I was pondering this the other day, how incredibly dominant our defense was during the early Ryan tenure, mostly due to the talent and experience on that side of the ball. With that said, I still think we lacked good depth in the secondary and obviously lacked in the coaching department. Call me overly optimistic, but I think we have the potential to be better than that this year, if we stay healthy and coaches continue to develop the younger guys. Lets take a closer look. Coaching: I think our coaching is better suited for the pass happy culture that we are in. Todd Bowles and Dennard Wilson have both played and are very well respected in developing safeties and corners. I think we are going to be more technical sound and disciplined. 2009 depth comparison: 34 Marquice Cole CB - we have better depth players now i.e. Bones Jones, Parry Nickerson 30 Drew Coleman CB - see above ^^^ 44 James Ihedigbo FS - Middleton is a good comparison here, Middleton has shown more potential and versatility 36 Jim Leonhard SS - Loved this guy, but Adams is light years better 21 Dwight Lowery CB/PR - Buster Skrine is a comp here and is better 24 Darrelle Revis CB - GOAT, but Tru Johnson is going to be a good number one 25 Kerry Rhodes FS - was good but I think Maye is equal to with potential to be better 26 Lito Sheppard CB - injury prone, we have better and younger depth now, Mo Claiborne 33 Eric Smith SS - Adams upgrade of course 27 Donald Strickland CB - see Sheppard notes With exception of Revis, we are better at every other position 2010 depth comparison: 34 Marquice Cole CB - better young prospects now (Nickerson and Bones Jones) 30 Drew Coleman CB0 see above ^^ 37 Emanuel Cook SS - see above ^^^ 31 Antonio Cromartie CB - I think Claiborne is as good or better 44 James Ihedigbo SS - again...Middleton is this role and is more well rounded and higher ceiling 26 Dwight Lowery CB - Skrine has Lowery beat (some may disagree here) 22 Brodney Pool FS - Maybe so much better here 24 Darrelle Revis CB - Again...Revis is a HOF....only area where were obviously weaker 33 Eric Smith FS - Again...Adams puts us ahead at SS 20 Kyle Wilson CB - Way better here lol Again with the exception of Revis, we have more youth, more talent and better coaching at the moment. What do you guys think?
Revis and Cro were better corners but Adams and Maye are better safeties. I’d still give the edge to the 2009/2010 team by a bit.
I think Mo Claiborne is better technically than Cro....when healthy. I also think depth wise we are stronger than 2009 and 10....i would take the bottom of the current depth chart over what we had then. We are better equipped to go into dime packages, as well as three safety looks. Thanks for the feedback!
Our corners in 09-10 were significantly better... and not just better, but versatile. could play inside/outside gaurd big guys/small guys/ fast guys. not only that, but you got a GOAT level season by revis. something ive never seen before or since. he basically shutdown every elite WR in the league playing mostly 1 on 1 with no help. in addition he also made a ton of players, 6 picks and i think a touchdown as well. Not just that but the intangible value of Revis. QBs were intimidated to throw there. it shrunk the field and forced QBs to throw into heavy coverage on the other side. Rex said in an interview: with most teams you put your best corner on the #2 guy and double team the #1 wideout. with Revis you are putting him on the #1 wideout and double teaming the #2, on top of that, corners have more value then safties so our corners being better then tips that side. i dont think it is even remotely close to be honest, especially since adams is a ways from proving to be an elite safety
Theyre good enough to compete against most teams... still could use a consistent pass tush to bring it all together.
If theres no pass rush, theres no good secondary so I think you have to factor that into the comparison
Both teams have the same weakness. No pass rush from OLB position. Once we change that, this D will be better than 09/10.
Prime Revis and Cro made the safety position irrelevant. That secondary was way better than what I think this will be. Maybe they prove me wrong, but I’m skeptical it’ll even come close.
I agree, just look at what the Broncos did a couple of years ago. Ware and Miller were the dominant bookends, they had Talib, Chris Harris as their pro bowl CB’s and TJ Ward as their pro bowl SS. No way they win the SB without Ware and Miller even though they had an excellent secondary. On paper Jets have a good secondary but it’s not enough to make up for no pass rushing OLB.
You mean the 09/10 teams that had probably the best CB performance ever? And Cro who also played great, on a team that won 4 playoff games and reached 2 AFC Championship Games? No. Not better. And yes, I will call you overly optimistic, but that is not a bad thing!
People forget just how good Revis was. Revis being able to consistently shut down the other team's #1 receiver without any help was huge for that defense. The only other CB I can remember being able to do something similar was Deon Sanders in his prime. Revis was a generational talent (i.e., once in a generation) at CB. Even if the rest of the secondary is better (and I think it is) and deeper, I'm not sure the pass D would be better than that team. Revis' presence also allowed Rex to have one or two additional blitzes anytime pretty much anytime he wanted with relatively low risk because he didn't have to double the opposing team's best receiver.
When you combine Trumaine Johnson, Morris Claiborne, Jamal Adams & Marcus Maye together, these 4 now create for one of the NFL's most talented and potentially most feared secondaries within the game today. Overall? 2018's top 4 in Trumaine Johnson/Morris Claiborne/Jamal Adams/Marcus Maye are way more talented and explosive than 2009's top 4 in Darrelle Revis/Lito Sheppard/Kerry Rhodes/Jim Leonard. But any secondary that has an All-Time and future HOF Great and possibly the greatest pure coverage CB ever in #24 Darrelle Revis has to get the edge until proven otherwise. I will say that I do like our immediate depth (behind our top 4) and potential in Buster Skrine/Terrence Brooks/Doug Middleton more than I did 2009's in Dwight Lowery/Eric Smith/Drew Coleman. #24 Revis made us unreal but 2018's secondary imo does have top tier & top notch potential.
I stopped reading when you said Skrine was better than D Lowery .. Let's see what 70 million buys you with Truman Johnson (it better be outa this world imo) Parry Nickerson is a sixth round wannabe We will see..