Jurrell Casaey

i think Klug has a very good chance as well to shine here.looking like our defense will be back in business soon enough.we had some growing pains losing so many veterans the last couple seasons like Albert,Kyle and Keith but we all knew it was coming.

 

I think you see Ford walk. That makes it a roster fight between Haye and Clayton. Klug is a DE/DT hybrid in Gray's opinion so he'll have the edge (plus the draft edge over Clayton).

I see us keeping a draft pick (recent or current) at another position (RoJo, Rolle, Campbell are my ideas here) and only keeping 4 DTs, 4 DEs, especially with the move to a more hybrid defense. Some downs, you're only going to see 1 DT and that means less fatigue across the rotation. A game where we play a lot of 3-4 looks may see us only get to the 3rd or 4th guy while the 5th rides the bench. I'd rather have a backup safety on special teams in that case.

Edit: All assuming no, even moderate, injuries at the time.

 

Boy do I hope you're wrong; given the injury history of several of your listed starters, we need to keep at least a ninth DL on the roster and probably a 10th on the practice squad.

 

Good point on the injuries. I tend to overlook injuries a lot and that really does play a part in what I said. I hope I'm right, for the sake of our team. We need our DL staying healthy but yeah I definitely overlooked that when I wrote it.

 

He's quick, and his size should allow him to hold the point. The only problem is, his base is smaller than you would want. He plays too high, and it results in him getting pushed off the ball. I think if he can gain more mass in his lower base, and learn to play with more leverage, he can start. He has natural quickness, rare for someone his size.

 

Billick was on Mike and Mike a few days before the draft and said Casey would be one of the biggest steals of the draft

I was ecstatic when we drafted him

 

Haye ,Brown and Jones all let me down last season.

 

First of all there is no way we pay a guy like Cofield and still keep Brown and Haye who both make pretty good money. I just assume Haye will be gone.

Marks isn't going anywhere he is an Auburn guy and they will want and see what Rocker can do with him. Even though Rocker didn't coach Marks there he will want to work with him for one year.

Remember that in a close fight for a roster spot between a rookie and a vet the vet is at a disadvantage unless they think they can park the rookie on the practice squad.

Still not sure where our pass rush is coming from. JJ is not a big pass rush guy from outside and to be honest he wasn't that great inside either for being one of the fastest DTs in the game. He played in 11 games last year without a sack and 2/3 of his sacks came in one game. (Dallas) We can't give him a pass especially when going into last season some people thought he was a pro bowl caliber guy.

 

I personally thought JJ was playing really well last year. His stats (or lack thereof) may have been a product of the rest of the defense. But, I thought he was one of the few people consistently getting pressure.

 

I agree. I thought he played well. I thought it was the coaching that was making our team look terrible last year.