(12-15-2023, 12:06 PM)Cleatwood Wrote: I do wonder how good this defense would have truly been if Hamilton never got injured.

Shipley said he was the best defensive player at camp.

It's a fair question. I also heard that from Lageman and it looked like he was knifing into the backfield from time to time during some of the preseason snaps that I can recall of. It's a pisser. Hopefully him and Smoot are back next year and able to put this all behind them. Rehabbing is tough for anybody. It's especially tough when you're in a physically demanding sport and getting battered for a living. 

I am excited about Antonio Johnson though in the long term. I think he really is as good as advertised and it's insane to me that we landed him that deep into the draft. Not sure how or why he slipped but he was a highly graded nickel coverage wise coming out of college and at one point, I want to say probably at least two or three weeks before the day of the draft, that, he was mocked to us in the first round. 

People had him up there as far as prospects go and some folks thought he was a first rounder to early second rounder. So, kudos to Baalke there for making that happen.

---