Mel Kiper's Big Board

Well...

Even though he had an off-year, he was still twice as good as Hope. Hope was worse in coverage, bad at tackling for a good chunk of the season, and took bad angles frequently taking out our pursuit as well (the TD at the end of the first half in the first Colts game is a prime example...repeated throughout the season).

Some of the blame for Griff and Hope of course is on the players. Even when we had a rush, Hope was frequently not in the right spot or didn't break at the right time or took a bad angle or all of the above. But part of their play was also on the coaching. You could tell they were still being coached to play aggressively and break on the first cut even though we quickly learned our pass rush was a BIG problem. ONE of the reasons they bit so hard on playaction was the aggressive coaching. Cecil needed to change that and have them play more conservatively. The problem is, even when he dialed up the right blitz which gave us a FREE rusher to the QB so our guys SHOULD have played aggressivle because the QB should have had 2-2.5secs to throw the ball under duress, our blitzers messed up and not only didn't get to the QB, but gave him room to move around to extend the play (Pats game) and either make a big play downfield or run for a first down or TD (Jets game).

If the coaches aren't gonna change, they better get the right personel to run their system.

Gut

 

I never like Hope that much either and while I agree Griff was better that isn't very hard to do considering Hope's coverage ability is awful and he is too slow to recover when beat. I just hate when I see Griff 1-on-1 in the open field with a wr and the wr makes one cut he gets turned around and if he does catch him he likes to jump on them and hold on for the ride he hits with no authority. The fact is our hardest hitter is our smallest defender we need an intimidator on defense. I'm hoping for McClain but at this point it's a pipe dream.

 

Agreed. A big hitter in the safeties or linebacking corps seems like a real need. The first round won't be the only chance this team has to get that person, but it may be the best. That said, Finnegan was found in the 7th round so I won't be upset if the Titans draft D-line in round 1 and look for that big hitter later in the draft.

Free agency is also an option, but this is the draft forum.