The amount of base we play is totally dependent on what the opponent uses though. So as long as we face 3 WR we'll have to counter most of the time with nickel or dime. So whatever happens it's Telvin and Jack as the backers for the vast majority of the time.

  Also, I don't have stats for  how well we did in specific personnel groupings but we had one of the best first down defenses in run and pass for most of the year i.e where our base defense is played the most

Agree Telvin was a mess last year , so much so that you'd question if he can even get back to being above average in coverage like he was in 2017, Jacks floor seems pretty high there thankfully. 

Having a new base Mike is fine but it's a tiny part of the defense so i wouldn't use much assets at all to fix it (Ryan may be a guy we pegged for that very role).

Another less likely scenario is that if Telvin doesn't bounce back in 2019, they could potentially put Jack at the Will spot and move on from Telvin in 2020. They'll owe 7mil in dead cap - but save far more (~ 18 mil) in salary. 

That requires a lot of ifs, and I'd rather see Telvin bounce back, but Myles Jack at the Will spot would probably be his best fit.

Completely agree which is why, in my opinion, they need to grab an ILB to groom. At this point, it wouldn’t be hard to fill Telvin’s shoes if he doesn’t get back to form. I say that with a ton of disappointment because I like the dude and he has shown previously he can get inside and tackle or cover outside. Since Poz’ departure the LBs have had to be schemed into position and not in a natural fit.

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Another less likely scenario is that if Telvin doesn't bounce back in 2019, they could potentially put Jack at the Will spot and move on from Telvin in 2020. They'll owe 7mil in dead cap - but save far more (~ 18 mil) in salary. 

That requires a lot of ifs, and I'd rather see Telvin bounce back, but Myles Jack at the Will spot would probably be his best fit.

Completely agree which is why, in my opinion, they need to grab an ILB to groom. At this point, it wouldn’t be hard to fill Telvin’s shoes if he doesn’t get back to form. I say that with a ton of disappointment because I like the dude and he has shown previously he can get inside and tackle or cover outside. Since Poz’ departure the LBs have had to be schemed into position and not in a natural fit.

I thought they did just grab an ILB, no?

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The amount of base we play is totally dependent on what the opponent uses though. So as long as we face 3 WR we'll have to counter most of the time with nickel or dime. So whatever happens it's Telvin and Jack as the backers for the vast majority of the time.

  Also, I don't have stats for  how well we did in specific personnel groupings but we had one of the best first down defenses in run and pass for most of the year i.e where our base defense is played the most

Agree Telvin was a mess last year , so much so that you'd question if he can even get back to being above average in coverage like he was in 2017, Jacks floor seems pretty high there thankfully. 

Having a new base Mike is fine but it's a tiny part of the defense so i wouldn't use much assets at all to fix it (Ryan may be a guy we pegged for that very role).

Another less likely scenario is that if Telvin doesn't bounce back in 2019, they could potentially put Jack at the Will spot and move on from Telvin in 2020. They'll owe 7mil in dead cap - but save far more (~ 18 mil) in salary. 

That requires a lot of ifs, and I'd rather see Telvin bounce back, but Myles Jack at the Will spot would probably be his best fit.

Strong agree , and unfortunately I think Telvin not bouncing back to what he was is definitely on the cards. It was jarring how badly he regressed in every facet of the game , he get a bit of leeway from me given there are a roster wide regression too I guess. 

Blair Brown and Jack as nickel backers would be fun too although that's mostly due to what Brown did in college Vs what we've actually seen

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Overall I don't think we even need a new base mike and if we did it's impact would be tiny of anything at all.

Up until December we allowed 3.7 ypc on 1st down, top 5 in the league. We also only allowed 4.9 yards per play on 1st down , top 6 in the league. Prior to the Titans game in December we only allowed 4.1 ypc overall, top 10 in the league. These numbers don't really suggest a defense that was flummoxed all year because Jack can't play base mike, even if it wasn't always pretty.

Jacks and Telvins run fits were not good last year but on the only obvious run down we were one of the most effective defenses in the league.

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Another less likely scenario is that if Telvin doesn't bounce back in 2019, they could potentially put Jack at the Will spot and move on from Telvin in 2020. They'll owe 7mil in dead cap - but save far more (~ 18 mil) in salary. 

That requires a lot of ifs, and I'd rather see Telvin bounce back, but Myles Jack at the Will spot would probably be his best fit.

Completely agree which is why, in my opinion, they need to grab an ILB to groom. At this point, it wouldn’t be hard to fill Telvin’s shoes if he doesn’t get back to form. I say that with a ton of disappointment because I like the dude and he has shown previously he can get inside and tackle or cover outside. Since Poz’ departure the LBs have had to be schemed into position and not in a natural fit.

My theory is that this entire defense, especially our linebackers, play much better in obvious passing downs than they do in obvious running downs, mainly because this defense is built much more on speed than on size.   Telvin especially.  He's only about 218, which is really light for a linebacker.   

So I think if we can improve the offense, the defense will play LOTS better, because other teams will be force to throw the ball more.  And that's why our linebacking performance would be helped a LOT more by improving the offense that it would be by getting a new set of linebackers.

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Wouldn't complain with Devin White in the 1st round. Perfect fit for the D.

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OFFENSE, OFFENSE and MORE OFFENSE...I will scream if they pick D w/ the first.

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"If you always do what you've always done, You'll always get what you always got"