(01-15-2025, 10:34 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: I'm curious what fans want the defensive identity to be?
Personally - as sexy as it is to have a bunch of ball-hawking cover guys in the secondary that disguise coverage and bait QBs into throws - I kind of still lean towards a smash mouth DL that consistently makes QBs uncomfortable by collapsing pockets and sealing off/pressuring the edges.Give me a DC that actually implements the blitzes and stunts Nielsen promised but never delivered.
(back in August I thought Walker-Armstead-Hamilton-JHA was going to be able to do what I'm talking about here.
Armstead didn't get enough reps there, Hamilton never returned to pre injury/illness form, and the DC neutered the whole line with mind numbing substitutions.
Having both a sexy secondary and powerhouse line would be amazing of course, but we all know the likelihood of that happening in one offseason here.
We are one piece away potentially of being a powerhouse front on the DL if we draft or acquire an impact pocket disruptor IMO. It hinges a bit on Maason Smith developing and Armstead doing what we sort of expected last year when he finally gets significant snaps at DT, but it feels doable.
And yes some depth at DE is also a need, even if it isn't as integral to the success of that line. They need that spell guy and he needs to have a decent pressure rate and run stop ability.
The next challenge for the new DC to me (after hopefully getting that line completed with talent) is to figure out how to use our linebacking corps to play smarter in both phases - run and pass.
Miller may be in a place this offseason to take the next step, Lloyd needs to have a defined role and get coached up on how to play it with more discipline (gap integrity and fewer coverage confusions) and hopefully we can get back to another year of Oluokun being the boss in the middle that limits runs as well as any backer in the league and makes a few plays in coverage.
At that point - so much pressure will be taken from the secondary that they could play quite well by just executing fundamentals and incorporating just a moderate amount of creativity with safety assignments and disguises. I don't want a ton of soft zone and giving up the underneath stuff to limit big plays constantly, but I don't think forcing man coverage too often is the answer either. Install the requisite packages for both and be adept at when to call them from week to week and play to play situationally.
Still need a CB opposite Campbell and improved safeties from a roster standpoint, but we've got some money and we've got extra picks.
TL;DR
I want a smash mouth defensive front with smarter LB play dialed up, and then the secondary doesn't have to be elite in year one of this regime reset.
If you have a DL that can get to the QB, those bad throws and turnovers will come. You can't give a QB 5 seconds to make an errant throw, it'll rarely happen, unless you're playing against Bortles. You don't need a defensive backfield of Darelle Revises and Eds Reed if the QB is running scared.
Regardless of scheme or alignment, you can't be light in the pants up front. I don't care about specifics, but I certainly don't want our identity to be "the one that has to deal with 2nd and 3 consistently....and fails."
