutdown." (You want shutdown, you look for someone more along the physical lines of PacMan Jones).
So here we have a guy with outstanding CB skills except for perhaps one: blinding speed. Also, a CB with a recent history of knee "issues."
In a perfect world, he fully recovers and has other skills so tremendous that it more than compensates for his less than blinding speed. But what happens if he's still a bit gimpy from the knee surgery? Or our division rivals go out and get a bevy of 4.3 burners? I suspect DG and RG probably take a long hard look at their options; which include: bringing in more quality depth at CB, adding speedy UDFA corners in the hope that one or two can represent answers to the speed dimension.
And - if it turns out they've created a quality log jam at corner but thinness at FS - consider shifting one of our more physical but less speedy corners to FS. Griffith is around 6-0 and 202. Rolle is 6-0 208. Macklin is stockier at 5-10 206. Law is listed at 5-11 200. This suggests that size is less of an issue than, perhaps, skills specific to a FS, and some would argue that all of these guys have the physical skills at CB that logically should translate to FS.
Please don't misconstrue this to mean I feel the Cards will definitely shift one of their corners to FS willy nilly. I just think it's one possible option they'd logically list among many.
