Hickey and eDefensive Players Should Share in the Blame

[Vaark]

Hickey did a yeoman's job of digging out from deep in the holes Ireland bequeathed him. Rome wasn't built in a day. Compare him to Ray Farmer, the guy who turned Ross down to be promoted in Cleveland and draft Manziel and Gilbert and maybe be thankful with whom we ended up despite Ross's best intent.

 

[rent this space]

Hickey did a yeoman's job of digging out from deep in the holes Ireland bequeathed him. Rome wasn't built in a day. Compare him to Ray Farmer, the guy who turned Ross down to be promoted in Cleveland and draft Manziel and Gilbert and maybe be thankful with whom we ended up despite Ross's best intent.

Exactly, Hickey had to build an O-line from scratch but some people still bitch about not getting a "playmaker" in the first round of the draft.

 

[utahphinsfan]

Dennis, unlike his predecessor, had 1st and 2nd round picks that had a positive impact.

Tripp, Aikens, Hazel, & McCain should provide much needed depth.

Hickey gets a pass.

Wheeler needs to go. I would not mind keeping Ellerbee if he restructres.. Depth @ LB is crucial.

 

[utahphinsfan]

Exactly, Hickey had to build an O-line from scratch but some people still bitch about not getting a "playmaker" in the first round of the draft.

Agreed. Along those lines Shelton > any playmaker in the 1st unless its (his UW teammate) Shaq Thompson or Vic Beasley.

 

[dolfin530]

I can't stand the injury history thing. It's not like a nagging injury or the same recurring injury. When you tear an ACL it's because your knee went in a direction it's no supposed to. You can't fault a GM for those types of injuries. Delmas was a good pickup!

 

[Show Me Your TDs]

The secondary was a problem due to an unusual amount of injuries. However, a 1-year stopgap like Delmas is only valuable as long as they give you the 1 year. Delmas' injury history suggested that we shouldn't have relied on him as much as we did.

Delmas was signed to a one year contract. He was signed for what he exactly was. I can't fault that. We also drafted (Aikens) his replacement for the following year if proper coaching takes place. Not so sure about that plan.

 

[AGFins]

Hickey did a very good job of aquiring talents . Unfortunately injuries and poor coaching lead to our poor finish in December.

One can not be helped but the other can be fixed starting with replacing Coyle.

 

[So Be]

Well, if a player is below average then they should be easy to improve on. I also don't think there's anything wrong with deciding that a player is not "the answer" at their position as a prelude to looking for their replacement. You're not always going to make that determination and find the answer all in one moment.

True story but, in many cases you have to at least have viable option, and also have to consider the cap. Wheeler is an example. We could not afford to move him last year, although he was WELL below average. This year, he played pretty well/average.

This year is going to be a hell of a challenge for Hickey and Philbin, especially at WR.

 

[So Be]

I can't stand the injury history thing. It's not like a nagging injury or the same recurring injury. When you tear an ACL it's because your knee went in a direction it's no supposed to. You can't fault a GM for those types of injuries. Delmas was a good pickup!

The injury history is something to be considered. When a player suffers a major injury, he is NOT coming back as the same player. Mentally and physical he has to make adjustments to his play. Some, like Grimes, do it very well, and others do not.

 

[Jay131866]

Ah, I see. So Hickey can't be judged for anything bad that happens. Only the good things that happened. How awesome for him.

And it's also not his fault that the injury prone players he signed got injured. What could be more unpredictable?

Nope finheaven loves Hickey bc our first 2 picks started this season, so everyone immediately made up their minds that Hickey did am amazing job. So sad that people actually think that our last draft was even above avg. We have 2 avg players starting and nothing more at this point in time and people think thats amazing. No one on finheaven can be objective once they make up their mind one way or another.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

I appreciated the OP's real-world summation of Cameron Wake and Reshad Jones.

Later in the thread I detect too much satisfaction with Earl Mitchell.

Everything tends to drift back to the beginning. Seattle's defense was eligible to boom late in the season because they have special players. Our defense, which was actually rated statistically above Seattle for the bulk of the season, was favored to decline because we had relied on effort level and bully tactics, not high level of talent.

Hickey is above Jeff Ireland. It won't equate to anything unless he shakes the recent franchise tradition of avoiding legitimate star players.

 

[NRA]

Look at some of the pieces Hickey and Philbin asked Coyle to use.

Since when does hickey decide who plays? He doesn't. As gm's don't.

And midi wasn't a hickey draft pick.

Awful post AJD.