Easing rookies into the game...

[Mr. Scot]

One of the things a lot of people here passionately hated about Ron Rivera's coaching was his tendency to play what were seen as lesser veterans over more talented rookies.

Say hello to Matt Rhule...

Looking at some of the early depth chart decisions Rhule has made, I think he too could be of the belief that lower round rookies are best eased into the game.

High picks like Jaycee Horn, Derrick Brown and Jeremy Chinn might play right away, but lower round guys like Brady Christensen and Deonte Brown may have to wait while stopgap veteran players take their turn first. The rationale being that these guys need a little more time to learn and adapt to the pro game.

You'll find our old buddy Ryan Kalil is likely a proponent of that theory, having chronicled a lot of his own experiences in a book for rookies. We all know Kalil was an intelligent and immensely talented player, yet he freely admitted that even halfway into his rookie year, he frequently had no clue what he was doing.

Kalil eventually figured it out, but that's the thing.  How do you tell when those talented rookies you've been keeping on the bench truly are ready to face live bullets?

Rivera wasn't very good at that.

How good is Rhule?

I don't really think we know yet.

So yeah, if Rivera frustrated you, Rhule might do the same.

But is the idea of letting some young players ease into the game a little more slowly than others totally without merit?

You tell me

[Moo Daeng]

Fans see a few minutes of practice play and think they know the whole story. What we as typical fans think is meaningless.

[top dawg]

1 minute ago, Moo Daeng said:

Fans see a few minutes of practice play and think they know the whole story. What we as typical fans think is meaningless.

Many fans thought Whitehead sucked from the beginning. They were right!

[trueblade]

I'm seeing more similarities between Rhule and Ron than I like. Rhule (possibly influenced by Snow) has  demonstrated some of the same "defensive minded head coach" qualities.

[top dawg]

Rhule's only saving grace in this regard, is that it appears he may be quicker to pull an underperforming vet: instead of waiting for an entire season, maybe he'll wait like eight to 10 games.  That's all I got 

[OldhamA]

21 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

One of the things a lot of people here passionately hated about Ron Rivera's coaching was his tendency to play what were seen as lesser veterans over more talented rookies.

Say hello to Matt Rhule...

Looking at some of the early depth chart decisions Rhule has made, I think he too could be of the belief that lower round rookies are best eased into the game.

High picks like Jaycee Horn, Derrick Brown and Jeremy Chinn might play right away, but lower round guys like Brady Christensen and Deonte Brown may have to wait while stopgap veteran players take their turn first. The rationale being that these guys need a little more time to learn and adapt to the pro game.

You'll find our old buddy Ryan Kalil is likely a proponent of that theory, having chronicled a lot of his own experiences in a book for rookies. We all know Kalil was an intelligent and immensely talented player, yet he freely admitted that even halfway into his rookie year, he frequently had no clue what he was doing.

Kalil eventually figured it out, but that's the thing.  How do you tell when those talented rookies you've been keeping on the bench truly are ready to face live bullets?

Rivera wasn't very good at that.

How good is Rhule?

I don't really think we know yet.

So yeah, if Rivera frustrated you, Rhule might do the same.

But is the idea of letting some young players ease into the game a little more slowly than others totally without merit?

You tell me

Chinn and Brown walked into the lineup last year. YGM, Roy and Pride saw significant minutes. Horn will walk into the lineup this year. 

Marshall will start in the slot this year (or outside if they rotate Anderson / Moore into the slot) and Tremble will see significant minutes.

The common denominator? They were all better than the incumbent. Brown and Christensen haven't proven that they're better than the guys in-front of them YET. Same goes for Nixon, Hubbard and Taylor - as the season goes on they'll get into the lineup, but right now they're way behind the veteran starters. There's no shame in that. 

[hepcat]

1 minute ago, top dawg said:

Rhule's only saving grace in this regard, is that it appears he may be quicker to pull an underperforming vet: instead of waiting for an entire season, maybe he'll wait like eight to 10 games.  That's all I got 

Whitehead should have been cut in like Week 5 last season. 

[top dawg]

4 minutes ago, OldhamA said:

Chinn and Brown walked into the lineup last year. YGM, Roy and Pride saw significant minutes. Horn will walk into the lineup this year. 

Marshall will start in the slot this year (or outside if they rotate Anderson / Moore into the slot) and Tremble will see significant minutes.

The common denominator? They were all better than the incumbent. Brown and Christensen haven't proven that they're better than the guys in-front of them YET. Same goes for Nixon, Hubbard and Taylor - as the season goes on they'll get into the lineup, but right now they're way behind the veteran starters. There's no shame in that. 

The personnel was a little bit of a trainwreck when Rhule took over. He effectively HAD to start the youngins, not that he really wanted to.

Edited September 6, 2021 by top dawg

[Jorgie]

Well he had first hand experience starting late round rookies on defense last year and we all saw how that worked out, so I don’t really blame him

[Wes21]

To me the first game is like the movie Gladiator where the gates are about to open but you have no idea what's coming out.  I think rookies should sit the first game...or have a more specific role in the 1st game.  Put vets out there who can quickly figure out what the other team is doing and adjust on the fly.  Once you get further into the season and have a little bit of film on teams you can start throwing more rookies into the mix.

Barry Sanders didn't start his first game.  It's okay.

[frankw]

12 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

What we as typical fans think is meaningless.

Sports franchises sell a product. People discuss it. The horror! 

[top dawg]

3 minutes ago, Jorgie said:

Well he had first hand experience starting late round rookies on defense last year and we all saw how that worked out, so I don’t really blame him

Said rookie didn't show anything of note during practices. He was basically JAG. 

People keep bringing up last season, but remember that we didn't even have a preseason (or anything resembling a competent defensive backfield), but this year we've seen what Christensen and Brown can do, and I dare say that they looked better doing it than the guys in front of them.

[top dawg]

I respect the coaches to make their decisions. They deserve that latitude. But I honestly think that Rhule is full o' poo (just like Rivera) in this regard. But, I'm not a coach.

[1of10Charnatives]

42 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

One of the things a lot of people here passionately hated about Ron Rivera's coaching was his tendency to play what were seen as lesser veterans over more talented rookies.

Say hello to Matt Rhule...

Looking at some of the early depth chart decisions Rhule has made, I think he too could be of the belief that lower round rookies are best eased into the game.

High picks like Jaycee Horn, Derrick Brown and Jeremy Chinn might play right away, but lower round guys like Brady Christensen and Deonte Brown may have to wait while stopgap veteran players take their turn first. The rationale being that these guys need a little more time to learn and adapt to the pro game.

You'll find our old buddy Ryan Kalil is likely a proponent of that theory, having chronicled a lot of his own experiences in a book for rookies. We all know Kalil was an intelligent and immensely talented player, yet he freely admitted that even halfway into his rookie year, he frequently had no clue what he was doing.

Kalil eventually figured it out, but that's the thing.  How do you tell when those talented rookies you've been keeping on the bench truly are ready to face live bullets?

Rivera wasn't very good at that.

How good is Rhule?

I don't really think we know yet.

So yeah, if Rivera frustrated you, Rhule might do the same.

But is the idea of letting some young players ease into the game a little more slowly than others totally without merit?

You tell me

Here's the thing:

To my mind, there is a meaningful and qualitative difference between keeping a rookie on the bench in favor of a solid if unspectacular veteran, a guy who won't make big plays but also can be counted on to not make major mistakes, vs keeping a rookie on the bench in favor of a guy everyone can see is just plain bad. I'm thinking here of Whitehead, Elflin, etc. Opposing teams will target these players for matchups because the game film shows them to be easily beatable. They become the point of attack for the other team. In this scenario I favor just letting the rookie play on the theory they will at least learn and improve faster being out there than sitting on the bench.

I am dubious of the notion that Deonte Brown would net be a bigger liability than Elflin even if he's a clueless rookie. Would I start Brown over say John Miller, who seems to fall into more of the decent but unspectacular mold? No, but over a player who is just plain bad? 

Why the @#%$ not?