To play devil's advocate - CBs are really important because blowing their assignment often means a long TD. The downside for a pass rusher not doing their job well isn't as severe. It's one of the reasons the Patriots have historically prioritized the secondary when building their defense. The Bills have done the same thing recently.
Hoping that can be Jordan Whitehead. And don't forget Quincy Williams... Oh wait you said middle, not out of bounds
You both have good points. I tend to agree with the pass rush philosophy because you need to cut the time a QB has to throw the ball first and foremost. A good NFL QB will destroy almost any defense if he is given time to throw. However, most guys drafted as pass rushers don't get as many as 10 sacks a year and those that do take a few years to reach the 15+ mark in sacks. So it's not likely that KT would have a huge impact on our pass rush this season anyway. The reason the Sauce pick makes sense can be summed up in two words.....Tyreek Hill. We didn't get him, but our division rival did. A top CB can be effective right out of the box, and the Jets need someone to neutralize Hill.
I agree with you. Bad corners will get you beat quicker than anything else... but I think there is a law of diminishing returns. You need good corners - three or four of them. I don't see the value in spending the extra draft capital to invest in an elite one. It's just something I've been thinking more and more lately, especially when I see us with what looks like a potentially great corner... and receivers are running free everywhere else. And also, if a great pass-rusher doesn't get home, chances are he still tied up two opposing players, so he made it a 9-on-10 game in favour of the defense, because the offense is terrified of him. The offense doesn't put two receivers on a great corner.
I know that's the conventional wisdom but this is pretty interesting: https://www.sloansportsconference.c...ar-modeling-player-value-in-american-football This has CB and S as quite a bit more important than edge rusher. Some of the study is over my head but the Sloan Conference is the most respected analytics conference in sports, if the study had severe flaws I'm guessing they would've been pointed out. My gut reaction is they underrate edge a bit in that study, but on the other hand the NFL is so pass-happy that it kind of stands to reason that the secondary would be the most important unit on defense. If we look at the top defenses in the league they generally are better at secondary than pass rusher as well. This same study also has QB and WR as the two most important positions overall, which I think is hard to disagree with.
Take a look at our own history. Even with Revis, the best in the game, Rex still had to design elaborate blitz packages to make the defense effective. Elite pass rusher trumps elite corner every time.
I've thought about it like this for a long time. A good CB can be neutralized by not throwing his way. When we had Revis, opposing teams learned to throw to other targets. A good pass rusher can also be neutralized but it often involves double teams which opens up other defenders to make a play.
But when you have an elite corner like Revis who takes away half the field, that allows you to, first of all, not have to gameplan around the number one target, and secondly, it gives you an ability to use other players that you would’ve used to double the #1 in other areas- Mike Tannenbaum always talks about that. Not saying that an elite edge rusher is worse than an elite corner, just different advantages
Eh yeah but having your #1 WR completely taken out of the game is hugely impactful, especially since WR is one of the most important positions. Never throwing to your best skill player isn't "neutralizing" the CB, it just means the CB has completely neutralized your WR. There's also the fact that even the best edge rushers aren't rushing the passer on every passing play, whereas a CB is defending the pass on essentially every passing play. That's pretty significant when defending the pass is a lot more important than the run (who was the last team to win a Super Bowl with the running game+defense model?).
Spot on. Do some really think neutralizing their number one receiver 90% of the time, say like Devante Adams is less important than sacking the QB twice in a game. Hardly. However, we might have both now, edge rusher and CB.
The other drawback to a poor secondary is last year to accommodate for the secondary the defense played a lot of two high safeties to protect the corners resulting in poor run defense. The additions of Reed and Sauce should improve the run game as well..
maybe back in the 90s when everyone only had 1 decent receiver. These days they line up 4 or 5 wide and all of them are good. You need 4 corners also there isn’t a corner in the game that completely neutralizes anyone anyway — break the QB with a pass rush, that’s the best way
You need both. This is a dumb argument. A good defense nowadays is about turnovers. Getting an extra possession or two is the difference between winning and losing I'm most cases. I am still not a huge fan of the wide nine crap we play but here is hoping for the best.
