Here’s Merlin...
So in protest of the countless OMGWTF WADE PHILLIPS posts that are polluting electronic Ramsdom, I wanted to open some discussion on personnel and this how it factors in alongside the coaching staff in explaining why this defense is so damn bad. In other words, the players matter too, and when there's blame to be thrown around Les needs to get a little of that spaghetti flung on his face as well.
ROLB: Longacre (5), Fowler (5), Young (4)
DE: Donald (9), Westbrooks (5)
NT: Suh (5), Smart (3)
DE: Brockers (6), Franklin (5)
LOLB: Ebukam (4), Obo (4), Lawler (3)
ILB: Littleton (5), Hager (3), Kiser (3)
ILB: Barron (4), Wilson (4)
CB: Peters (5), Hill (3)
CB: Shields (4), Hatfield (2)
NCB: Coleman (7)
SS: Johnson (5), Countess (3)
FS: Joyner (5), Christian (4)
Key: Elite Starter 9 / Plus Starter 7 / Marginal Starter 5 / Backup 3 / Teams Only 1
Before the season we discussed our LB position extensively, and I think most of us knew we were under the gun in terms of talent. There was a hope that Wade would work magic with what he had, but now that we’re halfway through the season it’s pretty clear the roster lacks what it needs.
At OLB we are a damn shambles. Fowler is the only guy with plus talent, and he’s not totally up to speed yet in the scheme and thus I have him as a marginal starter until I see him showing an ability to play all the defensive calls. Still, I am thankful we have him right now. And Obo looks like he’ll be moreso a next year addition but who knows maybe come end of season he’ll know enough to be able to suit up. Overall this defense is supbar on the edge and while it might get better if Fowler steps up it still looks like we have more pain ahead with this group this season and in the playoffs. Room for improvement is minimal and related almost completely to Fowler.
ILB is straight below par. Littleton has his moments, and he’s our best ILB and probably best overall LB, but consistency can be an issue and is holding him back a bit. Barron just a guy, a guy who’s being paid well but just a guy nevertheless. There is no depth to speak of that gives us hope of improvement, that will only come from Littleton getting better. I don’t see Barron improving in this scheme, he needs to be a weakside chase guy in a 4-3. Once again I’ll recommend moving Ebu inside where his lateral movement won’t be as exposed, but that probably won’t happen and even if it did he'd struggle in his drops.
DL is above average. We have Donald killin it of course, and Brock is a solid starter. At the nose we have Suh who isn’t at his best in zero/one technique. He can do it, but in doing so IMO he goes from being a plus starter to a marginal starter. Many here presumed he’d be dominant next to Donald, but he’s not, he’s just getting by. And this group as a whole are still struggling in being washed out of plays in the run game, just because you play a one gap scheme doesn’t mean you can get moved two effin yards downstream and be like “hey I’m still in my gap.” On the room for improvement front, they do have the talent required to do so, so overall with this unit I am not that concerned.
CB is below par as a group. Only plus starter is NRC. Outside of him it’s a CB doing his own thing and a bunch of depth options. We thankfully have Talib (7) waiting in the wings, so from the improvement side of things there is hope. Also we have Peters playing below his ability level, so him stringing together some consistent starts with fundamentals improvement would be an area we can improve as well. I think there’s the talent for us to have an above average CB group if those things happen.
Safeties are a subpar unit thus far. And I am downright angry at Joyner, his range isn’t good enough, his instincts are off, and he’s not a guy who has the ranginess or athleticism to make up for his drawbacks. Johnson is very close to being a top cover type SS in the passing game, but he’s not elite in the box. Basically these two as a group aren’t great at supporting the run or pass. They don’t have the talent to improve too much, either. Joyner might be able to start making better decisions, but IMO if there’s a top safety there in the draft when we’re up that would be an enormous addition to this defense.
In summary, I think this demonstrates that the blame game that has been going on for some time now needs to include consideration of the players. The staff is not above reproach, they always need to share in the failure of a unit to get 'er done. But there is a lot more going on here than the staff not doing a good job.
