I was impressed by that final quarter of season. Milliner was attacked relentlessly, as was opposing Offense's game plans all year, and went against some pretty solid WR's. What i saw was much more awareness of when the pass was coming, which made all the difference. That's what allowed for all the break ups and the INT's. He still has a lot of growth to do, but i love when the young guys finish strong and show that progress. i agree with your previous post about the secondary not getting any better this offseason though. The unit as a whole was terrible last year, and as of now, has not improved at all. That is concerning..
I'd be excited about either OBJ or Clinton-Dix as well. The more i think about it though, if any of the 3 OT's are available, or Evans (unlikely), or Dennard (unlikely), that is where i'd spend the pick w/o hesitation. I think they would represent the most value. If they are gone, than OBJ would be my guy. In round 2, there is a high probability of a solid WR (Matthews, Robinson, Landry), or TE (ASJ) being available. I wouldn't even be opposed to trading up in the 2nd round to land one if a guy they love drops close to their pick. This makes me even more comfortable taking a OT or defensive player in round 1 representing the most value, and would really make for a great draft.
To be clear I was talking about another poster's assertion that the overall pass D looked much better the last quarter. I do agree with you that Milliner did, but again the opponents were mostly among the weak sisters of the league, the exception being Carolina. Which went down as a loss.
It would be great if the staff could develop a "healthy" Dowling into a FS. At 6-1 210 he has the size you want for the position. Note Antonio Allen boasts the same measurables. The scouting report on Dowling coming out was that he sought out contact in run support and was a sound tackler. So he has the physicality you want to go along with CB speed that's relatively rare for NFL safeties. There are not that many NFL safeties out there that can run in the 4.4s like he did at the combine. Add in the coverage skills he would bring to the position, on paper at least, he has the makings of an ideal FS prospect. I would think his conversion from CB to FS would be easier than what Allen's from hybrid LB to strong safety. We already have one young SS that can cover in Allen. Imagine the flexibility we would have with our base D if we added a FS that could do the same. Rex could cook up some crazy blitz schemes if he had that in his arsenal. It would be a great counter to those hurry up offenses like the Patriots who like to keep you in your base D on inopportune down and distances.
I think Ill be sick if we draft a CB or DT in first, AGAIN. We need to finish revamping the Offense and go BPA as far as WR and TE in rd 1-2.
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I think that we can work with Walls as the #2. Get them a good safety and your DBs get better all around. As long as Rex leaves at least one safety deep, the corners will have it easier than last season. Id be happy with Calvin Pryor in the first. Id be ecstatic with Brandin Cooks in the first and Craig Loston in the 2nd or 3rd.
Whatever happened to the Jonathan Joseph for a 4th rumors? I still think, if there was any validity to that rumor, that we could make that move on draft day. Toss out one of our 4ths and maybe a 6th... we'd still have 2 picks in the 4th round even if we traded that middle pick that we own. Having Joseph, Milliner, Wilson, Walls, would allow us to put off CB in the early rounds, possibly on to 2015, honestly.
Joseph has a big fat contract with the Texans, there's no way we trade for him. If he was open to a restructure he'd just do it with the Texans.
I'd like to see somebody drafted before the 3rd round who actually is projected to be a starter in the NFL. What's great about Idzik is that he has all our skill positions covered so we don't have to worry about covering bases in the draft.
I look forward to seeing what the homers say, who currently are claiming to be comfortable with playing the existing roster of corners, if as I expect the Jets go first or second round for a corner, or perhaps trade for one. I seriously doubt they go into the season with the current crop of corners.
It looks like Idzik is really using Free Agency to just fill in starting positions so he can take the most talented players in the draft. If Patterson is healthy (gigantic if) than he is definitely a starter in this league. Same with Dowling. We'll sign a few more players and fill all the starting holes in Free Agency and go strictly BPA (With an exception of DT IMO). If the drafted players beat out the FA signings in camp, than that's all the better.
In theory they could go into battle with the corners currently on the roster,,,,,in reality they would lose the war ! It will be a fine line between pretty amazing and scary if the current cb situation is not dealt with between now and the opener.
I like your post better than BigCockBlocker's. Yes, we didn't play hall-of-fame teams down the stretch, but anyone who watched those games came away feeling a lot better about Milliners development. Think of how we'd be feeling if Milliner continued to get scorched by those 4 teams.
