Eric Berry still a FA.

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

45 minutes ago, KillaCamNewton said:

I get that safety isnt a priority for Ron’s system but it just annoys the hell out of me that no one in their right minds actually thinks you can put someone like Gaulden, Jones, Parms, Luke etc without getting absolutely exposed every game and especially by our division opponents with the QBs and receivers they have yet they wanna hype up these bums and actually pretend its acceptable to put them on the field. Im not asking us to sign Eric Berry or splurge on a FA, i just want them to actually look at the players they have right now and truly ask themselves if they are truly putting together the best secondary/defense/roster they can with the resources they have available to them

The thing is, if you can get a good/elite pass rush it greatly helps your secondary.  An elite secondary still won't lock down receivers without a strong front 7.  But a strong front 7 will makes your secondary better than what they are.  An elite SS/FS won't do that for your pass rushers outside of extremely rare circumstances.

It makes more sense to allow the secondary to be weaker than your front 7.  And the whole league sees this as well.  Thats why DTs, EDGE, your MLBs.  They make bank.  They dont even have to be elite.  Every time a DB signs for more than 10m/year people question if he is really worth it.  You get a mediocre DT/EDGE for 10m/year and thats pretty average.

So lets say hypothetically McCoy does sign here.  That will help the FS position.  A lot.

[Gipetto]

Eric berry has legit bone spurs. Hes done

[Pejorative Miscreant]

4 hours ago, poorboysrev said:

Oh yeah man was just talking hypotheticals...their’s a long time before the season starts

I actually pied your comment as I thought it was a right on target  post. The “Relax” was a general statement and not aimed at you or any single post.   My apologies , I should have worded it better.  

[poorboysrev]

40 minutes ago, Pejorative Miscreant said:

I actually pied your comment as I thought it was a right on target  post. The “Relax” was a general statement and not aimed at you or any single post.   My apologies , I should have worded it better.  

Ha no worries  once I saw the pie I understood it better 

[OriginalPantherDan]

12 hours ago, YoungPanthers89 said:

Lets bring in Ed Reed too

And Bob Sanders. Pairing those two would finally land the Panthers a Superb Owl Lombardy.  

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

2 hours ago, stbugs said:

A couple points. The Patriots have won more than anyone and they have always put more (Gilmore, Ryan, Butler, Talib, McCourty, Revis, etc.) into the secondary. Not saying they haven’t had good DL, but they’ve let Seymour, Jones and Flowers among others leave and pay the secondary. Even when they let someone go like Ryan and Butler they signed Gilmore. In 2017, we were 3rd in sacks and yet we were 18th in passing yards, 23rd in passer rating, 22nd in TDs given up and 24th in INTs. There’s a big difference in focusing on the front 7 and ignoring the back 4 + 1. Bradberry, Donte and Reid isn’t ignoring but we saw what having two gaping holes in Captain and Adams allowed. Doesn’t matter how well Bradberry had Evans, Captain’s guy was always open and Donte was a rookie and it showed in the second half. Donte will be better but we still have two big holes. Maybe Cockrell and Gaulden are the answer but damn if they aren’t or if someone gets hurt we are in 2017/2018 pass D all over. Our depth is atrocious in the secondary. We have a crew of Worleys and Jones’s. I still laugh at people holding out hope for Seymour. Assuming Gaulden and Cockrell are solid, and that’s a big one right now, we are 1 deep at every spot. It’s an odd year so maybe we get lucky but a team like the Pats seems to have good DBs coming out of the woodworks

I will concede the Pats are an outlier.  But they have a ton of things going for them that are different from any other team.  Like arguably one of the greatest QBs in the history of the game that continuously low balls his salary.  Last year, Pats were the number 22 pass defense in the game, going by passing yards/game.  So clearly all that money pumped into it wasn't a factor there.

I will concede they had a higher than average number of takeaways that contributed to things as well.

 

[Tepper's Chest Hair]

7 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Takeaways are huge. People can say our 2015 D was amazing but teams (Indy, GB and NYG to name a few) were able to put points on us in a hurry. Our biggest asset was takeaways. We were #1 by a good margin in 2015. We had 1 more takeaway per game than the average team. That’s a huge advantage especially because we typically played from ahead and Cam didnt have to try and force throws leading to his lowest INT total.

Also, that 22nd in pass yardage is misleading because they played from ahead a lot. That’s why I added our other 2017 stats showing that we were a poor pass D even being 3rd in sacks. NE was 22nd in yards but they were 7th in passer rating, 5th in yards per attempt and 3rd in INTs. In other words they were a top 5 pass D, but because they had the 5th most pass attempts against them they gave up a decent amount of yards.

Also, I am in no way advocating signing Berry. It’s a shot in the dark that he can even play at a good level anymore with all the injuries and missed time. No chance I’d throw a big enough contract at him to sign him. If he wants to come in at closer to a vet min with performance bonuses then sure, let’s take a chance. What could it hurt over some UDFA who was ranked 20th among all UDFA safeties. More chance Berry is healthy and good enough to start than that guy

Oh they are definitely huge.  Was not meaning to downplay that aspect.  I just see takeaways as not something you can rely on, on a year to year basis.  I see so much huge turnover at the top of INT/takeaway rankings.  There is definitely a random-ness to it.   And a non-randomness to it (avoiding throwing to a guy that has shown himself to be an INT machine, for example).  Last year was the only time (dating back to 2014 at least) that New England was in the top 10 for causing INTs.

In 2015, we not only had takeaways, but a top 10 defense in almost all other stats.  11 in passing yards/g.  

And I get you on Berry.  I am right there with ya.  

[CPcavedweller]

21 hours ago, poorboysrev said:

With all the high grade safeties that were drafted this year their are going to be vet safeties cut between now and the regular season, maybe cole Luke and gaulden will show one of them is the guy but I’d love some vet insurance at the very least 

We cannot go into the season with Gaulden as the starter. Hurny did this with Charles Godfrey and it didn't go well. No more transition guys Hurney. Give the team a fighting chance on the backend.