D
Deleted member 6794
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I'm all over with this one. Is it talent selection? Is it just bad circumstances they haven't been able to overcome? is it underutilized or mismanaged talent, ie capers?
Last years draft is too soon to really guage, but I think Kenny Clark is going to be good. I think Fackerell can be a situational guy with good leverage, I like martinez and Lowery for the positions they were picked. I don't think there's a lack of "talent" from that draft.
the previous draft, the big question is on randall and rollins. are going to build on the 1st year success or sink with last years performance? I see talent in both those guys. They also looked a lot different last year than the previous. These 2 picks are going to go a long ways in defining our defense one way or the other. But Jake Ryan has been becoming a nice ILB, especially coming from the 4th round? I don't see a lack of talent. I saw injury and maybe a guy out of position.
3 years we had Clinton Dix, who is a very solid player and Thorton was a slug. bad pick, though he seemed to have the physical tools on paper, he obviously didn't have it on the field. only other guy from that draft are Ringo and Goodson and Goodson can be gone already as soon as someone takes his special teams spot this year and I can see Ringo being just a decent rotation guy, but at a 6th rounder what else do you expect?
and before that we had Datone, who imo has the skills and has flashed, but has been so inconsistent it's hard to argue he was a worthy pick. I do take issue with the argument he didn't have talent, because if you watched him last year you could see he did. But horribly inconsistent. can't say he was a great pick, but I can see why he was chosen. But then we didn't have another defender chosen until the 5th round in Hyde and he was a very solid player. He wasn't worth keeping at 6-7 million per year, but a solid guy to have in the lineup and I'd take that production in the 5th round every single year relative to any position on the field. Then some late round defenders, 2 of the 3 that did have some production with us, and one blew out a knee and the other an ankle and I don't think have played anywhere since.
Then we get to 2012 where it was a heavy defensive draft. Perry, can't argue lack of talent. can argue lack of health, but not lack of talent. Worthy, have to admit i was really excited by him and then very disappointed as well. He seemed to be in the backfield on far too many plays against the Badgers, I thought he'd do the same in the NFL. I was wrong. So were the Packers. Dud. But then we had Heyward and Daniels, 2 pretty good picks. Obviously had the talent. Then we get some late round guys that didn't do much of anything.
i think 5 years is far enough back. There are some very good defensive picks, some solid NFL contributors and a couple of duds. and yeah the cap was higher for defense, but you had an aging Peppers, Shields who contributed nothing and Matthews who was disappointing and injured too eating up a lot of that. I imagine our offense would suck without Rodgers or Jordy on the field or even Jordy and one of our Tackles eating up cap space and not peforming or seeing the field. Because your franchise OLB and Shutdown CB are pretty important players who's absence will definitely be felt. Bad talent? Bad coaching? Bad luck? right combination of each to make certain deficits insurmountable?
Actually it's impossible to fairly evaluate the main reason for the defense struggling as long as Thompson and Capers call the shots on that side of the ball. I have absolutely no idea if it's a lack of talent or an issue with the scheme but there's no reason to believe the unit will significantly increase by doing the same over and over again.
In my opinion either Thompson or Capers should have been gone long ago because of the defensive shortcomings.