Our "defense" isn't old!!!

[TampaFinsFan01]

JT said that he will retire when Tom Brady can outrun him. He isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Neither is ZT. They are both playing at a high level.

As for the "carrying" point...that IS EXACTLY what I am telling you...if we had a mediocre offense..our defense would have carried us to the playoffs. you said it yourself...17 points a game....that's it...that is all they needed to get us into the playoffs.

I don't get what you are trying to say....they are good...they will be good...they will get better with youth...We have a championship defense. We can use another DE and a CB. Depth through the draft at LB and DT.

You really underestimate how bad our offense was.

S126...Give me a little credit. I am the master underestimater.

I know how bad the offense was, trust me.

But, our defense isn't championship caliber. If they were, Leon Washington wouldn't have burned them on the screen play late in the fourth quarter.

At times, our defense is masterful. At other times they are good. And about a third of the time, they miss assignments, miss tackles, take bad angles, and fold. I can't remember how many times over the past five years they needed to make a key stop (like the Jags, Jets, and Indy) and couldn't do it.

Consistently championship caliber? Hardly.

 

[Finole]

All things considered, I say how about we just take the best player still available, I mean good god this is going to be a deep, draft, only 8 playeres removed, there has to be someone left that we can take that will help us.....and what about the beefy lineman from Wisconsin?? Thomas, I think? He would be a very nice addition.

Yes, best player available. But how do you make that determination? How do you determine if Joe Thomas or Levi Brown is better than Paul Posluszny? Or vice versa?

How do you compare an offensive lineman to a linebacker?
How do you compare a WR to a DE?

At some point, all things being equal, don't you have to take into account which position fills a bigger need on your team? At least just a little bit?

I mean, if you're San Diego, and you have Tomlinson. Do you take DE Gaines Adams or RB Adrian Peterson? You see what I'm saying?

Paul Posluszny can't protect Culpepper's blindside or open holes for Ronnie and Ricky.
Levi Brown can't intercept or sack the other teams QB.

It's a tough decision any way you slice it.

 

[TampaFinsFan01]

Thank you! Yes!

We should draft LT Levi Brown in the 1st round, because Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn will be gone by the time we get to pick. If Brian Brohm and/or JaMarcus Russell declare, they will probably be taken by #9 as well.

Then we draft a Center in the 2nd round freeing up Hadnot to go back to where he's best - Guard.

Then we can pick up your guy, Tyler Palko, in the 3rd round.

Some other things to consider - If Calvin Johnson or Dwayne Jarrett are still on the board, do we draft a WR?

Also, if DE Gaines Adams or LB Paul Posluszny are still available when it's time for us to pick, it would be hard to pass them up. Because while I don't think our entire defense is old. JT and ZT are old. And Adams or Posluszny would be the most likely to eventually fill their shoes. What do you think?

We should not take Levi Brown at #9. Thats too early. If hes our guy (and I don't mind him-I think hes good), trade down to about 17-18 and take a chance. If hes not there, then go best available player.

The good news for us in this draft is we can use a DT, OT, WR, DB, LB....so any good player can come and help us out immediately.

 

[TampaFinsFan01]

All things considered, I say how about we just take the best player still available, I mean good god this is going to be a deep, draft, only 8 playeres removed, there has to be someone left that we can take that will help us.....and what about the beefy lineman from Wisconsin?? Thomas, I think? He would be a very nice addition.

I agree completely. If Calvin Johnson is there (I find it hard to believe that he will be with his size and speed), its a no-brainer. Reaching in this draft will have horrible long term results.

 

[TampaFinsFan01]

Yes, best player available. But how do you make that determination? How do you determine if Joe Thomas or Levi Brown is better than Paul Posluszny? Or vice versa?

How do you compare an offensive lineman to a linebacker?
How do you compare a WR to a DE?

At some point, all things being equal, don't you have to take into account which position fills a bigger need on your team? At least just a little bit?

I mean, if you're San Diego, and you have Tomlinson. Do you take DE Gaines Adams or RB Adrian Peterson? You see what I'm saying?

Paul Posluszny can't protect Culpepper's blindside or open holes for Ronnie and Ricky.
Levi Brown can't intercept or sack the other teams QB.

It's a tough decision any way you slice it.

Fair points...I think SD might eliminate RB and QB from the potential first round picks...and go from there.

 

[Quick Release]

Zgonina and Traylor are the two oldest guys on the defense. And Zgonina isn't a starter. Both of them are most likely done after this year. Just the loss of those two alone reduces the average age of our defense by a whole year! Wright, Vickerson, or Evans will replace them.

Spragan will be replaced by a rookie this year.

Holliday, Carter, and Wilkinson (also not a starter) are all old. But I hope we keep all 3 of them.

That leaves JT, who is in his prime, and Zach, who had another great year.

So if our defensive starters look like this...

DE Kevin Carter (33) or Matt Roth (24)
DE Jason Taylor (32)
DT Fred Evans (23) or Rod Wright (22)
DT Vonnie Holliday (31)
SLB ROOKIE (22)
MLB Zach Thomas (33)
WLB Channing Crowder (23)
CB Will Allen (28)
CB Travis Daniels (24)
SS Yeremiah Bell (28)
FS Jason Allen (23)

Then the average age of our defense would be 26 years old!!! That's way on the right side of 30.

Do we need to draft an eventual replacement for ZT this year and JT next year? Yes.
Is our entire defense old just because the two of them are old? No!

Yeah, it wouldn't take much to make our OLD defense a YOUNG defense. F the media!