Age, Salary Put Heat On Miami Dolphins’ Kiko Alonso In 2019 | Page 2 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Age, Salary Put Heat On Miami Dolphins’ Kiko Alonso In 2019

Digital said:
Our LB corps has problems, but none of the three are hard to replace in any aspect with the exception of Kiko's takeaways. That's the one strength of our entire LB corps honestly.
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Agreed, But i will add Baker to the mix as well. I'm not sure he has a place in this particular defensive style, but it's clear the guy can make plays. In his short time here he's already had sacks, chase down receivers from behind, and INTs for TDs.
 
ANUFan said:
Agreed, But i will add Baker to the mix as well. I'm not sure he has a place in this particular defensive style, but it's clear the guy can make plays. In his short time here he's already had sacks, chase down receivers from behind, and INTs for TDs.
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Well he hasn't created that many takeaways, and he misses a lot of assignments, and he's easy to block … so he has a long way to go.
 
Digital said:
Well he hasn't created that many takeaways, and he misses a lot of assignments, and he's easy to block … so he has a long way to go.
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He's a LB and has an INT for a TD! Come on how many DBs have done that in their entire playing career? I'm sorry, I'm not as quick to dismiss that accomplishment especially as a rookie. Also, Who on the team didn't miss a lot of assignments? What's their excuse as veterans?
 
ANUFan said:
He's a LB and has an INT for a TD! Come on how many DBs have done that in their entire playing career? I'm sorry, I'm not as quick to dismiss that accomplishment especially as a rookie. Also, Who on the team didn't miss a lot of assignments? What's their excuse as veterans?
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Well the TD is a bonus, and if he keeps making INT's, then my tune will change. But I'm not onboard with him until he starts producing. So far he's a liability in run defense because he keeps blowing assignments and gets pushed around too easily. But he's not as bad at pass coverage. We'll see … but I'm not on the bandwagon yet.
 
I am not ready to give up on McMillan just yet. I want to see him a year removed from his rehab and with better coaching.

As for Alonso the Fins do not NEED the Cap space(unless they use it to tie up Tunsil)so money alone is no reason to dump him.

And it is not as if he is holding back the progress of some young talent at his position.
 
How can anybody evaluate these LB’s with the previous coaching staff, especially Birks defense.
Everyone was set up for failure.
 
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Digital said:
Well I think everyone can agree that both Raekwon McMillan and Kiko Alonso are horrible in pass coverage. The hope is that this system helps them play to there strengths. For Kiko, he is our best takeaway producer at the LB spot that we've had in the last 30 years. If turnovers win games … he's extremely valuable as a guy who generates and converts takeaways. IMHO, that's by far the biggest impact a LB can have on a game, and one that Kiko's detractors always seem to conveniently ignore. As stats go, takeaways is one of the very most important ones. Talk about sacks, tackles for losses, number of tackles, etc., etc., etc., but one takeaway is worth 3 sacks. If your defense doesn't have people who can generate takeaways, then your defense is bad.

Eventually every player is replaced. Not sure when Kiko's time will come, but when it does, the team needs to have an answer for those takeaways. Because without them, our effectiveness goes down significantly.
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This is so spot on. Like him or hate him, detractors ignore he’s every bit as much the reason we made the playoffs in 2016 as was Ajai. We were about to choke away the game to SD when he made a play in coverage and took a pick 6 to win the game. He also made a huge play on a very athletic QB to save the SF game. He accumulates FR, INTs and FFs. All of those years from the mid 80’s to pretty much “now” we have had only a couple of LBs that caused the type of havoc Kiko does w impact plays. Anyone care to go back to the days of Dwight Hollier manning the middle? How about anyone not named “Zach Thomas” during the JJ years? Post JJ? Zippo. Look, I don’t love Kiko but I can’t ignore the fact the ball seems to find him. As Digital said, turnovers are the no 1 statistic correlated to winning.
 
royalshank said:
This is so spot on. Like him or hate him, detractors ignore he’s every bit as much the reason we made the playoffs in 2016 as was Ajai. We were about to choke away the game to SD when he made a play in coverage and took a pick 6 to win the game. He also made a huge play on a very athletic QB to save the SF game. He accumulates FR, INTs and FFs. All of those years from the mid 80’s to pretty much “now” we have had only a couple of LBs that caused the type of havoc Kiko does w impact plays. Anyone care to go back to the days of Dwight Hollier manning the middle? How about anyone not named “Zach Thomas” during the JJ years? Post JJ? Zippo. Look, I don’t love Kiko but I can’t ignore the fact the ball seems to find him. As Digital said, turnovers are the no 1 statistic correlated to winning.
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Absolutely. Those plays you mentioned were game-changers. It's perplexing that people are now on the bandwagon for Xavien Howard because of his takeaways--which are imminently impressive--at a position that typically gets one of the most takeaways on the team, yet at the same time are so utterly unimpressed by someone like Kiko Alonso who generates magnitudes higher takeaways than his peers at a position that typically does not generate takeaways. People rightly cite Xavien's takeaways as the very reason he is elite. Then turn around and ignore or even DISMISS Kiko's takeaways entirely. It's like having a small forward who averages 15 rebounds a game and ignoring it because that's not typically what you see, while crowning the power forward who gets 17 rebounds as the best in the league. Head scratcher analysis.
 
Digital said:
Absolutely. Those plays you mentioned were game-changers. It's perplexing that people are now on the bandwagon for Xavien Howard because of his takeaways--which are imminently impressive--at a position that typically gets one of the most takeaways on the team, yet at the same time are so utterly unimpressed by someone like Kiko Alonso who generates magnitudes higher takeaways than his peers at a position that typically does not generate takeaways. People rightly cite Xavien's takeaways as the very reason he is elite. Then turn around and ignore or even DISMISS Kiko's takeaways entirely. It's like having a small forward who averages 15 rebounds a game and ignoring it because that's not typically what you see, while crowning the power forward who gets 17 rebounds as the best in the league. Head scratcher analysis.
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I think part of the problem is some think a player should be All-Pro or they suck. Some think every other LB in the NFL is quite good against the run AND in coverage. Both are myths. I'm not a KA fan. He seems to overrun plays far too often and a little slow in diagnosing. Nonetheless, until an upgrade is found, he's an average LB.
 
fansinceGWilson said:
I think part of the problem is some think a player should be All-Pro or they suck. Some think every other LB in the NFL is quite good against the run AND in coverage. Both are myths. I'm not a KA fan. He seems to overrun plays far too often and a little slow in diagnosing. Nonetheless, until an upgrade is found, he's an average LB.
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The formula that made Belichick and Schottenheimer so successful was in large part forcing turnovers and winning the turnover battle. If you subscribe to that mentality, then Kiko is far from average.

I do agree with you though that most people want to ascribe all-pro or worthless labels to players … and that's rarely the case. Today the LB position has changed. Very few Luke Kuechly types exist who can play the run well, cover the pass well, and be disruptive. But a takeaway machine is like a knight in chess--it absolutely disrupts the flow of the other team and is a wildcard that can win games. Steady LB's only work if you have other players to generate those takeaways. The worst defense we had in recent memory (possibly ever) was when we couldn't generate takeaways. IMHO, that is no coincidence.
 
Phinatic8u said:
McMillan's grade from game 1 to game 16 steadily improved to the point of having one of the league's best run stopping grade. He fits Hightower's roll to a T. He was never exposed in coverage, being bad in coverage and being put in bad positions are not the same.
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I hope Mac improves. Coverage or not he just seems slow to the ball.
 
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