hand

[fishfan34]

He was not dealt a good ...........

You didn't just go there.. lol.. too funny!

 

[painnotpleasure]

He was not dealt a good ...........

 

[unifiedtheory]

I know .Its pretty thin.Check your PM.

Already on it...

 

[Awsi Dooger]

He was here during the Jimmy era. Never could understand why #98 never got a fair shake here. Ended up being a pretty dominating run stopper for awhile there.

Jimmy Johnson never liked DTs who were run stoppers alone. He generally liked big DTs but ones with athletic ability. I've gotten into a few disagreements in that regard on this board and elsewhere. Very early in his career Norman Hand was out of shape and he was never as quick as JJ preferred in the interior. Bobby Beathard rescued Hand's career in '97 and he got into the best shape of his life for big years in '98 and '99.

Wannstedt botched the JJ defensive scheme in two major respects: settling for DTs who couldn't move and OLBs without superior instincts. It should be common sense that if you rely on smallish OLBs they need to be instinctive, and if you never blitz the OLBers then you need push up the middle from DTs.

I guarantee Jimmy Johnson would never have pursued a Larry Chester, let alone started him. He always recruited guys like Russell Maryland and Cortez Kennedy at Miami. Jimmie Jones, a relatively thin pass rushing DT, played for JJ at both Coral Gables and Dallas. He also had Russell Maryland at Dallas, in fact drafting him #1 overall. The other Dallas DTs I remember from that era were Tony Casillas, Chad Hennings and Leon Lett. All 3 could shed blocks and get upfield, especially Lett who was very tall and angular for a DT. Casillas and Hennings were star athletes in college who had fallen off slightly by the early '90s, but still much more athletic than the guys Wannstedt pursued for us after Gardener left.

 

[raving]

Norman Hand was a Shula draft choice.

I think a 3rd or 4th rounder and he ended up on Shula's practice squad. That's just a guess from a foggy and unreliable memory.

 

[pigskinguy]

My money is on the fins trying to get Wright in the supplemental (pending his workout) and continuing to look for a veteran DB.

Agreed. I think that is why you have seen very little done at a position that, in my mind is the weakest. I think Saban uses a 3rd on Wright.

 

[NJFINSFAN1]

I believe he was a back up for the Giants last year no???