Hurney Remains Adamant That We Are Fine At Dt (Bottom Line Interview)

[Dpantherman]

Among other things, the discussion of not draft a Defensive Tackle came up. He said both he and Rivera have talked about it on numerous occasions and did not feel that DT was a position that needed to be addressed in the draft.

"Ron Rivera and I talk about this all the time and we look at each other and say 'Are we missing something?' because you hear from the national media, from everywhere, that we need a defensive tackle. The two of us feel really good about the players we have at defensive tackle. You mention Ron Edwards, you mention the two 3rd round picks Fua and McClain. I think the guy that we are really excited about that doesn't really get much recognition is Frank Kearse. He's a 6'5 330 lbs DT that was a rookie last year that we got off of Miami's practice squad. He went to Alabama A&M and he has the ability to play a role for us inside. Then we have Andre Neblett who has done nothing but make plays for us for two years after we got him as a rookie FA from Temple. We don't have the big names, but we feel like we've got a pretty good selection of guys that may bring different skill sets that will make our DT position pretty good."

http://www.stationca...c=1291&f=512701

Yes, I typed that up, minus the pauses and 'uh's' ...be thankful.

[mav1234]

honestly I am not terribly surprised they didn't draft a DT. They weren't in love with the guys in the 1st/2nd, and they already have young guys who need development time, so if they weren't going to get an immediate impact player at the position there is no point in drafting one at all.

imo, Edwards will make a huge difference to us.

[The Special One]

Good depth at DT and now DE.

[Herbert The Love Bug]

I definitely hope that Kearse and Shirley remain on the team. Don't know if that will be possible with Fua, McClain, NeBlett, and Edwards. I doubt we have 6 DTs

[Panther_Brotherhood]

Good write up, thanks a lot for it

I think Hurney and RR were in the same boat as pretty much everybody...they weren't in love with one DT. There wasn't one that stood out above them all. Cox, Poe and Brockers all seemed to be a potential selections for us but there was never one who stood out and said "this guy is a game changer"

[cultclassiccat]

So impressed with RR. Nailing this "head coaching" thing.

[Kurb]

I remain skeptical

[MrBubba]

Question is how does Beason and now Luke feel about the DTs

[Keith Moons Liver]

What else would he say? That we suck at DT and he made a mistake in not upgrading it?

[Dpantherman]

I'm skeptical too, BUT... this is either Hurney AND Rivera being stubborn, or they really see something that we don't on our DTs. We already know that Hurney can be stubborn. I don't think (and I don't know...) if that is Rivera's personality.

[Dpantherman]

What else would he say? That we suck at DT and he made a mistake in not upgrading it?

not the point. The point is, hes been saying this for months...it hasn't changed. Its more than just he doesn't wan to draft another DT.

[frash.exe]

i think our draft was overall solid, but who is hurney trying to convince at this point, us or him?

[Dpantherman]

^^ He was asked a question, so...

[Lumps]

I don't want a pretty good DT, I want a beast. But I agree it was hard to tell if one was to come from this draft. I'm very skeptical. Our DTs will have to improve greatly for us to be able to say there is no need to do anything. Evene if Edwards shows up there is no future at the position. I am assuming they are talking about potential mentioning Neblett and Kearse because those guys just suffice but aren't quite good enough for me to be comfortable.

I guess we will all just have to wait and see what our coaching staff can do.