Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
With yesterday's surprising releases of messers Hood and LaBoy, this is what the 2 Deep depth chart is behind the starters (with years of NFL experience):
LOLB: Haggans (9); Hobson (6)
LDE: Robinson (12); Leisle (3)
NT: Branch (2); Dykes (1)
RDE: Iwebema (1); Banks (1)
ROLB: Brown (R); Davis (R)
SILB: Togafau (2); Bullock (R)
WILB: Highsmith (1); Walker (R)
LCB: Toler (R); Fontenot (1)
FS: Johnson (R); Keyes (1)
SS: Francisco (4); Lewis (5)
RCB: Brown (9); Adams (2)
It's amazing what losing two of last year's starters does to the depth of this defense.
The questions I have at this point:
1. Is Bertrand Berry, at his age, going to be able to hold up as the starter at ROLB? It would seem that the ideal situation for him is to enter the game as a situational pass rusher. But, behind him are two rookies.
This scenario would suggest to me that the Cardinals desperately need to sign another potential starter at ROLB. Like DRC maybe Cody Brown can be ready to start about mid-season, but it's going to be harder for him one would think because he is learning a new position. By mid-season would Bertrand Berry be drained?
2. The depth at ILB is extremely thin. Can Pago Togafau start at SILB if Hayes gets hurt? Can Ali Highsmith start for Dansby in the same scenario? Neither one of those players has ever started an NFL game. Can Clark Haggans and/or Victor Hobson start on the inside if needed?
3. In the secondary I feel reasonably comfortable with Johnson, Francisco and Lewis as the backup safeties...that is...with Rashad Johnson at FS and Aaron Francisco where he belongs at SS. BTW, I think that Francisco was without question playing out of position last year as the nickel FS...because the Cardinals had noone else better when they wanted to move Rolle up to the nickel. AF plays much better when he's closer to the box and is still one of the best tacklers on the team.
However, how comfortable should we feel with Ralph Brown as the primary backup CB? It is going to take Greg Toler some time, most likely much more than DRC to be ready to start in a pinch, or so one would think. With Hood gone should the Cardinals pursue an experienced backup CB?
4. On the interior line...now that one looks at the depth it probaby makes sense to hold onto Bryan Robinson. I think I will need to redo my roster prediction (several of you--Garth, for one--made this good point yesterday)...unless Rodney Leisle has a very good camp and proves to be more productive than Robinson. I had somewhat forgotten about Leisle.
Messers Dykes and Banks are still PS eligible this year.
We might be debating this for a while but if you had known before and during the draft that Travis LaBoy was going to be released would you have wanted to address the pass rushing situation more aggressively in this draft? Carolina gave up their 2010 1st rounder to move into the middle of round 2 to take DE/OLB Everette Brown...and in the middle of that round other pass rushing 34OLBers like Connor Barwin, Paul Kruger and David Veikune were there as well. I am thinking that especially since the Cardinals elected to take Beanie Wells in the first round, they really needed to make a move the way Carolina did to take another 34OLB, even if it meant offering up their 2010 1st rounder.
Cody Brown was the best pick at #63...but waiting to take Will Davis deep into the 6th round is simply not enough to address the team need, IMO, especially knowing that LaBoy, the one younger OLB, was going to be released. Will Davis may develop nicely in a year or two, but he was struggling so much in one-on-one pass rushing drills at the Senior Bowl that it's hard to imagine Davis being ready to attack the edge versus NFL tackles anytime soon. Sure hope that's wrong...but it's most likely the case.
Right now, if the Cardinals really are in earnest about their chances this season, they need to make some creative moves...or get extremely lucky on the waiver wire during cuts...but...let's remember the Cardinals are next to last in the ability to make waiver wire claims, which means 30 teams will need to pass on a good player in order for the Cardinals to get lucky. The odds are not even close to being in their favor there---in fact, they should rule it out...which puts all the more pressure on being creative sooner rather than later.
The first two calls I would make would be to Jason Taylor and Roosevelt Colvin. Colvin as a starter at ROLB with Berry coming in in passing downs would be solid. And Taylor would be by far the best edge roster on the roster, and would be great for the rookies to learn from. And signing an ILB like Larry Foote would seem paramount....and would give the Cardinals some flexibility to move Dansby to WOLB at times to rush the edge.
Now that the CB depth has been compromised as well, the need for a pass rush is even more imminent. Hopefully the Cardinals have a couple of aces up their sleeve, because the defense this year has to be stronger, and not by just a little.
LOLB: Haggans (9); Hobson (6)
LDE: Robinson (12); Leisle (3)
NT: Branch (2); Dykes (1)
RDE: Iwebema (1); Banks (1)
ROLB: Brown (R); Davis (R)
SILB: Togafau (2); Bullock (R)
WILB: Highsmith (1); Walker (R)
LCB: Toler (R); Fontenot (1)
FS: Johnson (R); Keyes (1)
SS: Francisco (4); Lewis (5)
RCB: Brown (9); Adams (2)
It's amazing what losing two of last year's starters does to the depth of this defense.
The questions I have at this point:
1. Is Bertrand Berry, at his age, going to be able to hold up as the starter at ROLB? It would seem that the ideal situation for him is to enter the game as a situational pass rusher. But, behind him are two rookies.
This scenario would suggest to me that the Cardinals desperately need to sign another potential starter at ROLB. Like DRC maybe Cody Brown can be ready to start about mid-season, but it's going to be harder for him one would think because he is learning a new position. By mid-season would Bertrand Berry be drained?
2. The depth at ILB is extremely thin. Can Pago Togafau start at SILB if Hayes gets hurt? Can Ali Highsmith start for Dansby in the same scenario? Neither one of those players has ever started an NFL game. Can Clark Haggans and/or Victor Hobson start on the inside if needed?
3. In the secondary I feel reasonably comfortable with Johnson, Francisco and Lewis as the backup safeties...that is...with Rashad Johnson at FS and Aaron Francisco where he belongs at SS. BTW, I think that Francisco was without question playing out of position last year as the nickel FS...because the Cardinals had noone else better when they wanted to move Rolle up to the nickel. AF plays much better when he's closer to the box and is still one of the best tacklers on the team.
However, how comfortable should we feel with Ralph Brown as the primary backup CB? It is going to take Greg Toler some time, most likely much more than DRC to be ready to start in a pinch, or so one would think. With Hood gone should the Cardinals pursue an experienced backup CB?
4. On the interior line...now that one looks at the depth it probaby makes sense to hold onto Bryan Robinson. I think I will need to redo my roster prediction (several of you--Garth, for one--made this good point yesterday)...unless Rodney Leisle has a very good camp and proves to be more productive than Robinson. I had somewhat forgotten about Leisle.
Messers Dykes and Banks are still PS eligible this year.
We might be debating this for a while but if you had known before and during the draft that Travis LaBoy was going to be released would you have wanted to address the pass rushing situation more aggressively in this draft? Carolina gave up their 2010 1st rounder to move into the middle of round 2 to take DE/OLB Everette Brown...and in the middle of that round other pass rushing 34OLBers like Connor Barwin, Paul Kruger and David Veikune were there as well. I am thinking that especially since the Cardinals elected to take Beanie Wells in the first round, they really needed to make a move the way Carolina did to take another 34OLB, even if it meant offering up their 2010 1st rounder.
Cody Brown was the best pick at #63...but waiting to take Will Davis deep into the 6th round is simply not enough to address the team need, IMO, especially knowing that LaBoy, the one younger OLB, was going to be released. Will Davis may develop nicely in a year or two, but he was struggling so much in one-on-one pass rushing drills at the Senior Bowl that it's hard to imagine Davis being ready to attack the edge versus NFL tackles anytime soon. Sure hope that's wrong...but it's most likely the case.
Right now, if the Cardinals really are in earnest about their chances this season, they need to make some creative moves...or get extremely lucky on the waiver wire during cuts...but...let's remember the Cardinals are next to last in the ability to make waiver wire claims, which means 30 teams will need to pass on a good player in order for the Cardinals to get lucky. The odds are not even close to being in their favor there---in fact, they should rule it out...which puts all the more pressure on being creative sooner rather than later.
The first two calls I would make would be to Jason Taylor and Roosevelt Colvin. Colvin as a starter at ROLB with Berry coming in in passing downs would be solid. And Taylor would be by far the best edge roster on the roster, and would be great for the rookies to learn from. And signing an ILB like Larry Foote would seem paramount....and would give the Cardinals some flexibility to move Dansby to WOLB at times to rush the edge.
Now that the CB depth has been compromised as well, the need for a pass rush is even more imminent. Hopefully the Cardinals have a couple of aces up their sleeve, because the defense this year has to be stronger, and not by just a little.
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